The Narrabri Lions Club and Narrabri Lions Auxiliary continue to roar ahead, making some great contributions to the community.
Club members and guests celebrated the two organisations’ success at a changeover dinner at the Narrabri RSL on Saturday evening.
Lions and the Lions Auxiliary have collectively contributed thousands of dollars to the local community in the past 12 months, as well as more than 1700 volunteer hours.
In his president’s report, Tom Bennett reflected on the Lions Club’s achievements.
The club assisted a local young soccer player to attend a training experience in Germany, sponsored the Narrabri Show Young Woman Competition, again partnered with The Courier for the annual Christmas lights competition, and contributed towards the presentation of school awards.
Mr Bennett said donations were also made to the Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation, Mid North Coast Lions District Flood Disaster Fund and Lions Prostate Cancer Research & Treatment Foundation.
Among the club activities carried out were catering projects, having the Lions barbecue at the monthly markets, Lions mint sales, Lions Christmas cakes, a chocolate wheel at the Christmas street carnival, assisting the Lions Auxiliary with its lawn cemetery seating project, taking part in the Big Lift with 80 volunteer students being hosted overnight, upgrading the fowl house and landscaping at Whiddon Jessie Hunt, yard work and landscaping at Whiddon Robert Young, and yard clean-up work.
Lions were also active at community events, catering for Local Government Week, the Bushmans’ Carnival breakfast and lunch, Namoi Jobs and Trades Show, a rugby carnival, the Trek 4 Kids car rally, Narrabri West school fete and WTC Charity Golf Day.
The Lions Auxiliary also had many reasons to celebrate, with some great achievements in the past year.
In her president’s report, Melissa Hancock said the auxiliary’s ongoing activities included the making and delivering of ‘Bookworm’ library bags to more than 200 kindergarten children to 14 schools in the shire.
The Lions Auxiliary proudly celebrated 20 successful years of its ‘Bookworm Bags’ program with a special event featuring renowned Australian author Nat Amoore.
Across three days, Nat delivered a vibrant and entertaining performance to students from 13 schools across the district, captivating young readers and inspiring a love for books.
She was also the distinguished guest speaker at the celebration evening, which brought together past and present Lions members, mayor Darrell Tiemens, school representatives, and valued members of the community.
The Lions Auxiliary continues ongoing projects of hospital toiletry bags for emergency patients to local hospitals, the crisis centre and Ronald McDonald House.
The Lions Auxiliary also provides comforter ‘Cuddle Buddies’ for children in trauma situations at Narrabri Hospital, including the emergency department, X-Ray and pathology.
The bears are also given to the police and ambulance stations and other local community mental health services.
The Lions Auxiliary have continued to collect old prescription eyeglasses, which are checked and repaired and distributed through Lions Recycling for those in need in developing countries.
Catering projects continued by operating the canteen at numerous pistol shoots for the Narrabri Pistol Club. Also, catering for the Lions Golf Day and cooking delicious cakes and slices for a Saturday morning street stall.
The Lions Auxiliary, with generous support from Santos, has provided three new bench seats for the Narrabri Lawn Cemetery. Narrabri Shire Council contributed an additional seat, making a total of four new places for quiet reflection and rest.
The auxiliary issued a heartfelt thank you to the Lions for their hands-on assistance with the installation, and to Santos for their ongoing commitment to supporting the local
community.
Following the reports and presentation of awards, incoming officers were inducted.
Rod Onus will serve as Lions Club president for the next year while Melissa Hancock continues to serve as Lions Auxiliary president.
Other incoming Lions officers include secretary Bob Percival, treasurer John McPherson, immediate past president and program director Tom Bennett, first vice president Stephen Jones, second vice president Tim Tapscott, third vice president and two year director Darrell Anderson, marketing officer Ross Campbell, service projects officer Fred Shepherdson, membership director Bernie Large, Lion tamer Paul Owens, one year director Rob Gilbert, one year director, tail twister and LCIF coordinator Vince Haire, and two year director Dean Hancock.
In the Lions Auxiliary, incoming officers also include secretary Kerrie Haire, treasurer and tail twister Jean Fairless, immediate past president Sheryl Barnes, first vice president Gloria Brown, second vice president Chris Rex, third vice president Dawn Armstrong, and Lions Auxiliary liaison officer Bernie Large.
