Santa and his elves never cease to amaze me with their givings and their doings!
The jolly guy in the red suit can stir the anxieties in the young as well as the older. By the time the jolly, ole guy visited the members during the Holiday Dinner Party, he had inspired all to get involved – Christmas was coming. And so it was – Wednesday witnessed a record turnout to sort the nonperishables . Thursday witnessed an efficient wrapping team with no fuss nor mess – just got the job done. Thanks to Partners-In-Service Bonnie Mayhew and Jennifer Molesworth and Prospective Member Barbara Devine who wrapped all the clothing and packaged them. Great job! And Team members who came to pack their family boxes offered to help with many other jobs. Upon opening shop on Friday, we witnessed a room was full of bags of toys – how Santa got them there I don’t know and it wasn’t on a motorcycle either – but thanks to some family members for the help.
In the afternoon, Leos arrived and started packing items into the boxes and making things look Christmassy. Later in the afternoon during a snow squall, a “sleigh” stopped by the door, doors and trunk open to display a load of beautifully decorated boxes of cookies – the Goldstein Family had arrived in fashion! All was in place and organized by the close of the day. Saturday morn was a scurry of teams greeting each other, getting their coffee, loading their “sleighs” and announcing “And away we go!” All the deliveries were made within an hour, the unused foods were delivered to the Help Food Closet and we were ready to close up shop. As the teams returned we heard that the mother whose twin 6 year olds were receiving the two bicycles had sent the children with their grandmother. She wanted to hide the bikes until Christmas morning. She was so excited. And another mother asked that the gifts be put in her car. She wanted to keep them for Christmas morning for her children. Santa greeted several families on his run and a member of one community ran him down and gave him a donation towards the project. You just read a description of a lair of Lions, family members and friends making Christmas happen! What at team!
You may recall that it was the Damascus Lions Club who started this project some 60 plus years ago. They gave used clothing and foods to a few families that they knew were in need. The project has grown over the years and has become more sophisticated in a good way. But don’t let us Lions forget, it was our forefathers who had this idea that there are neighbors in our community who need support and that they can depend on the Lions being there for them. We don’t know the circumstances of their need but we do it from the heart. We Serve!
Thanks to all of you, your family members, your neighbors and friends for your support with such a great and rewarding project!
Donations – Toothbrushes and Toothpaste from Schoeb D.D.S., Cookies from the Goldstein Family, Dinner rolls from Huang Distributing, Toys from Tradesmen Motorcycle Club, Stocking Stuffers from the Lion members and Rozanne Tedder, Gloves and hats from Lion members, Rocky Hill Middle School, John T. Baker Middle School and Damascus High School and Nuclear Regulatory Agency all had food drives and apples from Butlers Orchard, candy from Lions, boxes from David Stone
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