Halfway through the month and the foliage colors have been spectacular, especially during the Columbus Day weekend. Then we had strong winds and our lawns looked golden with all the fallen leaves.
We have done a lot of vision screening in just over two weeks. Four schools (Gilmanton, Gilford, Interlakes Elementary, and Tuftonboro netted 1,073 students screened with 83 referrals to see an eye doctor. Then at the Sandwich Fair, eight Lions screened 388 people with 70 referrals.
And speaking of the Sandwich Fair, we had a new vision screening shed donated by the Fair, complete with electrical wiring. We wish to thank the Fair for this. We bought a new vision screening banner to complement the new shed.
We had our last raffle sales at Heath’s for the year and the last Friday of the month we will be stuffing envelopes and mailing letters and raffle tickets out to people. Final (in-person) sales will occur at Moultonborough Central School on Saturday, December 7, up until the 1 pm drawing for the $5000 prize.
Speaking of the raffle, ten members spent 25 hours, stamping envelopes, stapling tickets, and putting address labels on envelopes getting ready for the large mailing which occurred this Friday (10/25). At that time eleven Moultonborough Lions spent an incredibly fast two hours, stuffing over 1,000 envelopes.
The large Bingo jackpot of just over $1,100 was won on Tuesday, October 15 with three individuals sharing the pot. But don’t despair, it will build up again and Bingo provides a fun and entertaining weekend.
At the October dinner meeting, we had as our guests the District Governor (Steve Middlemass) and District Secretary (Valencia Williams) and District Treasurer (Scott Williams). The DG spoke of his visions for NH Lions for this year as well as those of the International Present. He also initiated a new Moultonborough Lion, Marilyn Indelicato (who in the past belonged to both a Lioness and Lions Club). Those of you who play Bingo have probably seen Marilyn there.
Also the dinner meeting was when we finalized the collection of gifts for the residents of the pediatric cancer wing at Dartmouth/Hitchcock. Individual members purchased approximately $800 of books, toys, stuffed animals, gift cards, and clothes which will be taken to the hospital in the next week or so.
And lastly, on the 30th of October, we had a little Christmas in October as Dawn, Michelle, Joanne, and Sally made ornaments to put on our Festival of Lights tree which will be on display at the very beginning of December and then given to a local family. We decided on a theme of Warmth of Christmas and plan to have real and home-made “decorations” of scarves, sweaters, socks, hats, and mittens.
