Alliston Lions Club

The 2012 version of the Alliston Lions Float for the 39th Annual Alliston Potato Festival. (L-R) Lion’s Brian, Wayne, Robin, Ted, Rick and little helper Tyson Lea.

The 2012 edition of the Alliston Potato Festival Parade was in peril of being washed out by the incredible rainfall. But, that didn’t put a damper on the spirit of all those that showed up to participate.  This year’s Lion’s float “The Potato Chipper Hillbilly Band” was originally thought up by Lion Brian Whittaker.  With the help of Lions Nick & Robin Poulakis, Lions Eugenia & Ted Boston, Bill Richardson, Wayne Best and Rick & Tyson Lea, the float came to life.  Big thanks go out to Lion Bill Train for allowing the club to use his farm and trailer, and Big John for driving the tractor during the parade.

Lion Nick also put together a crowd rompin’ mix of music that had people dancing in the streets…literally. The songs used were fairly modern tracks with a hillbilly slant to them, which really had the parade audiences smiling and boppin’ around.

Alliston Lions HIllbilly Band rockin’ out to bluegrass versions of songs by Aerosmith, Kiss, AcDc, Beatles, the Cars, Joan Jett and more….

The club had fun with the concept of a potato chipper machine, that would take raw potatoes and turn them into potato chips, similar to a wood chipper.  But problems arose with the execution of the fans blowing chips into a clear bag, and with time running out to experiment any further, Lion Wayne suggested we just use bags of potato chips inside the clear bag… which made it even funnier.

The spelling of Hiz and Herz on the outhouse doors lent to the light- hearted fun that was the intent of the club.

“Just seeing the joy on all those people’s faces, was worth every minute spent in making the float” said Lion Brian Whittaker, while Lion Robin Poulakis added “you should have seen them all dancing, it was unbelievable”…

Current Lion President Ted Boston also commented on the favourable response by the parade on-lookers, “You know, it’s pretty astounding the response people were giving to us. I think we left a pretty lasting impression that our club can be fun too.”

The crew on the float hightailed it to the Lions Beer Garden immediately following the parade to help out with the few other Lions and volunteers in serving our community…beer. And Coolers.

Help us preserve and share the historic birthplace of Sir Frederick Banting, co-discoverer of insulin and Nobel Laureate.

The Alliston Lions Club is committed to the continued support of the Sir Frederick Banting Homestead, its legacy and the fight against Diabetes.  With our unique Banting Committee, and our close association with the Sir Frederick Banting Legacy Foundation (SFBLF), the club is always on the look-out for ways to increase awareness and try to raise funds for the project.

Well this time, David Sadleir, President SFBLF, got another ball rolling with a website to accept donations. Indiegogo is the World’s Funding Platform. Link to Preserve the Banting Legacy.

Here is just a brief outline of what the Campaign is all about:

Insulin, since its discovery in 1921 at the University of Toronto, has helped save the lives of over 1 billion people world-wide. Help us preserve and share the legacy of Sir Frederick Banting, co-discoverer of insulin, Nobel Laureate, war hero, artist, and great Canadian. (ed.note- And fellow Allistonian!!).

On Wednesday July 18th members of the Lions delivered to the SMH Foundation a cheque for $5,000. to go towards the Alliston Lions $25,000. commitment towards a new CT Scanner for our community hospital.

Club President, Ted Boston along with 1st VP Brian Whittaker, 2nd VP Nick Poulakis, Deputy Mayor and Lion member Rick Milne, presented the donation to Tom Twozyanski, Director SMH Foundation, and Glenn Rae, Chair of Board Directors SMH Foundation.

(left to right) Lion Brian Whittaker, Lion Nick Poulakis, SMH Foundation Tom Twozyanski, Lion/Deputy Mayor Rick Milne, SMH Foundation Glenn Rae, Lion President Ted Boston.

This past Saturday, saw the Alliston Lions Club provide a nutritious lunch stop for 220 cyclists as they made their way from Toronto to Collingwood.

A big thank you to the Lions and their supporters for your efforts.

Thank you!

Lion Peter McCague

—

Alliston Lions Rick Lea and Scott Cooke prep up some of the fruit for the cyclist during this year’s Cycle For Sight charity ride.

Cycle for Sight Toronto/Collingwood has raised over $310,000 for the Foundation Fighting Blindness – and donations are still being counted! With the combined efforts of our participants, donors, volunteers, sponsors and supporters, the fourth annual Cycle for Sight Toronto/Collingwood was a resounding success!

Thank you to the 220 cyclists who registered and fundraised, thank you to the volunteers who worked tirelessly to put together a great event, thank you to all of the donors who gave generously and helped us exceed our fundraising goal, thank you to all of the sponsors who supported our event from the beginning, and thank you to all of the families and friends who came out on Saturday, June 23 to cheer on our cyclists.

With the help of everyone involved, Cycle for Sight has grown as an event that seeks to empower those who are visually impaired, bring together the cycling community and support our great cause of sight-saving research.

Together, our efforts help to advance groundbreaking research at hospitals and universities across Canada, and allow the country’s top scientists to pursue treatments and cures for blinding eye diseases.

With donations still rolling in, our fundraising website will remain open until July 31, 2012.

To make a donation, please visit: DONATE NOW!

Thank you and see you next year!

Cycle for Sight 2012 event day photos will be posted soon on the Cycle for Sight website.

Save the date for next year!
Saturday June, 22 2013

Early bird online registration will OPEN soon!
Ride Solo | Ride Tandem | Ride Together
Cycleforsight.ca
A VISION WORTH RIDING FOR

Money raised through Cycle for Sight supports The Foundation Fighting Blindness and helps fund important vision research into finding treatments and cures for those living with vision loss.

Did you know? Since 2009, Cycle for Sight has raised over one million dollars in support of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB). For more information on Canada’s leading charity funding vision research, visit www.ffb.ca.

This is an Alliston Lions approved charity.

The Alliston Lions along with the King City, Schomberg & Stayner Lions are getting their pitstops ready for tomorrows Cycle for Sight presented by Novartis.  With the cyclists kicking off from York University-Keele Campus, just south of Steeles and west of Keele Ave, they’ll trek their way up the countryside, having the option to choose between a 70km (Alliston) or a 140km tour (Collingwood).

The first rest stop where the riders can refuel and rehydrate their bodies, and take a washroom break is 17.7km away in King City. Next stop is 22km later in Schomberg.  31km later, the Alliston Lions provide the next resting stop at the PPG Pavilion (where the club holds Bingo during the Potato Festival).The next rest area, 27km away, is a Water Stop provided by the Stasiuk Family,

which should provide the riders with enough liquid to push them through to the last rest area in Stayner some 16 km away.  The final leg, Stayner to Collingwood is 25km, finishing up at Cranberry Trail East, and the Pretty River Academy, bringing the total trek to 140km.

Lion Peter McCague

The Alliston Rest Stop opens at 10am, and closes at 1:30pm. Alliston Lion Peter McCague, an avid rider in his own right, has put the word out to the Alliston Lions to once again come to the forefront and provide the nourishment for this wonderful event, as they have in the past.

Known as the Knights of the Blind the Lions Club stands behind and supports this event.  And with Cycle for Sight they support The Foundation Fighting Blindness, Canada’s leading charity funding vision research. Dollars raised through our event help fund groundbreaking research at hospitals and universities across Canada to find treatments and cures for eye diseases that cause blindness.

Over one million Canadians – from children to seniors – have vision loss due to retinal eye diseases, like retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and macular degeneration (AMD). This number is expected to double in the next 25 years.