By Hollie Harris
The Tewantin Noosa Lions Club is ready to celebrate its 50th year of service to our local community.
The 50th year president David Watts says it is quite a privilege to be a part of.
“I would like to thank all past and present members for their commitment to Lions and to the local community over the last 50 years,” Mr Watts said.
These days, attracting young people to Lions has been difficult. One way to integrate some the younger community into the club has been with the introduction of the Youth of the Year program. Local schools Good Shepherd Lutheran College and St Theresa’s Catholic College provide students to participate in this program. Young people between the ages of 15 and 19 are elegible to enter this prestigious event which has been in existence for the last 46 years.
“Once you see the calibre of these young people, you know the future of our country is in good hands,” Mr Watts said.
The idea is to encourage, foster and develop leadership skills within our youth. It provides incentive to develop exceptional qualities and offers the opportunity to become recognised as an outstanding role model in the community.
The club has always been held in high regard by the community and this is largely due to past members who have been heavily involved in making sure that things happen to benefit everyone.
“It is up to us as current Lions, although we do things differently to uphold the hard dedicated work by these past members using our individual skill sets to our advantage,” Mr Watts said.
The club attracts people from southern state and New Zealand who came here to retire or go into business while enjoying the laid-back lifestyle. This expansion has made the club one of the largest and with many visiting Lions too, the club has been able to roll out many highly successful fund-raising projects.
Other ways the local club members are digging deep can be found everywhere we look. Funds raised have enabled so many people in our community in different ways – a truck load of furniture for Bundaberg’s flood victims, to families to pay for wheelchair hoists for their cars, Katie Rose Cottage donations, the Lions Emergency Accommodation Centre helping those who are homeless, donations to Noosa Respite Centre, support and donations to country folk struggling with severe drought with Project Winton, Wesley Care Home in Tewantin, which provides joy and music to those in need, and the club offers many donations to help residents engage and interact as normally as possible.
These are just a few ways club members are on the ground helping the community.
After 50 years of serving the community, Noosa Today would like to extend a humble thank you to all members of Tewantin Noosa Lions Club. Every volunteer and every dollar raised has helped our community greatly and we wish you all another successful 50 years ahead.
