For many years the Lions Club of Cambridge Park Inc in company with Santa Claus, has travelled the streets of Cambridge Park/Werrington on Christmas Eve dispensing lollies and goodwill to the community..
In January 2005, just after the tragic Tsunami however a young man, just 10 years old at the time, suggested that Santa travel the streets again asking people to consider giving Santa just a small donation to assist the Tsunami victims. Thus the “Reverse Santa Run” was born. Our Sister Club, the Lions Club of Wellawatta West, Colombo, Sri Lanka, received $3,900 as a result of that exercise.
Blake Tickner lives in our neighbourhood and 2005 was a busy year for him. In the middle of the year his school raised money to send a fellow student to the U.S.A for vital surgery. Blake raised $1,000 which was the highest amount raised by any one student. For his efforts he won a BMX bike. That BMX bike, still in its carton, was been donated to us to raffle with proceeds going to a needy person or organization.
Earlier in the year that Blake instigated the “Reverse Santa Run” mentioned above he wrote us a letter. We would like to share this letter with ALL Lions and friends as we feel it is something very special and is deserving of the widest possible recognition.
With the barest amount of editing the following is exactly as written. Is this a Lion in the making?
WHAT IS A LION
What Has 4 legs, sharp teeth, a furry mane and is king of the jungle?
Yes it’s a Lion but that’s not the type of Lion I’m talking about here today, Can you think about another type of Lion? Did you know there is another type of Lion roaming freely through our community?
Yes, that’s right – in our community – a large or small group of people who live near each other and share common interests.
Can you imagine a Lion living next door to you?
Let me tell you, a Lion is fairly ordinary sort of person. They are you; they are me; they work for a living; they can be retired; they can be Australian, Chinese – any nationality. They are all very different people who come together as a club.
The Lions Clubs International is the largest service organization in the world.
All Lions care about our local and international communities. What one person can do is limited – but joined together, many people can do greater things. Its main aim is provide service and assistance to the less fortunate while having fun, making new friends and learning new skills.
Sometimes things can get difficult. Having to constantly ask the community for donations and support to help others can be exhausting and getting everybody to agree on a common project can also take lots of discussion. But that’s what living in a community is all about – being there for each other even if we all do not agree.
The Lions Club caters for everyone in the community. You can be a Lion if you are a man or a lioness if you are a woman. They also have a club that caters for youths aged between 12 and 28 years within our community. They are called Leos.
At Christmas 2004 the Lions Club of Cambridge Park set up a new ands special club for one day only. That was the time I became a Lion Cub for a day.
Every year the lions Club of Cambridge Park Inc drives around the local streets with Santa and his helpers on the back of a truck distributing lollies and Christmas cheer in the community
After the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004 they again drove around but this time the community gave back. The local people donated money and educational supplies to be sent over to Sri Lanka to help the children get back to school. We raised $3,900.00. I also managed to collect 100 exercise books, 50 pencils, scrapbooks and coloured pencils to send to the school. I even made a new friend from doing this. I now have a pen pal in Sri Lanka. His name is Laskan and we write to each other every few months.
That’s the sort of thing the Lions Club of Cambridge Park does.
The Lions are the ones who provided a wheel chair for a little boy.
The Lions are the ones who painted a lonely pensioner’s home.
Lions are the ones that enjoy helping our community and along the way the Lions are the ones that have fun doing so.
The Lions are the ones who will listen to the smallest voice. After all they listened to my idea and together as a group and as a community we were able to make a difference even in another country. Being a Cub for a day was great and who knows, one day I may even grow a mane and become a real Lion.
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