Christmas 2022 Lunch Hampers for the Homeless.

Our Christmas Lunch Hampers for the Homeless, was a seed idea in 2020, where individual Lions club members hand-delivered 20 hampers to two local food pantries – Anglicare and Uniting Care.

Preparation for Christmas 2022 began in June, with awareness talks to get as many people involved in raising money to purchase the various hamper items; We wanted to at least double the amount of hampers and this time, quite literally, take them to the homeless on the streets!

Club members across the district, their families and friends of Lions supported the initiative by collecting bottles for the return-for-cash recycling programme or directly donating dollars and grocery items; A substantial monetary amount was additionally donated by The Canberra Valley Lions Club.

There were plenty of shopping trips chasing weekly specials to get the best bang for our buck – with our resident photographer and videographer, Lion David Tate, in tow to capture it all!

And we turned heads, with several members of the public enquiring about all the fun we were having. Yes, in true Lions style, we had fun while we worked. After all, this is the spirit of Lions – serving through friendship and community. And it’s contagious in the best possible way – showing, by example, what we do best, at Lions.

By the time the strains of Jingle Bells, and the like, were hitting our collective eardrums, we had secured enough goods to fill 52 hampers! What a gift to us and what a Christmas gift for our intended recipients – those who find themselves living on the streets. And this is genuine gift-giving at Christmas. A gift of kindness and hope – and at the heart of what Lions does, throughout the year!

With a house full of grocery items, packing day was unintentionally timed with Melbourne Cup Day. Perfect really, if we are to keep in line with our modus operandi of having fun while we work!

Lions Wendy, Thelia, Lorna, David Tate, Lions lady Lois and Lions partner, Pierre all shone in their race day fascinators and finery. There was packing and chatting and much laughter, culminating in a delicious champagne lunch and cheering their horses to...the bushes instead of a finishing line win! Oh, well...the real win, however, was the 52 bulging Christmas lunch hampers ready for delivery on Christmas eve.

We partnered with St. Vinnies Night Patrol, so on Christmas eve and also Christmas morning, Lion David Tate accompanied the Night Patrol team, to capture handing out the Christmas lunch hampers – which not only had lunch, but also dessert and extra munchies! 2022 Christmas mission accomplished – and here’s to doubling the number of hampers in 2023!