provided to The Santiva Chronicle
The Sanibel Captiva Lions Club held their annual Feather Bingo. Feather Bingo is celebrated each November with a meal of turkey and all the fixings and an evening of fellowship, and exciting bingo games. In years past, this had been open to the community and was a fund raiser for charities supported by the Lions. For safety reasons during the pandemic, this year’s event was limited to Lions’ members and their guests.
The evening opened with a video about Trailways Camp and Benjamin Miller. Trailways Camp, one of the charities supported by the Lions, is a camp for adults with special needs that was created by Sharon and Jerry Miller, Ben’s parents. The Millers older son, Robert, and Ben were adults with special needs. Sharon and Jerry recognized the lack of social interaction opportunities for adults with special needs and the lack of respite time periods for their parents/caregivers. After Robert passed away, they decided there needed to be a place where these special adults could enjoy an opportunity to take part in “normal” camp activities, such as fishing, canoeing, and building bird houses while their parents could also have a respite time. Jerry and Ben have been long time members of the Lions. When Ben recently passed away the Lions decided to help create and support a video about Trailways Camp and to honor Ben’s role as a Lion. More information about Trailways Camp can be found by going to www.trailwayscamps.org.
After a delicious turkey dinner, prepared by Lori Schulz and her band of “pixies,” the group enjoyed playing seven games of bingo. Those who have attended Feather Bingo in the past might be interested to know that we have retired the old bingo machine, with the ping pong balls that would not always keep the numbers lit and have moved into the 21st Century with a computerized bingo game shown on the big screen. The Lions and their guests enjoyed the evening and were glad to have Feather Bingo back after a year’s hiatus.
The Sanibel Captiva Lions Club has been serving the Sanibel and Captiva Communities for over 50 years. While the Lions Club is most known for their effort to eliminate preventable blindness, the club serves citizens of the Islands and greater Southwest Florida in a variety of ways. The local club is part of Lions Club International, the largest service organization in the world with over 1.4 million members in chapters in over 200 countries.
Sanibel Captiva Lions Club holds regular dinner meetings on the first and third Wednesday of the month. Visiting Lions or other interested people are welcome to attend. For more information on the Sanibel Captiva Lions Club contact Membership Chair Lion Steven Schulz at PO Box 391, Sanibel, FL 33957, or 239-233-6261, or visit our website at www.sanibelcaptivalionsclub.org.
Leave a Comment