Advertisement 1

Lions bottle drive raises $1,700

Article content

Tillsonburg Lions Club held its first post-New Year’s bottle drive on Jan. 2 and community donations filled a trailer. And more.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

“I think we were just a little over $1,700 raised,” said Tillsonburg Lion vice-president Kelly Oatman. “It was an awesome day. It definitely exceeded our expectations.”

“It was really good,” said Blair Oatman, Lions Regional Zone Chair. “People started showing up about 8 a.m. and we shut it down around 12:15 p.m. and we filled an 8×12 trailer right to the ceiling.”

Article content

“We actually had to start loading some of it into our pickup truck because we couldn’t get any more in the trailer,” said Kelly. “It was full!”

“Quite successful,” Blair nodded. “Throughout the day we didn’t have any more than eight people there at once. I’d say we had about 12-13 club members that showed up throughout the morning, which was good to see.”

Any bottles and cans that had been picked up prior to Jan. 2 had already been cashed in, so the trailer full of bottles and cans was all collected that day.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

“It was an empty trailer when we started that morning,” said Kelly. “The weather held out for us and we literally had people rolling in right at 8 a.m. It was fantastic and we were dressed for the weather.”

There was a winter storm the night before, but Town staff had arrived early that morning to clear and salt the Avondale United Church parking lot.

“It was great, it definitely did not deter people from getting rid of what they had been saving up,” said Kelly.

The Lions Club plans to have its next bottle drive on Saturday, May 29, 2021 at the same location behind Avondale United Church.

“The weekend after the May long weekend,” Blair noted. “And I think we’re going to try to make this an annual thing as far as the Saturday after New Year’s. “

Fundraising during a COVID pandemic has been a challenge, he said, and people are still coming in looking for help.

“I’m really hoping we can figure something out with the Lions Bingo, online maybe. We’re really trying to put our heads together to get some more funds coming in – the more fundraising we do, the more we can help.

“We would like to thank the residents of Tillsonburg and the surrounding area for their support that helped make this a fun and successful event,” said Kelly.

“We’re really happy with the support that we received,” Blair summed up.

cabbott@postmedia.com

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers