Burgess Hill District Lions Club is well known locally for the Welfare causes which we help - this is the reason that Lions Clubs exist. Some examples can be seen here and on the other links, as well as the Public Relations page

All requests for support follow a set process as we are an approved Charity. We have a Welfare Committee (see above) to which all requests are submitted. This Committee will investigate where required and make recommendations to the Club's Board and to the next Business Meeting.

Club Members will then vote to accept or reject the Committee's recommendations.

We cover a wide variety of welfare areas: the young, the elderly, the sick, education and general health matters in the local area as well as supporting International projects. As an example, we support the Burgess Hill Marching Youth and Age Concern in both Burgess Hill and Hassocks as well as helping the Hassocks Guides and 5th Burgess Hill Scouts.

We run the Burgess Hill Bike Ride every year in conjunction with the Round Table and this year the money will go to the St Peter and St James Hospice.

One event welcomed every year is the Shoebox Appeal. This link shows pictures from one of our trips to Belarus. Each year we collect shoes boxes from all over the District to send to Belarus: the need of the people in this area is so great that we are going again this year. Please see the latest Press Release here. For details of what you can contribute, see the notice and contacts here.

These are .pdf files and if you need software to read them, this can be downloaded from this Adobe website link.

Children from Belarus often visit Lions in England and thoroughly enjoy the break. Their visits here really do them good as they are away from the residue from Chernobyl.

A local event we support is the "It's a Knockout" event run at Crawley in June for the mentally and physically handicapped. This is thoroughly enjoyed by both those who take part in it and those who organise it!

Four times a year we run our SCOAP concerts for the elderly and this is welcomed and looked forward to by all who come. We organise lifts for those unable to get there by themselves.

Every Christmas we hold a Food Appeal for disadvantaged senior citizens and families on limited incomes in conjunction with local radio station Bright 106.4 and the Mid Sussex Times. We pack and distribute over 100 Christmas hampers to these local people.

LIBRA is the "Lions International Blood Research Appeal". It was founded in 1978 as a Charitable Trust on behalf of Lions Clubs in the SE of England. Its aim is to provide laboratory space and equipment at King's College Hospital in London, for research into, diagnosis and treatment of Haemophilia, Leukaemia, Thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Disease.

Here are some of our recent community projects:-

Funding for Medic alert Bracelets

"Message in a Bottle" for vulnerable people

Trauma teddies provided to Burgess hill Ambulance

Defibrillators for Hurstpierpoint and Hassocks. Community Responders attended 380 callouts including 9 Cardiac Arrests during 2008

Funding to Burgess Hill Toy Library

Thermo Boxes to WRVS

Television to Colmer Court

Funding to Outa Space Group

Funding to It Happens Group

Funding to Respect Youth Club

1st Hassocks Scout Group

Kisiizi Knitters group

5th Burgess Hill (Worlds End) Scout Group

Funding to T.S. Indomitable, Nautical Training Corps

Sussex Community Day Centre

Newick House School

Funding to Playgroup 3

Funding to Royal George Day Centre

Funding towards adventure weekend for U13 Hurstpierpoint FC Colts

Christmas Food Appeal 2008. Thank you to Tesco, Specsavers, Downsview Deli (Hassocks) and Janton News (Hurstpierpoint) for allowing their premises to be used as collection points. Our Club members distributed 110 hampers to the needy, elderly and families residing in our District.

For Welfare Issues, email the Welfare Chairman here.