Westport Lions Roar
By Jim Scala
How many years exactly is hard to determine but based on the memory of our longest serving member Jim McGlade it is believed to be about 30 years.
Each year we sellout 1000 calendars numbered 000-999 to local area residents, seasonal residents and visitors. Using the OLG Pick Three evening draw lottery numbers we select a winner every day except Sunday. Over the year that is 312 winning numbers, paid $20 Monday to Friday and $40 on Saturday. The only exceptions are New Years Day $1000, Canada Day $500, the first Saturday in December “Happy Shopping Day” $1000 and $100 each of the remaining Saturdays before Christmas, $10,000 in total.
The price of the calendars has remained the same since the beginning $20 each with the option of purchasing six for $100, a popular Christmas gifting idea. The increasing cost of printing and distribution has been offset by our local area advertisers’ allowing us to keep the cost the same in these times of rising prices.
All of the net proceeds are donated to programs and organizations with purposes that support:
– Youth mental and physical development
-Senior’s mental and physical well being
-Relief of pain, suffering and financial hardship due to illness or disaster
-Purposes Beneficial to the Community
To keep the cost of printing down we produce the calendar in black and white enhancing the appearance with photos of life in our area from 1900 to 1960 or so. Some of the pictures featured in the 2018 calendar are: 1957 Westport Skating club members, 1903 Idelwild Hotel (now the Opinicon), 1936 Bell’s School students and my favorite the 1921, 20 passenger railway car running between Brockville and Westport nicknamed the Jitney.
Speaking to local resident Wenda Lyons she tells me, when her grandmother used the Jitney to travel to the hospital in Brockville to have her baby, she was told to go home as she was not ready, yet, on the return trip she gave birth to Wenda’s father Jitney Jim Lyons.
All 1000 numbers remain active throughout the year, about one third of the draw numbers are repeat winners in some cases three times in the year. Recently one of the $1000 winners had won $20 just a week before, another daily winner won three times in a four week period. Winners are announced in the Review Mirror, on our Face Book page and our web site westportlions.ca.
Thank you all for supporting our efforts to make our communities a better place to live.
Westport Lions Club 