Lions to host picnic for visually impaired

Information and photos courtesy of the Town of Wheatfield Lions Club

The Lions Clubs of WNY will sponsor a picnic for the visually impaired from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 19, at Five Senses Nature Park (home of Town of Wheatfield Lions Club), 6535 Ward Road, Wheatfield.

Lion Walt Garrow shared, “We invite all Lions to come serve and assist. This will include guiding our guests throughout our facility and seating. Then we serve first corn on the cob and then a full chicken dinner.

He explained, This is organized by a handful of local Lions Clubs, working together to provide a great dinner and afternoon of fun for the Western New York visually impaired/blind. We have names of many of the visually impaired and we call them to determine their participation interests and availability, then we make arrangements to pick them up and drive them to the event. 

“This is a service and there are no costs to our guests. This is where multiple Lions Clubs come together, share duties, and work simply to provide a good day for our visitor guests, without any costs to them. We even provide entertainment, including games such as braille bingo and tactile tic-tac-toe.

“Remember, the Lions Clubs motto is ‘We Serve.’ Our typical service areas include: blind, diabetics, hunger, environment, pediatric cancer, youth, disaster relief, and humanitarian needs. For our neighbors, we are there to help. For international disasters, we are there. With our Wheatfield Club, if someone needs medical equipment, we provide at no cost.

“Lions Clubs International operates globally with over 1.4 million members across roughly 49,000 local clubs in more than 200 countries. The organization's foundation (LCIF) has awarded more than $1.3 billion in grants over its lifetime.”

For more information, email Sharon Battaglia ([email protected]), Garrow ([email protected]) or Tom Witkowski ([email protected]).