Community Service 2020
Helping the Community
| The Communiy Service Committee considers all requests made directly to the Club from the local community for help and assistance. During this difficult period we also actively seek any situation where we can help any individual, club or organisation. If you are aware of any situation where some additional help is needed please let us know by using the Contact Us page. The Community Services team are as follows:- Chairman Lynn Graysmark, Chris Braysher, Gilly Folley, Keith Pratt, Roger Mead, Tony Harvey, Briab Richens and Tony Gurney.. | With the people of East Grinstead's help we have funded a wide range of projects and those shown below are just a sample of some of them during 2020 working through the current COVID - 19 Pandemic. The Club has Charity status CIO (a Charitable Incorporated Organisation - Commission Reference Number 1179721). Some events are held every year and have become part of the East Grinstead calendar. Providing this level of service support is only achieved thanks to the generosity of those in the East Grinstead area in supporting our fund raising activities. Please look out for announcements as many of our events have been cancelled because of COVID. We thank you most sincerely for your support.
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Community Action
| Prostate Cancer FREE PSA Test NOW SCHEDULED for 26th November 2022 | East Grinstead & District Lions Club In conjunction with PCaSO, are again sponsoring and arranging a FREE PSA test on 26th November 2021 for Men between the age of 40 to 80. Note: If you are at special risk – have a family history of prostate cancer or are of African-Caribbean descent, we will test from age 45. We do not encourage men over 80 to be tested, unless clear symptoms are present. For further advice phone 01926 419959. The event will be held at: the Meridian Hall, East Court Mansion, College Lane, East Grinstead, West Sussex. RH19 3LT Details of the registration process will be published in October 2022. Testing will be by APPOINTMENT ONLY. | ||||
| Diabetes Testing | Diabetes "FREE DROP IN" Testing was originally planned for 14th March 2020. Due to concerns about the Coronavirus the Lions Club have CANCELLED this event and it will hopefully be re-scheduled in the coming months. | ||||
| Covid - 19 Dream Scheme | Over the past few years the East Grinstead Lions Club has sponsored what we have called a ‘Dream Scheme’. The Dream Schemes have made available a block of money that can be used for specific projects that local clubs, organisations or individuals may always have wanted to achieve, but not been able to progress because of lack of funds. | ||||
| We sent out an invite via this website and to other organisations in the East Grinstead District, anticipating that with local voluntary clubs being involved, the number of local people who will benefit in some way could be counted in their hundreds, thus reinforcing our Lions motto “WE SERVE”. | |||||
| Judging of the Applications is now complete, a total in excess of £10,000 has been dispersed. Because of the Pandemic presentations could not be made but three virtual examples are displayed below (see names in brackets) and the full list of all the successful organisations are as follows;- | |||||
| The benificiaries were:- | Blooming Arts - to create a snail mail art trail and other support (Hayley Bull) Sullivans Heroes - to help nine local families (Fiona Smith) EG Mental Health Association - hardship grants (Mike Penny) Children at Jubilee Centre - for online support Ashurstwood Primary School - to provide equipment for a Sensory Room EG Meads Football Club - supporting coaching and provision of sanitising equipment Halsford Park School - a Star Stage for their playground Baldwins Hill Primary School - Six New Laptops - The school reports that:- "Their wonderful PTA has been working tirelessly to help raise funds to assist with this purchase and are delighted to tell parents that the Dream Scheme donation from East Grinstead Lions Club has helped greatly with this endeavour". Sussex Ehlors Danlos Syndrome - adminsitration support | ||||
| FREEDOM East Grinstead Lions were delighted to help this 13 year old boy who has nonverbal autism and has a condition called syngap 1 which is a type of epilepsy causing constant drop seizures. He had outgrown his wheelchair and was in desperate need of a new one. He was assessed by wheelchair services who provided a voucher. Reuben loves to be outside and exploring but he is very heavy to push. At school, Step by Step, he has use of an all terrain buggy and this is what his family would love him to have at home. He would not outgrow this buggy as seat extenders can be purchased as he grows. The buggy was expensive but we made up the shortfall for its purchase and he now has his new buggy and is already making good use of it. | ||||
| To maintain social distancing we held some of the presentations 'Virtually' :- |
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| Emergency Defibrillators | Click here for a list of Defibrillators in East Grinstead | ||||
 Message in a Bottle How do I get my FREE MIAB? Call East Grinstead Lions Club : 0345 833 9506 we will deliver it to you | we have provided funds for provision of Message in a Bottle, a method of ensuring that people helping in an emergency are able to quickly understand the medical condition of the person they are helping and what medicines they take. We have started an awareness campaign with fliers and posters. Would Emergency Services Personnel be able to quickly find your identity, contact numbers, details of your allergies & medication? The Message in a Bottle (MIAB) is a device which saves time in an emergency, when emergency services personnel are looking to quickly find a person’s identity, their personal contact numbers, details of any allergies and any medication. Paramedics, police, fire fighters and social services all support the use of this device. It provides a container to hold all the above details and you store it in the fridge. Then stickers are placed on the inside of the front door of your home to tell them to look in the fridge, saving valuable time. | ||||
| Provision of a Yurt for the children at Step By Step School | The yurt is up and the area ready to be used, following the removal of a couple of trees due to H&S issues and the furnishing of the inside will follow. The School think it is amazing. The slide show shows the area and more will be added when they have furnished the inside and show some of the pupils accessing it.
