The Fairfax Lions Holiday Food Basket Program was again a great success this Lion year. The need to assist families was greater than ever before, because of the state of our economy and the increasing cost of living in the Fairfax area. Fairfax Lions delivered food to 110 struggling families. 40 were delivered just before Thanksgiving, 40 again just prior to Christmas, and additional 30 were delivered for the Easter Holiday. (See Delivery Lions Honor Role for the many delivery Lions and Leo’s who were part of this great effort).

In addition, the Fairfax Lions were assisted by the Oakton H. S. Leo Club, and the Thomas Jefferson HS. These clubs are made up of dedicated High School students who have banned together, similar to Lions, to provide community support in the Fairfax area. Both Leo clubs joined in, with Lions, to deliver food to families in and around the city of Fairfax.

A special thanks to the Leo’s, it is great to have them work with us.

Fairfax Host requested names from “Our Daily Bread”, who in turn worked with the Fairfax County Office of Systems Management for Human Services to identify, screen and authenticate the recipient names provided. This assured us our recipient families were people truly in need.

Funds for the food purchases for this program resulted through the Fairfax Lions fund raising efforts throughout the year. This included, the Lion Vehicle Donation Program, Lion Citrus Food Sales, summer Food Booth sales, the sale of Entertainment Books and other Lion activity designed to raise money which is then returned to the community in many varied services.

In addition to the above, the Lockheed Martin Corporation supported the program by providing a very large donation of food for our Thanksgiving delivery.

The Safeway Corporation made a significant dollar donation towards our Food purchase at Christmas.

Delivery Honor Role

Lions: Ron Weber, Eve Bierman, Ben Wiles, Jim Dellinger, Tom Edick, Jim Kaplan, Walter Juraszek, Darrell Dalkin, Ed Smith, Russ Preuit, Phil Mayo, Carl Enix, Jim Davis, Bob Helland, Pete Bennett, Joe Giroux, Chan Medwedeff, Marilyn Tanner, Gary Maxwell, Mike Rumberg, Ken Schutz, Jeff Root, Ron Zabel, Frank Teets, Dick Ferraro, Tom Ashford, Ed Marinich

Leos: Danielle DeRosa, Claire Mathews, April O’Brien, Danielle Filipponi, Charlotte Martin, Maley Nordberg, Blaire Hu

The Fairfax Lions enjoyed another wonderful holiday party at American Legion Post 177 this evening. Lions Tammy Harless and Steve Haywood put forth a great effort in organizing the pary, and the end result included a pleasant meal and talented entertainment by Fairfax’s own Sound Advice women’s barbershop quartet.

The Fairfax Host Lions Club enjoyed spending the day with the community for the Independence Day parade and celebration on the 4th of July. We had our food booth open along the parade route and drove an eye-catching caravan in the parade.

Pictures are available in the Photo Gallery.

On Monday, June 18, 2007, three Fairfax Host Lions (King Lion Joe Giroux, Past President Bob Helland and PDG Bill Bartlett) participated in the opening ceremony for the new Fairfax City Senior Center Bocce Ball Courts. Funding support for the new bocce ball courts was provided by Fairfax Host Lions Club and construction work was accomplished by Senior Center members and Fairfax City Parks Department personnel. Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, PDG Bill Bartlett joined three members from the senior center and played the first game. A picnic lunch – hosted by Karen Bixler, senior center director – was enjoyed by approximately 35 people that were present for the ceremony.

Pictures of the event are available in the Photo Gallery.

In support of Lions District 24-A, Fairfax Host Lions Club (FHLC) was pleased to submit the Final report for LCIF Core 4 Grant GA9015. This project was designed to address the limited support for low vision screening and treatment throughout District 24-A. The original goals of this effort were:

• Expand the capacity of the newly created Low Vision Center at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital through the addition of a low-vision optometrist to perform screenings of referred patients. As a result of LCIF downsizing the original Grant request, this objective is being fulfilled by a grant obtained directly from Inova by another donor, which resulted in a decrease of $107,205.00 from our original budget request.
• Implement a loaner program to provide temporary use of vision enhancing (assistive) devices to patients so they can test the device’s effectiveness and employ until a permanent device is acquired.
• Implement a transportation voucher system to assist patients in outlying areas of the District to get to and from the Low Vision Center when transportation is not available.
• Provide for the development and implementation of a District-wide awareness and outreach campaign, and development of expanded web-based material to promote the use of VLEI and the Low Vision Center to address the needs of low vision patients across the region. Continue reading…