Community Activity News – 16 November 2020
The club has been very busy in the community over the last few weeks.
A sum of £200 has been raised and donated to the Salvation Army Foodbank which is still experiencing high demand.as other “pop-up” banks reduce. Members are encouraged to consider contributing their usual weekly meeting cost (£12 for a meal at the Savoy Park) or actual food and toiletry items via Jim Nelson.
The Salvation Army is also appealing for children’s Christmas presents and the club has made a donation of £250 to support this. The cut-off date for individual gifts and contributions is 18 December but Major Linda Watson has asked for these to be made earlier if possible to enable easier distribution. She has also indicated that gifts for young teenagers would be much appreciated and asked for members to let her know of any families with children who could benefit from this initiative. John Ewing is erecting a Christmas tree in the foyer of his apartment block to invite other flat owners to contribute donations to this appeal. Members wanting more information on the Toy Appeal should contact Major Watson directly or Eileen Alexander.
This year’s Poppy Appeal has had to adapt to the current national restrictions but this has not prevented generous individual donations being made by club members and the public reponding to our pleas. These, together with £500 from the club benevelont fund brought the total to in excess of £4k. Well done Paul Williams and team for all their efforts.
Our Treasure Chest has made two recent awards of £250. The first of these went to Ayrshire Cancer Support who, inter alia, provide free transport to and from hospital appointments for patients. 
Eileen Alexander met Nicola George of ACS who explained that transport demands had dramatically increased in recent months with between 700 and 900 journeys per week being made from Ayr alone – a sobering statistic.
The other Treasure Chest award went to the 18th Ayrshire Scout Group to aid their campaign for the survival of Lapwing Lodge Activity Centre which faces closure due to lack of funds. The Centre provides outdoor education for many groups of young people including local schools, Guides, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. Fiona Wilson who represents the Scouts stressed the benefits it provides for young people in our own and in the wider Ayrshire community and is very positive about the likely success of the campaign.
Whiteleys Retreat has received another donation of £500 from the club to assist with its admirable work in providing much-needed respite facility for children and young people with cancer and life altering illness in Ayrshire. Members will recall that last year Bernard Smith gave a moving talk to the club of personal tales of courage and grief and he emphasised the much-needed, positive contribution that Whiteleys were making towards supporting these unfortunate families throughout the most difficult time of their lives.
Another payment of £200 has been made to the Ayrshire Women’s Hub from the club’s virtual “Jeelie Jar”. Eileen Alexander and Neil Beattie presented the cheque to Angie-Leigh McPike who outlined the wide-range of activities in which the Hub is now involved and, in the process, dispelled some misconceptions: for instance, its much-needed support is not confined to women only. AWH is an early stages community interest group. It operates from warm, friendly walk-in premises where women can go to socialise, learn and empower each other through free workshops, surgeries and classes. It is also a bridge to several other amazing third-sector groups including, for example, Unity Grill, Blue Triangle and Moving On. Once again Angie impressed us with her unstinting work for those in the community less fortunate than most.
In these difficult times it is heartening for our club to be able to help at least some of those organisations who are striving to make lives a little bit easier for others.
