By Mikayla van Loon
Lions is looking to set up a club in Lilydale to help fill a need and provide for the community come 2023 and beyond.
Vice District Governor Lyn Perera said while there used to be a Lions Club in Lilydale a number of years ago a gap has now presented itself.
“We have Croydon Mooroolbark and then we don’t have anything up until Healesville. So we have a bit of a gap there where they’re not being serviced by the type of club we offer,” she said.
“There’s also probably an economic need for some areas and it gives the opportunity to help the community and people out there want to do things with the community.”
Also looking ahead 18 months environmentally, Ms Perera said it seems like the right time to begin setting up a club for that purpose given Lions is internationally and Australian backed.
“After these floods and everything are over, we are concerned that in the next 18 months, we might have fires with the amount of undergrowth around.
“So we have access through our international body to get grants and generally what happens is we get an immediate grant for an emergency, so that we can get in there and provide food for people who are without a home and in emergency centres.
“Then we can also apply for recovery grants. So it gives us the opportunity to help rebuild some of the areas. We’re not talking about infrastructure but things like helping a kindergarten get their books back or their tables and chairs back.”
Trying to raise the profile of Lions within the Lilydale community, volunteers Pat Mills, Jim Reynolds and Sylvia Nelsson have been helping man a Lions Christmas Cake stall at Lilydale Village where the sales will go towards funding regular activities and programs.
On a day to day basis, volunteers run op shops, help people in their garden if they are unable, organise diabetes camps for young people with type one diabetes and sponsor disadvantaged students to go to the Lions’ Licola Wilderness Village camp multiple times a year.
Lions was first established in Australia 75 years ago and has grown dramatically in size and impact with over 1200 clubs and 25,000 members now giving back through an array of community-based programs and initiatives.
Ms Perera said a community engagement meeting will be happening in February to gauge interest from the local area and to provide information on what a Lions Lilydale would look like.
