Lions remain force for community betterment
By now we are all well aware that a microscopic menace of a virus has pretty much cancelled, closed or postponed nearly all of our regularly scheduled programing for 2020.
The Norwood Lions Club is one of the many organizations that has had to curtail or reinvent fundraising.
One of the events that the club was able to hold was the annual Lions Draw. This popular raffle with a top prize of $1,000 is traditionally drawn by the Norwood Fair ambassador at the close of the fair on Thanksgiving Monday.
The origins of this fundraiser go back quite a ways, as club records show the Lions hosting raffles for cash at the fair in 1958. Of course, with no fair this year the draw had to be modified slightly and was drawn on the Thanksgiving Monday in Lion’s Park instead of on the fairgrounds. Sticking as much to tradition as possible, they did have Ashley Vanderhorst, the reigning 2019-2020 ambassador, pick the winners.
Doug Woodwald from Port Hope was the lucky recipient of the $1,000 top prize. Norwood’s Marilyn Wharram received the $100 second prize and Susanne McImoyle from Hastings rounded out the top three winners with a $50 prize.
Fundraising is an important part of the Lions’ activities, for it is only by raising funds that they are able to fulfil their mandate of community betterment. The club was actually formed 68 years ago and the community of Norwood would look considerably different if not for the numerous projects and efforts of the Norwood Lions Club.
It was in the latter part of 1951
and the first weeks of 1952 when a group of communityminded individuals held the first meetings of what would soon become the Norwood Lions Club. These meetings were held in the King’s Hotel with members from the sponsoring Lions Club from Peterborough who indoctrinated the new club’s members with the practices and principles of Lionism.
The club held its first charter night on Jan. 30, 1952 in a ceremony at the Norwood Town Hall. A total of 30 members took the pledge and received the charter, officially forming the Norwood Lions Club. “Of course, you cannot do very much work for your community when you are broke,” was a statement made by one new Lion, so club members immediately set to work to raise funds for their projects.
The club has contributed
more than $1.5 million and countless hours to village projects and international projects.
It is very likely that many amenities would not exist in the village without the contributions and ideas from the club. Among their many projects, the club is responsible for numbering the houses in Norwood, providing a blue box to every household to get the recycling program started, renovations to the Norwood Town Hall and an addition to the library. The Lions park by the river was created by the club in the 1960s. The club was also a major sponsor and source of labourers to help construct Norwood’s new park and splash pad beside the community centre, the same community centre that received $355,000 from the club to help make it a reality in 2004.
The club has donated to the Campbellford Hospital, particularly when they were raising
funds to purchase a CT scanner, support a Christmas toy drive each year and is committed to supporting the Norwood Hospice project.
Membership has fluctuated over the years, with 50 active members today who dedicate themselves to the same motto that the original 30 did: “We Serve.”
“The year 1952 was the beginning of an era: Elizabeth II became the queen of England and Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the president of the United States. However, the event that had more effect on the people of the community of Norwood than both of these events combined was the chartering of the Norwood Lions Club.”
Those words were written about 30 years ago by the late Dave McNeil, a charter member of the Norwood Lions Club, and his words are as true now as
they were when he wrote them. The Norwood Lions Club continues to be an important and vital presence in the community and a driving force for “community betterment.”
The first Lions Club was founded by Melvin Jones in June of 1917 in Chicago, Illinois. Today there are 1.4 million members in 35,000 clubs in over 200 countries around the world.
The Norwood Lions will also be holding their annual Christmas draw this year featuring a chance to win one of eight gift certificates ranging in value from $400 to $50 and all purchased from local retailers. Tickets are $2 each, 3 for $5 or 10 for $10. The draw will take place on Dec. 23. Tickets can be purchased from any Norwood Lions member or by calling Hugh Chaplin at 705-639-2205 or Don Snider at 705-696-1949.