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| Meals Service
| Age Concern delivery of Lunches to those in need by the Lions Club Team with their Lions Club van 2020 | ||||
| Flu Vacination Marshalling
| East Grinstead Lions help make Mass Flu Jab sessions a ‘roaring’ success. Flu Marshalls - Lions volunteers helping out at the Moatfield Surgery’s mass flu jab event, held at the Jubilee Community Centre and East Court, in September 2020. Always ready ‘to serve’, East Grinstead Lions have recently been lending a hand at Moatfield Surgery’s Mass Flu vaccination sessions. Due to a much larger demand for flu jabs this year, Moatfield Surgery decided to put on three mass flu inoculation events in order to reduce the numbers of people needing to attend the surgery. Following a suggestion by Town Clerk, Julie Holden, that Lions might be able to assist with car park marshalling, Practice Manager and organiser David Lattimer contacted the Lions – who were more than happy to help. Events have been held at East Court and the Jubilee centre. In his feed-back after the sessions, David Lattimer said, ‘I can honestly say, the clinic would not have been as successful without the valuable help provided by the East Grinstead Lions’ team. It is greatly appreciated by all of us at Moatfield’.
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| Santa’s Surprise Toy Delivery East Grinstead Mum’s, through their Facebook page, have recently come together to create an East Grinstead Toy Box to help families struggling to afford Christmas presents for their children this Christmas. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of one local family, Santa was able to deliver more than 20 brand new toys to the East Grinstead Mums’ Toy Box. In addition, East Grinstead Lions Club, who were unable to stage their Santa’s Grotto in town this year, kindly donated almost 300 small toys, books and stocking fillers to be shared between the East Grinstead Toy Box and the East Grinstead Food Bank’s Christmas hampers. East Grinstead Mums’ very own elf, Eva Sonneveld, was delighted with Santa’s delivery and will make sure local families in need will be able to put a smile on their children’s faces this Christmas. | ||||
| Air Ambulance - clubs working together | As well as the LCIF donation of £160,000, Lions clubs in the south east have donated over £250,000 to the Kent, Surrey & Sussex air ambulance over the past 7/8 years. This donation has enabled the helicopter to fly at night using special night flying goggles purchased with the donation. The donation was also used to finance 2 fully equipped Volvo paramedic vehicles to follow up and assist. Another £42,000 has been financed by south east lions clubs to fund a third paramedic vehicle. A mobile head scanner will also be available soon thanks to the Lions. The Lions logo is on the nose of the helicopter. | ||||
| Senior Citizens Party 2021 Cancelled | We regret that due to the current COVID issues and restrictions this event originally scheduled for February 2021 has had to be Cancelled | ||||
| Special Needs Holidays - a new service | Holidays - for the the future we are taking a different approach to the provision of holidays for people with special needs who would not normally be able to find or afford a suitable holiday which provides the right level of support. We will be liaising with specialists in our community to identify the most needy people. Please use the Contact Us page if you wish to discuss this with us. | ||||
A Summary of the activities of the club during 2019 can be found by Clicking Here
Updated 12.8..22