History 2000 – 2010
2000 – 2010 Highlights:
Several Club members and their wives attend the International Convention in San Diego.
In December, 1999, Lions Court is renamed Lions Garey Ham Court, recognizing the dedication of Lion Garey Ham to the Mount Seymour Lions Housing Society.
Rob Dalton is District Governor in 2000/01.
Club members in a number of cooking teams now prepare the meals for most dinner meetings. Seycove Secondary students provide clean up services after each meal. Most members gain weight.
The Club begins Raven Pub Nights, with meat and cash draws in 2002. Funds raised are initially used for Christmas Hampers, which are delivered to deserving families in our local area. For some years, the Raven project was successful, and considerable amounts are raised and donated to the Harvest Project and to the Lions Foundation of Canada to train a Seeing Eye dog.
The Club staffs the beer garden at the 24 Hour Relay for the Kids, starting in 2002. All proceeds go to the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities Easter Seal Camp operations.
The Canvass for the Kids or “Shake the Can” tradition continues. 80% of the proceeds go to the B.C. Lions Society for Children with Disabilities for their Easter Seal operations. 20% of proceeds go to a different local charity each year.
The Club members celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2006.
The Club has cut back on some food services in recent years and added one or two new ones. Selected major food events are undertaken, such as the Canada Day Parade, and the Little League Opening Day. In the last couple of years we added food services at the North Shore Bike Fest and Parkgate Family Days.
The Club produced and sold lottery calendars in 2006/7/8. This was a very good fundraiser with all proceeds going to North Shore charities.
The Club sponsored a Kermode Bear (Spirit Bear) in Spring 2006; the bear was decorated by Richard Brodeur (King Richard of the Vancouver Canucks). The club also sponsored an eagle for “Eagles in the City”, also painted by Richard Brodeur. Both sculptures were auctioned off with all proceeds going to support the Easter Seal operations of the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities.
Our Breakfast with Santa event continues to grow. We have an excellent partnership for the event with Parkgate Community Services. We get wonderful community support and typically serve some 500 breakfasts in two sittings. The 2010 event involved 115 volunteers, including students from three local elementary schools, a 55 voice choir from Seycove Secondary, and a16 member band led by our club member Wilf Fawcett.
2000 – 2010 Presidents:
John Kusnir, Larry Chute, Gerry St. Laurent, Richard Stott, Jamie Innes, John Kusnir, Geoffrey Wells, Al Cummings, Dennis Simpson, Dave Mair
