Lions Club of Rye – Our Story

The Lions Club of Rye chartered by the Lions Club of Sorrento in 1972 with 26 charter members.

The town of Rye is about 100 kilometres from state capital city of Melbourne and is a seaside town and popular holiday destination.

Whilst not a large club in numbers compared with some others we have maintained a stable membership of around 25 over the years and with the support of members partners we have the numbers to undertake a considerable number of activities.

We are well known for our Lions Annual Boat Raffle which is our major source of revenue to support our service program and each year since 1972 we have conducted this fundraising project. Sadly this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic we shall not be conducting our raffle but we shall be back again when we can.

In addition to our boat raffle we do raise funds through our catering activities with our BBQ trailer and we support many local organisations by attending their functions and selling our food product with all funds raised being passed on to the organisation hosting the event.

We are well known in our local area and enjoy a special relationship with local schools and many community groups and this results in us maintaining a high community profile and awareness with the community at large.

With our service projects we have a special interest in the youth of our community plus those who are doing it tough and need a bit of help and one way we do this is through our support of food agencies and breakfast programs which are provided by local church groups and other benevolent organisations – These are low cost but high value projects and are very rewarding.

Our major community project is our sponsorship and support of a team of young people from a disadvantaged background who play football in a competition set up by a government organisation known as RecLink and this group was formed and managed by local police personnel in our area. Our role is to provide food and drinks for the team on match and training days and just by us being involved we provide a positive mentoring role to the players. The personal growth in terms of the individual’s behaviour and responsibility is easily seen.

As well as our support of the local community we are very much aware of our role in supporting Lions projects of a national and international nature and the Lions Club of Rye makes significant donations to the major Lions Foundations to aid the great activities and projects that they manage.

And above all we have a great time as a member of the Lions Club of Rye.