CLUB HISTORY
Our Chester Basin New Ross Chester Lions Club was chartered in October 1998, with a membership of 21 men and women. Mahone Bay Area Lions Club was our sponsor.
We serve the communities of Chester, Chester Basin and New Ross and their surrounding communities. With our current membership, we have a balanced representation from all of the three main areas we serve. We are very active and take part in many service activities which better the communities we serve.
While attempting to form a club in the spring of 1998, the Mahone Bay & Area Lions Club, including a number of our prospective Lions, held two service projects. A Barney the Dinosaur concert was held at Chester District School to raise money for specialized equipment for a hearing impaired child at that school. This was a very successful project. We also held a shop-free at the Chester Save Easy that raised money for service activities. These two projects of our sponsoring club helped increase public awareness about the work of Lions Clubs.
Our active involvement at all levels of Lionism has resulted in our club receiving some major awards. Some of the awards received by our club over the years has been: Best club in 2001-02, 2002-03 & 2005-06; Rose Bowl trophy, Walk for Dog Guides trophy, best bulletin, runner-up best president, best secretary, runner-up best secretary, best public relations trophy, best website, and a photo submitted by one of our members came in second in the environmental contest.
Internationally our club donates to Lions Clubs International Foundation. Our club was a model club for Campaign Site First 2 and a number of donations have been made to disasters that have occured around the world.
Nationally our club donates to Lions Foundation of Canada. Our club sponsored five Guide Dogs, particapted in annual Walk for Dog Guides and support other Foundation fundraisers.
Provincially our club donates to Lions Foundation of Nova Scotia by purchasing Life Memberships.
Locally our club supported seniors programs, one of which is the Wheels to Meals program held at Chester Basin Legion. Our club aslo installs and services Emergency Response Systems for Northwood Intouch.
For Local Youth our club awards two bursaries annually to graduating students from our area. We support youth sports by donating to Pro Kids, donate to Safe Graduation program, donated to New Ross Sports Complex and Chester Rink. A pledge of $5,000 has been made to Camp Brigadoon, annually support Camp Maxwell a camp for youth with type 1 diabetes and have supported a number of other school projects.
For Other Local Community Support: Two major projects were the Lions Park at Shoreham Village Home for Special Care in Chester and the New Ross Lions Park. Our club donates annually to the South Shore Regional Hospital Foundation, Bonny Lea Farm, recently a pledge of $25,000 was mae to Our Health Centre in Chester. Our club also participates annually in the Relay for Life, donates to CNIB, Canadian Diabetes Association and many more local and provincial fundraisers.
Lions can be found on a number of service projects, keeping with our motto "We Serve".
