Lions, firefighters volunteer to help clean up

Waterford Lions and Norfolk County Station 3 volunteer firefighters ready to fill the Scrap Metal and Electronics drop-off bin. 

By Brenda Moser

Advocate Correspondent

The Waterford Lions Club continues to support the community and works to improve the town whenever possible.

On April 5, the Lions Club paired with Norfolk County Fire Department Station 3 to host a Metal Donations and Recycling fundraiser.

Despite the rainy weather, they had an amazing turnout for the event. By the end of the day, they had almost filled their first bin of metal.

Lion Lara Rockefeller stated, “We want to give a big thanks to the Waterford firefighters for their help and the amazing team at Quick Lane Tire & Auto for hosting the bin!”

The Waterford firefighters offered not only their help accepting donations and loading the bin alongside Lions members, they and their families also manned the barbecue at the Hall for the free hot dogs. The food and hot coffee were much appreciated on the wet, chilly day.

The Lions are grateful to Quick Lane for offering up a piece of their property to house the bin for the next six months. Located on the north side of their building, you can stop by any time and add to their collection.

“Take your time in gathering those metal items and unwanted electronics,” said Rockefeller. “All proceeds from the bins will go directly back in to supporting our community so let’s clean up and give back… bring it in.”

The Waterford Lions were not done with their efforts to help clean up. On Saturday, April 12 they were at it again! A number of Lions and their families donned rubber boots, old clothes and safety vests and took to the ditches.

It was their Annual Clean Up Day and this year they tackled the ditches on Thompson Road and the ‘Old’ Blue Line to pick up about 41 extra large bags of garbage in total. It was eye opening to see just how much is carelessly discarded by drivers.

A total of about 20 Lions and family members - adults and children - spent the morning filling and collecting the bags. Norfolk County workers took care of picking up the bags on Monday and disposing of them. The Lions offered up a huge thank you for their support in the cleanup efforts.

This has been an ongoing event for several years now and the turnout is always good. The Lions will be back at it again on April 26, when they team up with the Waterford Heritage Trail Committee to continue their cleanup efforts. Let’s keep our Trail and town beautiful… Don’t litter!

The Waterford Lions recently made a $10,000 donation in support of Norfolk General Hospital’s Labour & Delivery Unit and their new mammogram machine. Your continued support of the Waterford Lions Club is greatly appreciated.

In any town or city, volunteers are an important and integral part of their community. Waterford is fortunate to have clubs such as the Lions and caring Waterford citizens that step forward when help is needed. If you would like to become involved, they are always looking for new members. You do not have to commit to attending every meeting and, in fact, their priorities are Family 1st, Work 2nd, and Lions 3rd. They meet the first and third Tuesday of the month at 53 Church Street West. If you would like to attend and sit in on a meeting to see if the Lions are for you, you can check them out on Facebook. Leave them a message and one of their members will get back to you. You may be a stranger at your first meeting, but you will quickly feel like a member of their Lions ‘family.’

Part of the Waterford Lions Thompson Road cleanup crew.