Lions Clubs do tend to concentrate on fund raising for their local community but donations are often made to the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), which is involved with relief effort all over the world especially where there has been a major disaster such as an earthquake or flooding. Much work has also been done over the years with the blind such as establishing glaucoma screening clinics in third world countries and providing spectacles made up from recycled lenses that are no longer required by the original wearer. The Lions introduced the familiar white sticks carried by some blind people and the Tavistock Lions Club have also financed 4 guide dogs for use in the local community. The club is not just involved in fund raising activities however and carries out other projects within the community such as providing Christmas hampers for under privileged families, helping out with gardening and decorating projects and assisting the Tavistock Town Council with the park and ride scheme during Goose Fair. In celebration of the new Millennium, the club installed over 25 new boundary markers around the Parish of Tavistock with local schools filling 8 time capsules which were then buried beneath some of the new granite boundary stones. In 2018 and 2019,
Tavistock Lions distributed presents to local schools with Father Christmas
assisted by his trusty elves. His transport was a wonderful sleigh that Lion
Richard Marlow, with support from Tavistock Rotary, had designed and
constructed as a carriage for last year's Carnival princess and
attendants and which during the autumn he had cleverly converted into transport
more suited for our winter visitors! So just before the schools broke up for
this year's Christmas holidays, the sleigh set off once again on its journey
around the Tavistock area, as well as Whitchurch, Horrabridge, Gulworthy and
Lamerton visiting 7 local infant and junior schools distributing around 300
presents, one to each of the 43 classes. Father Christmas and his elves said
that they were delighted with the reception that they had received at all the schools
and how grateful all of the children had been with their gifts. Father Christmas was also very busy with members of Tavistock Rotary as he helped them with their bucket collections around the streets of Tavistock and again with the Lions for their collections in Bedford Square, with some of the proceeds of the Lion's collection going to Children's Hospice South West. If you would like more information on how the Lions Club of Tavistock may be able to help your organisation, please contact the Community Services Chairman using the details listed on the Contact Us page. Among organisations to receive large donations from Tavistock Lions in recent years are:
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