The Damascus Lions have been in the Holiday Giving Project since its inception. In fact, it was the Damascus Lions who began the project in the early 1950s. The Lions collected used clothing and toys and gave food to families in the area that Lions were familiar with that needed assistance. It may have been one or two families at that time but it was a well received project. As time passed by, Damascus Help became involved and provided the nearly new clothing and purchased some clothing. The Lions would collect and purchase the food and deliver to the assigned families, sometimes upward to 60 families. Help started keeping a list of area families that were in need. Our Lion Members, Hilda and Ken Diggs, heralded Help in so many different ways. Upon Hilda’s illness and around 1995, DELIA, Damascus Ecumenical Layman’s Association, along with Help administered the program and at that point, the Lions took 30 families as we then needed to purchase the clothing and the toys ourselves.. And about 6 years ago we added Thanksgiving to our project. Thus, the plan we follow today went into effect. Today Faith Connections, Inc. administers this up-county project serving upward to 300 families. The families must apply for this assistance through the county. This is where Faith Connections get the names. With their program, families getting multiple deliveries of food and gifts are almost nonexistent. Great Program!
View the November time line and the December time line. Assisting with the Holiday Giving Project this year is, Lions Chris Fletcher who does all the contacting of the families and profiling them, Bob Newlin, who coordinates the non-perishable food drives with the schools and Barbara Barry, who is my Co-Chairman.
Thanksgiving, we will deliver food only to our families. We are offering families a choice of meats this year so when the teams pick up the food to deliver, we will need to take a bit more time to make sure we have the correct meat for each family. Usually each family will have two boxes of food – enough for the Thanksgiving dinner, items for lunches, soups and another meal of pasta etc. We will purchase eggs, milk, butter, bread, potatoes, fruit, onions and the meat.
For Christmas, names of children will be distributed at the Nov. 16th meeting to Lions who would like to purchase a gift for a child. The guideline for the gift is a value of $25.00. A Shopping Team will purchase an outfit for each child spending approx. $30 per child. We will also purchase a family gift. Again we will pack up to three food boxes for delivery along with the gifts for each family.
A family in the community bakes and donates homemade bread for Thanksgiving and cookies for Christmas for each family.
The Lions prefer to deliver our food and gifts to the respective families. It has become a part of experiencing the spirit of the Holidays for us. We encourage signing up to support the project. Should you have any questions, please direct them to Lion Barbara Barry or Lion Mary Frances Gosnell.