Lions Club of Ennis
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Today on the show Santa took a call from the North Pole to reassure hundreds of children that he will come to them no matter what this Christmas.
Christmas came a little early yesterday for dozens of young flood evacuees in Co Clare when they received a surprise visit from Santa Claus at the hotel in which they are staying.
Last Wednesday and Thursday night. the LIons Club of Ennis presented 'Banner Jigs N' Reels at Glor. With many well known Clare personalities dusting off their dancing shoes and strutting their stuff for their chosen charity, it was two nights of exceptional entertainment and craic for a worthy cause. The winners on Wednesday night were Tommy Molloy and Lisa Smyth for the Patient Comfort Fund, St Joseph's Hospital, and the winners on Thursday night were Anne Norton and Anthony Sharkey for Clare Crusaders. Both were decided by the audience on each night. The other contestants were Joe Downey and Sharon Nugent. Bernie Merry and Mikey O'Loughlin, John Casey and Marie Long, Mary Howard and Mark Nestor, Tony Griffin ans Sonya Griffin, Roisin Crotty and Gary Collins and Nigel Bridge and Aimee Keane.
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Lions Club of Ennis on Facebook
What has 40 legs, rhythm and raises money for charity? Clare's version of popular television programme Celebrity Jigs and Reels, what else?
The event involves 10 people getting sponsorship for going through a month of hard training before taking part in a dance off with their competitors on two nights in Ennis's Glor. On both nights, each of the competitors will take part in a routine with an accomplished dancer. A panel of judges will then offer their opinions on the dancer's technique and ability before the audience votes on a winner on both nights.
"The identity of the judging panel is top secret" Kieran said firmly, but he would neither confirm nor deny that Simon Cowell had been conatcted in relation to possibly lending a hand on the night. see also Banner Jigs and Reels
The Lions club of Ennis are running their annual golf classic on Saturday, May 10th at Ennis Golf Club. This is the longest running golf classic in the region and many local charities have benefited from the proceeds over the years.
This year, all the funds raised will go to the Clare branch of the Alzheimers Society which was formed in 1996. Their office is located at Unit 17, Clonroad Business Park.
A daycare centre is situated at Lower Drumbiggle Road, Ennis and a qualified nurse and nurses aid are in attendance and transport is available.
The main sponsor for this year's golf classic is again KECO Construction. Anyone who wishes to enter a team on the day should contact Ennis Golf Club at 065 6865415.
The Lions Club of Ennis are once again getting ready for their busiest period of the year. A number of fundraising projects will take place during December.
The first to be rolled out is the Christmas tree project, which is being run in conjunction with Ennis Town Council. Members of the public and business community can sponsor bulbs at €20 each for the fabulous tree located at the roundabout in the market. All funds raised go to the Brothers of Charity who have been doing great work in Ennis for many years.
Another fundraiser will be our Santa project on 15/16 December when Santa will be visiting O’Connell Square and would love to have his photograph taken with as many children as possible. Proceeds from this project will go to the Ennis Old Folks.
On 22nd December our annual Food Appeal collection will take place outside both Tesco’s and Dunne’s. This is one of our longest running projects and all funds raised will be used by Clarecare to assemble Christmas Hampers which will be given to needy Ennis families to help make Christmas a more memorable event than it would otherwise be. Last year, hampers were distributed to almost 160 families.
On the same weekend the Lions will deliver firewood and firelighters to needy families around Ennis. Last month many members of the Lions club spent two Saturdays wielding axes to chop and bag logs so that they would be ready for distribution. At least 100 households in Ennis will have enough firewood to keep a good fire going for the Christmas period.
Over the years members of the public have been very generous to the Lions club and we would like to thank you again in anticipation of a similar response this year.
