By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
On December 18, the Burlington Lions Club celebrated its 100th anniversary by donating $100,000 to three Burlington organizations, with each group getting $33,333.
The recipients were Carpenter Hospice, a home for terminally ill patients, which also offers grief and bereavement counselling; Community Living Burlington, which provides for those with developmental disabilities by providing programs, resources and employment services; and Shifra Homes, which provides maternity residence for young pregnant women experiencing homelessness or crisis.
The cheque presentation was held at the home of the Lions Club at 471 Pearl Street, and was attended by various dignitaries, including Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, Wards 2 and 5 councillors Lisa Kearns and Paul Sharman, respectively, Burlington MP Karina Gould, Burlington North-Milton West MP Adam van Koeverden and Oakville North-Burlington MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos.
Kearns and Sharman are also both members of the club.
John Fanjoy, president of the Burlington Lions Club, said that getting to meet the people they give the money to is “the best part of being a Lion.”
According to Fanjoy, the Burlington Lions Club is the second-oldest Lions Club in Ontario and the oldest service club in Burlington.
“Over the last 50 years, the Burlington Lions Club has contributed to numerous facilities, donating over $500,000 to the Joseph Brant Hospital, $200,000 to the Burlington Seniors’ Centre, and over $600,000 to funding the Mountainside Arena and Skyway Community Centre and Park.”
Fanjoy said that in recent years, the group’s focus has shifted from community building to helping those in need.
Gould noted that helping those in need is still part of building the community: “ Even though it’s not necessarily physical infrastructure, it’s building the social infrastructure fabric that makes this community so special.”
Kim Pearson, executive director of Carpenter Hospice, accepted the donation on the organization’s behalf.
“When I think of community, I think of how important the community has been along the way,” Pearson said. “This gift is significant because we don’t charge any of our clients anything for our services. So this is going to have a significant impact on our organization.”
Pearson said that her grandparents were Lions and taught her the values of compassion and service. The Lions have long supported the hospice, starting from its founding in 2003, and helping out through the years with donations for expansions and redesigns.
Judy Pryde, executive director of Community Living Burlington, was also on hand to accept the Lions’ donation.
“This year was our organization’s 70th year, so it’s been a year of celebrating for us as well,” Pryde said. “This is a great way to finish up the year with this very generous donation.”
“We have a vast amount of services,” Pryde continued. “And with that, there’s still quite a large waiting list in our community, and that list continues to grow and grow and grow. Funding, however, doesn’t seem to be able to keep up. So with that pressure and additional support that we receive from initiatives like this, we are very, very grateful.”
The last of the three donations went to Shifra Homes; Nancy Romic, the organization’s executive director, was there to accept the donation.
“When I took over Shifra Homes 13 years ago, they were on the verge of closing for the second time,” Romic said. “I’m so thankful that somehow I made that connection and we were able to save our beautiful charity and take it from one home and three beds, to now three houses and 17 beds.”
The politicians in attendance shared their connections and reflections on the Lions Club as an organization and its impact. Van Koeverden remembers the Lions Club in Oakville, where he grew up, because of its connection to the Burloak Canoe Club.
“I went there every day before school and every day after school, until I got myself to the Olympics,” Koeverden said. “And I kept going, and I kept going, and every Tuesday night we’d have to clear all of our equipment out of the big room, as we called it, because the Lions were coming.”
“The Lions were like stewards of our Canoe Club, supporters of our community club and community sport,” Koeverden said. “And they were always such wonderful cohabitants of the club, even though they never got on the water, they were always there to support our club, and we really consider them family.”
Meed Ward lauded the Lions ongoing work in Burlington.
“We know in government that we couldn’t do the work that we do, serving our community, without partners like you,” Meed Ward said. “We need you, and I want you to know how much we know that we need you to help us serve the community.”
“You really do embody the city motto of ‘Stand By,’” Meed Ward continued. “And that means we stand together, and we stand with each other, in good times and tough times. We are ready for service. And that’s how our veterans understand it. For them, ‘Stand By’ is a call to be ready when somebody needs help. And you have embodied that spirit for a hundred years.”
