Moultonborough Lions Club

MOULTONBOROUGH — Like so many organizations, the Moultonborough Lions Club has been affected by the pandemic. Since March they only met three times in person — all the rest of the decisions about activities and donations have been handled over Zoom.

The Lions needed to get creative about their service projects. Following the lead of some Clubs in the southern part of the state, they decided to collect empty pill bottles and send them to Matthew 25: Ministries in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once collected, these pill bottles are included in shipments of medical supplies to developing countries (where often pills are just given in the patient’s hand) and for shredding and recycling. The program fulfills the dual needs of improving medical care and caring for our environments. Friends and neighbors of Lions have been saving their empty pill bottles and giving them to Lions. There is a collection box at both Moultonborough Academy and Moultonborough Central School, and Rev. Dr. Cathryn Turrentine has provided a basket for pill bottle collection at the Center Harbor Congregational Church which has already been emptied several times. This is an ongoing project and the Club already sent over 125 empty pill containers in the first box.

Since the Club could not have their Cookies and Caroling this December, they tried to spread a little Christmas cheer to the residents of three nursing homes in the area: Golden View, Forest View, and Mountain View. Several Lions personalized 245 Christmas cards to be given to the individuals, and some of the cards included some Christmas confetti for an added surprise.

Instead of collecting and bringing toys and other items to the cancer patients at CHAD, the Club went online to the suggested Playopolis site and ordered over $500 worth of toys and other items on the wish list provided by Dartmouth/Hitchcock. The items were delivered directly to the CHAD wing and hopefully brought some joy to the boys and girls of the unit.

The Moultonborough Lions also continued their past Christmas practice of donating money to each of the four towns they serve: Moultonborough, Center Harbor, Sandwich and Tuftonboro. These funds are used by each town to provide clothing, toys, gift cards, food and fuel gift certificates to those in need. And rather than ring the Salvation Army Red Kettle bell, the Club sent a check to the Laconia Salvation Army in an amount that was more than we raised last year.