see also Photo Gallery
The Lions Club of Ennis President's chain of office was handed from Eamon O'Dea to Tom Carey at a recent function in the Old Ground Hotel. On the same occasion Ennis member PJ O'Driscoll was presented with a Melvin Jones Fellowship Award by the new District Governor of Ireland, Lion Pat Connolly of Galway Lions Club. Pat is a native of Newquay in the Burren and is the first person from the West of Ireland to assume the distinguished role of District Governor. see also Photo Gallery
Final year Flannan's student, Dermot Sheedy is to contest the national final of the Lions Club Youth Award for 2007. Having been nominated by the Lions Club of Ennis, Dermot went on to impress the judges in Portumna with his dedication to his home community through his involvement in hurling, music, tae kwon do and church activities. He will now take his place with seven other nominees from all over Ireland in the final at a Dublin venue in January. The Irish winner will then contest a final with 12 other nominees from Britain over a weekend in the UK, with a prize of €2,250 for the eventual winner. Ireland's representatives have a proud record of success at this level, with a rate of overall winner every three years. "We are delighted that Dermot has got this far. While victory is always a joy, the real benefit for all the participants lies in the opportunity to experience the interview situation" added a spokesman for the Lions Club.
There was certainly no 'lion' down at the Lions Club of Ennis' annual sponsored bed push recently. Ennis RAPID was one of the main beneficiaries of the fundraising event, with 75% of the proceeds collected going towards the provision of sporting and recreational facilities within the RAPID area.
RAPID stands for 'Revitalis Areas by Planning Investment & Development' and Ennis was designated under the programme in 2002.
There will be much to discuss at the monthly meeting of the Lions Club of Ennis.
The Lions Club Christmas Tree is in place again this year at the Maid of Erin roundabout - one of a host of major fundraising events by the Lions Club announced this week by Lions President, Seadhn Hillery.
Ennis Lions Club member Lion Terence Mangan was presented with the highest award presented by the Lions Clubs of Australia last Thursday.
The James D. Richardson award is named after a past District Governor of Lions Clubs in Australia, and was presented to Lion Terence in honour of his work over many years in establishing, promoting and maintaining the link between the Lions Club of Ennis and the Clare and District Lions Club of Australia.
Lions Club of Ennis President Pat O' Shea was delighted to announce a total donation of €10,500 towards Lions Club projects over the Christmas period. President Pat O' Shea said "Once again, the people of Ennis displayed extraordinary generosity in supporting the Lions Club and I would like to thank the local businesses who sponsored us and the members of the public who donated so generously".
see also Photo Gallery
THE local Lions Club has thanked the community of Ennis for their contribution to the Christmas Food Appeal which went ahead across the town over the past two weekends with all money raised going towards Clarecare.
“The food appeal is the most identifiable work carried out by Ennis Lions Club”, says Ennis Lion Séadhan Hillery. “December is traditionally a jam packed month which sees out the conclusion of a number of projects which the Lions Club run. All donations are collected locally so it’s the Ennis people who contribute to all these worthy causes. Many local businesses have also taken Lions teddy bears which are raffled off”.
“We cannot always prepare the future for our kids but we can certainly prepare our kids for the future.” This Christmas the Friends of The Lions Club have adapted Abraham Lincoln’s quote and decided to do something a little bit different to benefit the children of Clare. see also Photo Gallery
Yesterday on the programme flood victim Susan Walsh broke down as she recounted how her children thought Santa would not make it to them this year. Susan, who has three children had to move out of her home in Ennis, Co. Clare last Friday when floods destroyed their house. Susan and her two children, seven week old Sumaya and Shannon (5), and her husband Patrick were relocated by the HSE to the West County Hotel in Ennis.
On Tuesday she told Eamon how it was the first anniversary of the death of her daughter and how she had to walk miles because of flooding to put flowers on the grave. However she found the hardest thing was her children asking her would Santa come since he wouldn’t find them in their house. : “All my neighbours down here are going to be in here for Christmas. My five year old is turning around and asking me ‘Mammy how can Santy come into a hotel room on Christmas morning?’ And I can’t answer that. I had to turn away when my five year old asked me that. I just don’t know what to say to her at this time. Most of my neighbours have small kids and they’re all asking the same question: ‘How can Santy come into a hotel room?’ We’re just at a loss to be honest Eamon; we’re walking around in a daze here.”
After that Eamon and his Lunchtime team contacted Santa in the North Pole. Then Susan and her daughter Shannon took a call from Santa live on air. A thrilled Shannon was overjoyed to hear Santa say he’d be on his way. Rita McInerny, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce rang in to say that she’d be in touch with Santa and his Elves and thanked the Lions Club and World of Wonder who will help Santa and his elves with special pre-Christmas delivery of presents for the temporarily homeless children.
