In November, members and friends of the Windy City Lions Club collected and delivered more than 200 coats valued at nearly $6000 to the Night Ministry. Those coats will make their way to homeless throughout Chicago. As the temperatures fall in the coming days 200 homeless people will feel benefit from the warmth of these coats. Thank you to all who contributed to this important effort.
Congratulations to the winners of the Sports-tacular Raffle!
Jay Hallberg
Lisa Hilgenberg
Scott Roberts
Thank you to all the individuals who generously donated!
Your support will enable us to build a water well that will change the lives of hundreds of people.
We raised $12,000 and are 3/4 of the way to building the water well.
Our efforts will continue until we reach the amount needed to move forward with the project.
Contributions of any amount are appreciated to help us realize this dream.
As Lions we all understand the importance of giving back to the community. With other groups, you donate items and know that they are passed on to help others. But it's rare that you actually see firsthand how much you're helping someone. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving I was privileged to meet one of the families who received one of our Thanksgiving baskets. She was a young woman, who thought there wouldn't be any Thanksgiving dinner in her house this year. It's been a rough year. Her mom died, leaving behind nine kids, ages 8-21. Three of the kids are working their way through college. And the young woman who picked up the basket seemed to be the one holding the rest of the family together. She had tears in her eyes and hugged each of us when we carried the food out to her car. As we walked, she told us about her mom and how she and her sister really thought there would be no Thanksgiving this year. "Now we have a turkey!" She just couldn't believe her good fortune. She thanked us so much for our generosity. And wanted us to know that we had made a real difference in her family's life. And by the time we had walked her to her car, she wasn't the only one who was tearing up. Rob Jackimiec, Sharon DeVita, Caylei Hallberg and I were all a little misty. And we were all proud that we were able to touch someone's life in such a positive way.
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Windy City Lions held a food drive during their charter night and Isabella Andries and John and Carol Timmerman sort the goods and with others from the club they made 6 bountiful baskets and were able to give additional food to 3 other food pantries in the Chicagoland area.
"Chicago Windy City Lions chartered on October 22nd and organized a Thanksgiving Food Basket project for 6 families in Hyde Park as their first service activity. 
Lions Rob Jackimiec and Sharon Devita teach Jayson Hallberg about the spirit of giving during the Windy City Lions Thanksgiving Basket Activity in Chicago.
Windy City Lions Club Members Brett Rush (foreground) and Megan and Matt Michels (background) assemble Thanksgiving Baskets on Sunday November 23rd at Holy Vessel Baptist Church in Hyde Park.
New Lion Anne Northrup includes her husband Dan and children Isabella and Elliot in the Windy City Lions Thanksgiving Basket Project. Including children and families in service is one of the missions of the new Windy City Lions Club. The kids made Turkey's from their hands and warmed the hearts of the people that received the baskets of food for the holiday.
The Timmerman family talks with Gwen the one of the recipients of the Windy City Lions 2008 Thanksgiving Baskets donation.
Thanksgiving Basket recipient Gwen shows off the holiday hat made for especially for her, with love from the Timmerman family.
Dan did a great job doing both video and photos on Charter Night. Here are the first batch of photos, there may be more coming later.
Thanks Dan! Windy City Lions on Smug Mug
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Check back here later to find text, video and photo posts of activities we're performing around the Chicagoland area. This part of the site will be updated on a regular basis.]]>