{"id":19001,"date":"2017-11-15T17:23:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T22:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=19001"},"modified":"2017-11-15T17:23:21","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T22:23:21","slug":"if-you-want-to-donate-think-food-over-toys-lions-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/if-you-want-to-donate-think-food-over-toys-lions-club\/","title":{"rendered":"If you want to donate, think food over toys: Lions Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trend Jim Bondy would rather see be discontinued, but if the number continues to rise he and the Aurora Lions Club are ready to tackle it head-on.
\nThe Lions kick-started their 2017 Christmas Campaign on Friday by recognizing local accounting firm Millard Foster Thibeault Youell for their annual $2,000 donation towards the campaign.
\nIn 2016, over 200 local families in need were served by the Aurora Lions Club at a cost of over $12,000 to the club. Donations such as these go a long way towards making Christmas merry for those in Aurora who are struggling to make ends meet.
\n\u201cI have been doing this for three years,\u201d says Mr. Bondy. \u201cIn the first year, we had 140 families, the next year 160, and last year we had 220 and I am hoping this trend doesn\u2019t continue \u2013 not so much about the money that it costs, but 220 people in a community like Aurora is very, very high.\u201d
\nThis is a problem Tim Millard of Millard Foster Thibeault Youell knows all too well.
\nA former member of the local Lions Club himself, Mr. Millard says they make their ongoing donations to what they know is a good cause.
\n\u201cIt is just a straight donation,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing on some boards, you do see some waste and a lot of people who believe they are giving to charity but a lot of it gets sucked away through administration, salaries, overhead, rent or whatever. We\u2019re accountants for a lot of organizations, we see that firsthand, and we know this is a good one.\u201d
\nFor Mr. Millard, who, through this article, is issuing a challenge to other professionals within the Aurora community to match their $2,000 donation, it is important to give organizations like the Aurora Lions a monetary donation rather than a truckload of toys because, with cash in hand, the Lions can seek out what the needs of local client families really are, and go to work to ensure those needs are met.
\n\u201cI think a lot of people think Aurora is a rich town, which it is, but they don\u2019t realise that along with that, you have other people who just live on the margin or just get by,\u201d says Linda Thibeault.
\nAdds Tim: \u201cProbably the pain of being the have-nots in Aurora is even more acute because your kids have to rub shoulders with those who have and it can be embarrassing.\u201d
\n\u201cWhen we give out the baskets at Christmas, we always run out of non-perishable food,\u201d says Mr. Bondy. \u201cWe have toys coming out of our ears because, for a lot of people, they feel better when they give toys rather than a jar of peanut butter or jam. I am trying to get across to a lot of our donors that we will take food rather than toys. At least give us a couple of years to use up the inventory of toys that we have!\u201d
\nEach year, the Lions, in conjunction with the Salvation Army, work to supply non-perishable food baskets, toys, clothes and Christmas gifts to all in need.
\nThe small recognition ceremony held by The Lions at the Yonge Street offices of Millard Foster Thibeault Youell was just the starting point for the hard task ahead.
\nEverything needs to be in place \u2013 donations counted and sorted, grocery and gift cards bought, baskets assembled \u2013 by the time they start distributing to the client families beginning December 18 and 19.
\nTo that end, the Aurora Lions will be stationed once again at the Aurora Shopping Centre (No Frills) next month collecting donations of all kinds through their Charity Gift Wrap program where, in exchange for a monetary donation, the Lions will wrap all your Christmas gifts on your behalf.
\nThe Wrapping will take place December 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and continuing at the same time December 16, 22 and 23 \u2013 and Santa will be on hand to watch his Lion helpers in action.<\/p>\n

For more on the Aurora Lions Club campaign \u2013 or to take up Tim Millard\u2019s $2,000 donation challenge issued to local professionals \u2013 email Lion Jim Bondy at jebondy@rogers.com.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a trend Jim Bondy would rather see be discontinued, but if the number continues to rise he and the Aurora Lions Club are ready to tackle it head-on.
\nThe Lions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/2017-11-16-08.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4Wt","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 00:38:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}