Irish Independant, Pat Flynn, 28th November, 2009
Earlier in the week, in an interview on Newstalk with presenter Eamon Keane, one Ennis evacuee broke down as she recounted how her children thought Santa would not be able to find them on Christmas Eve.
Susan Walsh, her children, seven-week-old Sumaya and Shannon (5), and her husband Patrick had to leave their home last Friday after rising waters engulfed their house.
Speaking on Newstalk last Monday, Susan said: "The hardest thing is my children asking me would Santa come since he wouldn't find them in their own house.
"My five-year-old is turning around and asking me, 'Mammy, how can Santy come into a hotel room on Christmas morning?' And I can't answer that," she said.
On Tuesday, Newstalk arranged for Shannon to speak to Santa live on air. Later, Rita McInerney, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce, contacted the programme and offered to help arrange the special visit, which was organised in association with the Lions Club and World of Wonder.
A total of 108 people had to be evacuated from their homes in Ennis last weekend after more than 50 houses succumbed to a week of unprecedented flooding.
The Clare People, 10th November, 2009
The Clare Champion, 3rd October, 2008
The Lions Club of Ennis is holding a fundraiser similar to RTE's Celebrity Jigs and Reels in which 10 local personalities will show their agility and rhythm in a dance competition that should be both entertaining and memorable.
"The reason we picked this is because we are conscious that people give money regularly to the Lions Club especially comiing up to Christmas with our food appeal but we but we were miondful too that we wanted to make a night of family entertainment as well and we thought this was something different and unusual for the town" explained local Lions Club member Kieran Sammon.
As well as the sponsorship, all the competitors will take home a share of the ticket sales, a cheque for €200
withthe winner on each night taking home €1,000 for their charity.
Fr. Jerry Carey administrator at St. Joseph's Ennis, barber Hassan Jiad, James McMahon from Clarecastle, hurler Gerry Quinn, the Old Ground's Alan Flynn, well-known nurse Mary Mungovan, local model Martina Costelloe, teacher Edel Vaughan, golfer Trisha Mangan and Halifax's Ciara Flynn will be spending the coming weeks learning their routines under the tuition of accomplished dancers from the John Saunders School of Dancinge.
MC on both nights will be Tommy Murphy. The event takes place in Glor over two nights, October 23rd and 24th, with tickets available on the internet from www.glor.ie or from Glor's box office.
Interestingly. over 980 people suffer from Alzheimers in County Clare and this represents almost 1% of the population of the county. A vitally important Home Care -Home Support service operates from Ennis providing care for approximately 40 families.
Support groups take place on a regular basis for relatives and friends in Ennis, Ennistymon, and Kilrush.
The Clare Champion, 7th September, 2007
Retired vet PJ O'Driscoll has been a member of the Lions Club of Ennis for almost 25 years, and has been involved in many chartiable activities of the local club in that time. He always has had a particular interest in projects involving the elderly.
This is the thirtieth year of the Lions Club in Ennis. Lions Clubs International is the largest humanitarian service organisation in the world with 1.5 million members in 44,000 clubs across the globe.
The Clare Champion, 22nd December, 2006
The Clare Champion, 23rd June, 2006
Members of the Lions Club, together with RAPID community volunteers, fund-raised throughout the day of the bed push at various approach roads to the town and the organisers wish to thank all who contributed so generously. Following the bed push, over €5,500 was presented to RAPID by the Lions Club of Ennis.
Tom Carey, Lions Cluib project manager expressed his thanks and appreciation to all involved saying "I am delighted with the support the Lions Club received. It is great to see that people are willing to give so generously to a worthy cause such as RAPID. I would also like to pay special tribute to An Garda Siochana for their help and assistance in organising the event".
Johnny Flynn, chariman of RAPID Area Implementation Team added "On behalf of the RAPID AIT, I would like to sincerely thank the Lions Club of Ennis and everyone who took part in the bed-push. The money will greatly assist the residents of the RAPID Area in meeting their contribution towards the cost of provision of play and sporting facilities".
Seadhn Hillery, president of the Lions Club of Ennis said "I found it most heartening to be a part of an event which was run with such enthusiasm and selflessness and highlighted both the generosity and true community spirit evedent in our town".
