Recent Projects by the Whitford Lions

THE LIONS CLUB OF WITHFORD HOSTS WORLD SERVICE DAY!

What is World Service Day?

Annually, Lions Club International celebrates World Service Day. Worldwide Lions Clubs celebrated World Service Day by conducting a variety of activities. October 8th is the official date set aside for World Service Day, when community work is done by club members in the various districts.

This year our club was no exception. On Sunday 21st October Lions members helped organize a World Service Day activity at the Gibson Park Centre for members from the Grandparents Rearing Grandchildren and a local refuge.

It was a welcome day's outing for members of these two groups. Children were entertained with lots of fun activities and a sausage sizzle in the park, whilst their parents enjoyed some valuable time out and relaxed over a well prepared lunch service by our Lions members, with a little help from family and friends!

A classic local world service day activity! A BIG thank you to all lions members who helped make this a very well organised event and most importantly a very special and enjoyable one for all the participants. A great team effort!

Thank you note from the "Grandparents"

On behalf of Grandparents Rearing Grandchildren WA (Inc) can I please thank all your Lions Members for the wonderful day last Sunday.
The children really enjoyed themselves and were so well watched, that we could all relax inside and enjoy the very tasty meal provided. Every one of our members commented on the fact that it was not only lovely being waited on, but without having little people interrupting us constantly, we could really relax.
Please pass on our grateful thanks to your terrific helpers, and especially to you for all your hard work.
Kaye Bendle,
President,
Grandparents Rearing Grandchildren WA (Inc)

RELAY FOR LIFE

Lions Share in Relay Record

Relay for Life started in the USA in 1985 when Dr Gordy Klatt decided that as he was an amateur athlete, he would run and walk for 24 hours to raise funds for cancer research. This was taken up and has grown into the activity that it is today and carried out in 600 communities across 20 countries throughout the world. Here in WA we have about 10 Relays for Life each year.

Relay at Joondalup was started by the Mayor of Joondalup, Troy Pickard, five years ago and through his efforts and those of the Committee it has grown to the significant fundraiser that it is today. It is held at Arena Joondalup and two Lions members sit on the Committee, PDG Jack Le Cras OAM, who is responsible for logistics and infrastructure in addition to organising the Lions catering for the event, and Howard Martin who looks after cash taken on the day. For our club this is a major event and we are proud to be part of this fundraising effort to aid cancer research to rid the world of a crippling disease that has impacted millions of lives.

This year it was held on Saturday and Sunday 13th and 14th of October. Due to two other caterers not being able to attend at the last minute, Lions found themselves responsible for catering almost the entire event, providing for the demands of the 92 teams taking part in the Relay and for the 100 or so volunteers who staffed the event throughout the weekend. This called for some rapid reassessment of requirements and many people were rushing here, there and everywhere gathering more supplies and equipment but as always Jack and the team were up to the challenge and with the assistance of some able additional volunteers, no-one had to go away hungry or thirsty. We raised a total of very nearly $6,000 and after expenses were able to donate in cash $2,500 and that was after catering for all the volunteers at no charge. This was a tremendous team effort and sincere thanks to all members who helped throughout the weekend.

Relay raised a record sum in the order of $291,000 for the entire event this year, the majority of this coming from fundraising by teams. This is a huge boost to the funding of cancer research and a great contribution by the people of the "Northern Corridor" of Perth.

 

LIONS EXERCISE THEIR MINDS FOR MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY

On 6th October about 90 Lions, relatives and friends squeezed ourselves into the Den to enjoy the annual quiz night organised by Terry and Heather Brazier in memory of their Son. There were a great variety of prizes on offer with all teams competing enthusiastically, which led to a lot of banter and if you listened carefully you may have been able to pick a few clues! As well as the quiz there were several side competitions and I'm sure I saw one or two competitors trying to sneak a look at other teams' answers to these! Terry was the MC and chose a good selection of questions that tested many different areas of general knowledge, in some cases quite severely (thanks Terry!). The result was that a good time was had by all and many left weighed down under the weight of their prizes.

Many thanks indeed go to Terry and Heather for organising the night and all those who assisted and for such a good cause. As a result of all these efforts we were able to hand over a cheque for $2,000 to John Gummer of Muscular Dystrophy WA at the next dinner meeting, a truly excellent result.

Thanks must also go to those who donated many of the prizes:

Craigie Tavern
Primo Cuccina
Target
BankWest
Bunnings
Spotlight
WA Racing
Gloucester Park
Cannington
Last but not least - many Lions members