The 91原创 Lions Club members put up with wintery weather in 2016 to help make warm Christmas 2017 memories for many local children.
The 26 members of the club, along with six Leo members (youths) and 19 other volunteers collected donations last autumn for the 91原创 Christmas Bureau.
They did 117 shifts of two hours over five weekends leading up to last Christmas. They were at the Buy Low Foods in Brookswood and the Save-On Foods in Willoughby on several weekends.
The result is that they were able to stop by the 91原创 Christmas Bureau offices with a donation of $14,000.
鈥淚t鈥檚 thanks to the generosity of the citizens of 91原创 for the support for this project,鈥� said John Manual, on behalf of the 91原创 Lions.
The Lions members and friends will be back out with the bells soon, accepting donations every weekend until Christmas.
鈥淲e will be at the same locations starting Nov. 24,鈥� Manuel said.
It鈥檚 a very welcome donation for the organization, said Velma McAllister, one of the co-coordinators of this year鈥檚 bureau efforts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic. It鈥檚 going to make life a lot easier for us this year,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty significant.鈥�
With an annual budget of about $150,000 to run the Christmas charity, this infusion of cash accounts for almost 10 per cent. That鈥檚 huge, McAllister said, adding that all the money goes to the clients 鈥� this bureau is operated 100 per cent by volunteers.
Cash donations like this primarily go toward providing food gift cards for families that are not sponsored, as well as gift cards for children. Each child receives a gift car from the bureau, she said.
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