Lions club funding helps community

TORQUAY Lions Club is celebrating a successful year of giving back by providing more than $45,000 to community groups and initiatives.

Club treasurer Brian Kane said despite the challenges COVID-19 threw at the group, the local Lions maintained their objective of thinking “community-first”.

“Given the prevalence of COVID-19 and the circumstances we’ve had to deal with through that, whether it be for fundraising event or markets being cancelled, we had to be innovative this past year,” Mr Kane said.

“Events like our Torquay Duck Cup, which raised close to $2,000, and our annual Charity Bowls Day, which was moved to a later date, are just a couple of examples that spring to mind.”

Torquay Lions top donations for 2021-22 included fundraising for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal ($13,120), the Ocean View Garden Project ($7,816) and Torquay SES ($7,500).

Primary school scholarships totalled $2,500 over the past 12 months and $4,000 went to Australian and International Disaster Relief Funds.

Funds allocated to Sun Dial Repairs, the Edenhope Lions Club Bushfire Support fund and Foundation 61 were the remaining allocations awarded sums of $1,000 or more.

Other recipients included Jan Juc and Torquay SLSC, Anam Cara Hospice, Torquay Food Aid and more.

“I would say this has been a successful year as a whole because we’ve been able to do things differently,” Mr Kane said.

“We’ve been able to think a little bit differently this year, so it’s a great outcome to donate the $45,310 that we did.

“We have a very enthusiastic leadership team who are full of great ideas and are looking to do things differently.

“However, our membership in an overall sense is ageing, so we can’t necessarily rely on the 40 or so members that we’ve had in the past to be able to remain as energetic as in the past.

“That’s why we’re encouraging men and women to think about joining the Lions and start giving back to our community.”

The Lions Club is encouraging local businesses and community groups to think about the upcoming round of allocations during 2022-23.

Those interested in becoming a member can do so at [email protected]