RAPID aims to achieve integrated service delivery in the implementation of the Ennis RAPID AIP (Area Implementation Plan). A key feature of the programme involves the development of a strategic partnership between the statutory agencies and the voluntary sector in planning, investment, development and the delivery of services. The Government has also committed to prioritise RAPID areas for National Development Plan and Dormant Accounts Fund investment.
The Clare People, 3rd January, 2006
The organisation will hold their monthly meeting at the Old Ground Hotel on Thursday January 5th. As always
the organisation has been activly involved in numerous fundraising activities over the year. In December the
Lions Club launched their annual Christmas Tree appeal in aid of people that were affected by the devestating earthquake which struck Pakistan in October.
Over 100,000 people died and an estimated six million people were left homeless after the tragedy and the
Lions Club decided this year that proceeds from their charity drive would be donated to helping out with
the relief effort.
No final total has yet been put on the amount of money that was raised but it is expected to be in excess
of €6,000.
The Lions Club raised the funds by collecting money from the sale of Christmas Lights that were placed on
the Christmas Tree on the Maid of Eireann.
The festive period was a busy time for the LIons Club who were also involved in two other fundraising
drives.
For the Santa Project the Lions Club collected money at the Square in Ennis, while children were given the opportunity of geting their picture taken
with Santa Clause.
As part of the LionsClub's food appeal, volunteers raised money in the shopping centres in the town
between December 16th and 23rd in aid of Clarecare.
The Club will also use Thursday's meeting to map out their work for the year ahead.
Along with their regular fundraising drives for charities such as Clarecare and the Brothers of Charity,
the Lions Club
will also be hosting their annual Golf Classic in May.
According to Michael Neylon, the Lions Club are also hopeful that work on a new garden area for residents
of St. Joseph's Hospital will also commence.
A significant portion of the fundraising which includes some government grant aid, has already been riased
by the Lions Club.
"It is a fairly large project. We hope that the garen will provide a relaxing and safe area for the
residents" said Mr Neylon.
The Clare Champion, 16th December, 2005
This addition to the festive decorations is provided through the goodwill and generosity of the business community in Ennis.
The Lions Club have issued 650 letters to businesses in the Ennis area asking for donations of €20 per bulb.
Lion President Mr Hillery said 'Although we are delighted to accept donations from the business community in Ennis, we would also welcome donations from the general public. This is an opportunity for people outside Ennis to donate money to the disaster relief programme for the people of Kashmir, which was devistated by an earthquake recently".
People wishing to donate towards this worthy cause can drop the money into the Ennis Chamber of Commerce office in O'Connell Street, marked for the attention of the Lions Club. The Lions Club are grateful to the Chamber of Commerce for allowing them to use their offices.
"We have had a fantastic response to this project already, but we will continue to collect money until after Christmas, as the people of Kashmir face into a harsh winter" added Mr Hillery.
The Lions Club have also announced that once again Santa will make a special visit to the Square, Ennis on Saturday 17th December and Sunday 18th December from 10.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday and from 1.00pm to 6.00pm on Sunday.
As usual, Santa will be available to have his photo taken with any children who visit him, at a cost of €5.00, with a glass of mulled wine available to Mum and Dad.
The Lions Club had one part of their annual Food Appeal collection recently in Dunnes Stores with the second part of the collection planned to take place on Friday 23rd December at Tesco's.
The money collected is given to ClareCare to assist them with their Christmas Hamper distribution.
"We raised approx. €3,000
with this collection last year and we expect to raise the same amount this year. We are delighted to be associated with ClareCare in this way" said the Lion President.
"The Lions Club would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who kindly support our 'Teddy Bear' raffle. No doubt you will have noticed various soft toys being raffled around Ennis for €2 a line. The oney from this fund-raiser is used to pay for a holiday for 10 elderly people to Trabolgan in May next."
The Lions Club will also be visiting St.Josephs before Christmas and distributing approximately 40 presents to people they visit there on a monthly basis.
Finally, the Lions Club will be distributing logs to around 100 families in the Ennis area just before Christmas. "Hopefully this will help in a small way make this Christmas a little brighter," concluded Mr. Hillery.
The Clare Champion, 3rd November, 2005
This is the first time that this award has been presented outside Australia. It was presented to Lion Terence by Lion Jamie Brown in the Old Ground Hotel on Thursday 20th October last.
