Street Collection

A relative new activity for the club is our participation in this new Milton Keynes wide initiative which is organised by our Colleagues in Milton Keynes (Stony Stratford) Lions Club.

One day a year is set aside for the Lions clubs in the area to do a "Can Shake" in aid of our funds and last years inaugral effort saw us adding over £250 for a few hours work.   The event was repeated in 2010 with members and a few of our Friends group lending a hand as we hoped to encourage the residents of Newport Pagnell & Olney, to recycle some of their hard earned cash through the Lions Charity account.

Positions were staked out at Co-op. One Stop and McCalls in Olney with others setting up base at Newport High Street near the Co-op and Summerfield and we waited for the coppers to flow in.  

And flow they did - with plenty of silver and notes as well.   A magnificent total of over £400 was collected in a few hours helping to make this one of our more successful fundraisers.   Long may it continue.

The public were superbly generous and we also had our faith in human nature restored by the number of people who came back to put a donation in our box despite having commented "I haven't got any change" a few minutes earlier.   Cynically we had written them off but were very pleasantly surprised when they appeared back again and popped some coins into the can.  Also giving us an immense amount of satisfaction was the support we received from the younger members of our community as we lost count of the number of teenagers who dropped some coins into our cans.    It is a true saying "Don't judge a book by its Covers" and to the many young people who gave us a donation..........a special thanks.

Another pleasant surprise was the number of people who knew what Lions was all about - our PR work must be paying off after all.   No longer were we "the basket ball team", a rugby team or even a football team.  

We were Lions, and proud of it but still needed some help from another member of the animal Kingdom.  Providing us with a high level of security was Meile, the Hovawart who hung around the One Stop in Olney High St.   Whether he was actually giving us a security service or encouraging dog lovers to support us, I don't know, but our secretary, Bob Benbow seems to be making the most of having him around...........

 This years event will be taking place on 15th October so if you happen to be in Olney or Newport Pagnell on either of these days, why not pop a few coins into the Lions box if you happen to see one of them standing around looking a bit lost.   Remember every penny we receive is used to support those in the community who may not be quite as well off as yourself.  Nothing is used in administration which is paid for by the members own fees and special events which are clearly designated for that purpose.