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Donation
Putnam Lions Club President Romeo Blackmar presents NOW’s Executive Director Sarah Wolfburg a donation. Courtesy photo.
Every year, on one special night, The Putnam Lions celebrate what would best be called a Lion’s Christmas. April 6, the Putnam Lions and Putnam Leos, local organizations and charities, as well as Lion’s charities, celebrated the Putnam Lion’s Annual Night of Giving, donating more than $14,000.
The Night of Giving is the culmination of a year of hard work and fund-raising events by the Putnam Lions and Leos. It is at this special event that they are able to give back to the community all the funds they have raised throughout the course of the year.
Recipients represent community needs from children to veterans to eye research and many more. Attendees share what their organizations do and how the donations help in achieving the goals of helping the community. This year the group discovered that over the past 20 years, the Putnam Lions have donated more than $55,000 to Day Kimball and its organizations. The new Ronald McDonald House has finally been completed in New Haven. The Quilts of Valor group has completed 168 quilts last year and 500 quilts since the local group has started. Donations allow the Diaper Bank to continue to provide diapers to 100s of families and Daily Bread to provide food to those in need. The night was filled with similar uplifting stories.
Organizations represented at the Night of Giving included Lions charities such as CRIS (Connecticut Radio Information Service), Camp Rising Sun, Connecticut Lions Eye Research Foundation, FIDELCO Guide Dogs, Lions Clubs International Foundation , Opening Eyes/Special Olympics, Low Vision Center and the District 23-C Hearing and Speech Foundation. Local charities and organizations included the Audubon Society, American Legion Baseball, ARC of Quinebaug Valley, Camp Quinebaug, Barton Center, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Community Cafe, Interfaith Human Services, Day Kimball Hospital Chaplaincy, Day Kimball Homemakers/Hospice and Homecare, Day Kimball Pediatric Reading, Family Resource Center, 4-H Camp, NOW Foundation, Putnam High School Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball, Putnam High School Girls’ Volleyball, Putnam PRIDE, Putnam Ambulance/EMS, Putnam Library, Putnam Little League, Putnam Middle School End of Year Activities, Quilts of Valor, Ronald McDonald House, Sunshine Foundation, WPTP (Woodstock Putnam Thompson Pomfret) Football.