The Clare Champion, 21st January, 2005
The money raised over the Christmas period has been apportioned to the following charities and Lions Club projects ;
The Samaritans €3,000, Clare Care €2,500 Tsunami Relief €1,000, Trabolgan Project €3,000 and Lions Club Charities €1000.
Every Christmas the Lions Club give the proceeds of our Food Appeal Project to Clare Care, who then use the money to prepare food hampers for people in need.
In May of each year the Lions Clubs in Ireland treat approximately 800 elderly people to a week's holiday in Trabolgan, Co. Cork. The Lions Club of Ennis usually send 12 local people on this holiday, which is funded by the sale of Teddy Bears prior to Christmas. "Many people would have seen our Teddy's in business premises in the weeks leading up to Christmas and I would like to thank these participants and the people who contributed towards the Teddy's for their help and support in this project" said Lion President Pat.
Fuel can be a serious concern during the winter period to marginalised members of society. In a bid to relieve some of this hardship, every November members of the Lions Club of Ennis chop and bag logs. This year 230 bags of logs and fire-lighters were distributed by the members to 77 homes in the Ennis area.
As part of an on-going commitment to patients in St Joseph's Hospital, Lions Club members visit.
long-stay patients every month. In addition at Christmas, gifts were presented to 65 patients in an effort to spread Christmas cheer.
Lion President Pat O'Shea was delighted with the generosity of the public across all Lion Projects over the Christmas period, and once again thanked the public, the local businesses and the members of the Lions Club for their support.
The Clare Champion, 17th December, 2004
Lines for this initiative can be purchased for €2 around Ennis.
“All proceeds for this project are used to send some less fortunate neighbours on an annual holiday”.
Thanks to Ennis Lions, provision of winter fuel is one less worry for the elderly. “The Lions provide sacks of logs free of charge and members distribute these to elderly members of the community”.
One of the more recent projects undertaken by the Lions, is their Christmas tree initiative which can be seen at the Riverwalk beside the Maid of Eireann roundabout.
Support for the project is simple; individuals or local businesses are given the opportunity to purchase a bulb for the tree. “This is yet another example of local people contributing to an Ennis project and they can be confident that none of the donation is being consumed by commission or administration costs”.
All donations for the Christmas tree project are made to the Dementia Unit of the local Daycare Centre.
As part of their next initiative, the Lions have invited the public to the Square in Ennis on December 18 and 19 to meet Santa Claus. “It costs €5 to have a photo taken with Santa and money from this project goes towards the Clare branch of the Samaritans. Once more, we call on the people of Ennis to support this cause and continue their good work”.
The Clare Champion, 19th November, 2004
In conjunction with Clare Youth Services, The Friends of the Lions Club are sponsoring two children on The Growth Institute’s summer school called Life and Riches for Kids. The summer school is the brain child of Tommy Murphy of TGI. Tommy has spent many years working with large and small businesses and his experiences encouraged him to set up Life and Riches.
“What I noticed over the years is that many people go into business because they have a certain skill. These people are very good at what they do but are not necessarily ‘business people’.
“Very often they lack the skills required to achieve a healthy business-life balance.
“As parents and business people we have all clocked up many years of education and many years’ experience in the business world. In the course of our education we were taught little or no life, business, management or personal financial skills, in order to help us cope better with what the world had in store for us,” explained Tommy.
Life and Riches is a programme that is designed to correct this imbalance at an early age. Children will learn communication skills, positive thinking, their true value, respect for and the value of money, how to unlock their true potential, goal setting and much much more,” he added.
President Pat O’Shea emphasised that as a service organisation, The Lions Club were committed to doing what they could to help the local community.
“Currently we have an interest in helping and encouraging the local youth to participate in their community. There is a particular challenge at the moment in getting young people to identify with the community in general and we strive to improve this situation. We also run programmes to develop leadership skills in the young so that they will in time be equipped to drive their own community forward.
Speaking about the project, Margaret Slattery Manager with the Clare Youth Service welcomed the opportunity to work with TGI.
“We see this as a wonderful opportunity for young people to access other new and interesting experiences. The Youth Service is pleased to be involved with the selection of the participants and congratulates the Lions Club for their contribution which will make the programme accessible to more young people,” she said.
All of the above are reprinted by kind permission of the Clare Champion.