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From the Lions' Den

The Lions year runs from July 1st to June 31st but the Carlyle Club does not meet for the first two months because people are at their cottages, travelling, golfing, fishing, gardening or attending to any number of other pleasurable 'fun in the sun'

The Lions year runs from July 1st to June 31st but the Carlyle Club does not meet for the first two months because people are at their cottages, travelling, golfing, fishing, gardening or attending to any number of other pleasurable 'fun in the sun' activities.

Lions work does not stop simply because meetings stop. The summer is the busiest time for Lions Park and the Lions Campground. Lion Leo Grossman keeps tabs on what needs to be done and other Lions lend assistance as necessary. This season the road to the campground collapsed because of the flooding and rain this spring and had to be rebuilt. The clearing of four new camp sites began but had to be put off until conditions were dry enough to remove the dirt. A new washroom car was purchased and installed in time for the RCMP reunion and the Provincial Baseball Playoffs. On a continuous basis the grass needs to be cut, garbage picked up, weeds removed, wood cut for campers and fees collected. Throughout the spring and summer the camp sites have been full most of the time. A conservative estimate of volunteer hours spent by Lions maintaining the park in a useable condition from May 1st to October 31st would be 1100 hours. In addition to that a considerable amount of money is spent. The cost of the road repair was about $8000. The cost of the washroom car was $33,000 close to half of which is being covered by other users of the park and some donations specified for that purpose. At least $6000 more covers grass cutting, repairs, equipment rental and labour for certain jobs.

Over the summer Lions members continued to sell 50/50 tickets for the Provincial Lions Foundation. The money raised will go toward Children's Ophthalmology in Saskatchewan. This project finishes in November with the winner being declared in December. Check it out at splf.sklions.ca.

The Directors of the Lions Life Lease project have been investigating the feasibility of constructing four additional units on the available property. This has been an on again off again proposal as people have indicated interest and then made other decisions. We eagerly await the final decision.

We resumed the 2011/2012 year in September with President Lion Wayne Wilson, VP Pat Anderson, Treasurer Leo Grossman and Secretary Myrla Holland as the executive. The president organized 4 Dens with specific duties assigned to each. Committees were established for the calendar project, the 200 Club, the annual supper & auction, Lions Park, Visitation, Publicity and Membership Expansion. When our regular club, zone and region events and activities are added it appears that 2011/2012 will be a normally busy year.

The first donation of this year is $1300.00 to the Carlyle Fire Department. This money was raised from the battery recycle project managed by Lion Wayne Wilson. The club will donate $300 to the Minor Hockey Association and $200 to the Children's Wish Foundation via Tyson Lachapelle when he participates in the wish makers walk later in Estevan. The Lions Club previously helped the Lachapelle family when they were struggling with health concerns. For more information about donations and projects check out our web site at carlylelionsclub.com.

We were very pleased to have Nasir Butt at our last meeting. He had been a member in the past and has indicated his interest in being a member again. We were also pleased to have Sheila Menard join us but were sad that she and her small group have found it impossible to continue with the soccer program they have been trying to establish. Lack of parental assistance and lack of ongoing funding were the major problems. She is now distributing the assets they have back to other community groups who will be able to use them.

Many participate in our 200 Club project and recent recipients of $100 each are: July: Kirk Johnson; August: Jimmy Chan; September: Betty Cochrane.