The regular meeting of the Johnson City Lions Club was held at noon on Dec. 19, at the Johnson City Country Club.
Debbie Shipley presided, the pledge was led by George Winton, and Debbie offered the blessing.
Doris Kaifa won the drawing and donated $2.25 to Turtle Derby.
Debbie thanked all who rang the bell for the Salvation Army on Tuesday. The weather was rainy, cold and windy, but we persevered – and Doris raked in the money by singing Christmas Carols.
Debbie and Ed Gibbons visited CB Willis this week. He’s doing well but is lonely. Visit him during the holidays if you can – Colonial Hills Assisted Living Apt 123.
Our speaker was Tracy Edwards, Community Relations Manager with 2nd Harvest Food Bank. Member of “Feeding America”. The food bank is now located in the old Sam’s Club building on I-81 near Tri-Cities Airport. At any given time the building contains over 1,000,000 lb. of food. It serves all of Northeast Tennessee. There are over 140 participating agencies, serving approximately 40,000 meals per month. 2nd Harvest is effectively a food broker distributing food to agencies and churches who handle the “last mile” of delivering to the hungry.
They are beginning a new program – “The Middle Mile” – Volunteers on call pick up surplus food at local restaurants and deliver it to agencies. All done by phone app.
They also offer a “Virtual Food Drive” – Hold a virtual food drive via social media – ask friends and contacts to donate to 2nd Harvest online.
They are happy to give tours of the facility on request.
We donated $250 to 2nd Harvest. Money will go to pay for food baskets for dialysis patients.
Ed Gibbons reported that in November we checked 150 kids in Johnson City schools and referred 7 with problems.
Submitted by:
Ken Gough