Community Responds In Support of Lions Spring Draw

Lion Bill Garland delivers the spring draw to prize to Rozalyn Decaire of Verona.

Lions Bill Garland, Wayne Bent and Jim Scala watch Dr. Rob Roberts draw the winning entry.

Westport Lions Roar

By Lion Bill Garland

The year 2020 has been a very difficult year for many people and organizations. The Westport Lions Club is no different from most of our usual activities being cancelled in the first half of the year. With most of our fundraising activities put on hold and the need for support in the community greater than usual, we have also felt the impact of the pandemic. Thankfully, the Westport Lions Club has no debt and we are getting by.

The Spring Draw is our annual fundraiser that provides the financial resources to operate the Lions Beach property. Bob Reddick’s team of Lions and community volunteers use our Kubota tractor every morning to rake the beach to remove weeds and debris to provide a near-perfect sand playground for visitors to enjoy. They mow and trim the lawns with our John Deere mower to provide a luxurious lawn for families to spread out their blankets and enjoy a picnic at the water’s edge. We purchase and maintain equipment, buy operating supplies, pay for insurance and taxes to provide a wonderful beachfront playground for the community to enjoy free of charge. The generosity of our community through the Spring Draw allows this to happen.

The Spring Draw is usually held on Canada Day but because of the uncertainty caused by the COVID virus the draw date was pushed back to this past Saturday, August 1st. The community responded fabulously to this year’s fundraising efforts of our members, delivering record sales. Many thanks to Kudrinkos and Circle K for allowing our members to set up outside their stores and sell our tickets to their customers. Their support for our program is immeasurable.

Dr. Rob Roberts helped out on Saturday from the deck at the Lions Beach, by picking out the winning ticket from our lottery barrel. This year’s lucky winner is Rozalyn Decaire of Verona. Congratulations Rozalyn! Rozalyn purchased her Spring Draw ticket from Lion Dave Lowery.

Many thanks to the residents of our community for making this year’s Spring Draw a great success. The Lions Beach continues to be very busy every day. The financial results of this year’s Spring Draw has given our Beach Property Team the financial resources to maintain the beach property in a pristine condition allowing our visitors to maximize their enjoyment on every visit. Thanks to all and stay safe!