3rd Annual Lions of Illinois Night Walk
"We walk in the dark... so they won't have to"

The 3rd Annual Lions of Illinois Night Walk is an endeavor by the Lions of Illinois Foundation (LIF) to raise funds to better serve the over One Million visually & hearing impaired in Illinois.

What is the LIF Night Walk? Members of the 400+ Lions, Lioness and Leo Clubs throughout Chicago-land (Districts 1-A, 1-B, 1-F & 1-J), along with their families, friends and volunteers, will gather together for a 3-mile walk to raise funds to benefit visually impaired children and adults to help them live a better life, and to help stop preventable blindness.

Lions of Illinois Foundation is a 501 c3 organization. All contributions are tax deductible. Checks should be made out to: Lions of Illinois Foundation. Your cancelled check is your receipt.

Click here to download a printer friendly copy of the facts on the 3rd Annual Lions of Illinois Night Walk

When: Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
6:30 pm – Registration/Check-in and Path Assignment
6:30 – 7:20 pm – LIF Program Exhibits and Warm Up
7:20 pm – Opening Ceremony
7:30 pm – Night-Walk Begins
8:45 – 9:30 pm – End of Night-Walk Celebration

Where: Danada Equestrian Center & Danada Forest Preserve
3S 501 Naperville Road
Wheaton, IL 60187
The main entrance is on the east side of Naperville Road, one (1) mile north of I-88 and one half ½ mile south of Butterfield Road. From the East-West Toll-way, exit Naperville Road, North.
Parking is available at the Danada Equestrian Center, the Dupage Forest Preserve Headquarters and the Wyndham Hotel, just ¼ mile south. Shuttle buses will be available throughout the event. Car-pooling is encouraged.

Team Walking: Join forces & form a team to “Walk in the dark … so they won’t have to.”

Family Teams: Walkers (family or friends) representing the one family.

Non-Lions Club Teams: Walkers representing the same organization, for example; a High School, Junior High School, Church Group, or Scout Troop. What a great way to earn those “Community Service” points!

Lions Club Teams: walk as one unit.

Registration: Walkers can register on site June 3rd. Each walker is encouraged to get at least $100 in sponsor donations.

Entry Fees: Adults: $20 per individual walker or individual entry fee is free with $100.00 or more in donations. Children under 18: Free.

Sponsor Pledge Sheet: Turn into form to Lion Dorothy Troyer with all sponsor donations paid in full. Checks should be made out to: Lions of Illinois Foundation. Your cancelled check is your receipt. Lions of Illinois Foundation is a 501 c3 organization. All contributions are tax deductible.

Click here for your copy of the Sponsor Pledge Sheet.

Special Night Walk Commerative Light: All registered walkers will receive a special 2007 Night Walk Flash Light to help them light their way through the 3-mile walk.

About the Lions of Illinois Foundation: The LIF is a non-profit charitable organization that provides 13 programs & services that annually reach over 18,000 Illinois children and adults with vision and hearing handicaps. But, there are almost 1,000,000 men, women and children in the state of Illinois that have vision and hearing impairments. Our goal is to raise funds to deliver an increasing number of services to help these people live a better life and to hopefully someday help stop preventable blindness.

LIF Night Walk Contact Information: The Wheaton Lions Club has established a Night Walk Committee of 10 to organize our members, encourage participation and collect pledges. Members are Ruth Carlson, Jim Huck, Tony Ladd, Steve Lederman, Jim Mathieson, Joe Morrissey, Brad Pihl, Joel Riley, John Stock and Dorothy Troyer, Chairman. Lion Dorothy Troyer's Phone: 630-665-7562.

For a look at last year's event in pictures, click here.

CHRISTMAS LUNCH-AUCTION

DATE/TIME:
19 December 2006, noon @ Masonic Temple. Remember, this is a longer lunch, 12:00 noon to 1:30 PM.

RAFFLE ITEMS:
Each member attending lunch is to provide a raffle item with a $20.00 minimum value. We’re also soliciting Raffle donations from local, non-member Wheaton business (Mike Gresk is in-charge).
Please, if possible, drop off you raffle item to Mike Gresk @ First Choice Bank, 330 S. Naperville Rd. (845.2852) prior to 19 Dec. If more convenient, you may drop it off at my office, 199 Town Square/Suite D, 665.8400, (Wheaton Town Square/ above Egg Harbor Cafe.
Please, no white elephants, junk from garage, etc!

AUCTION ITEMS:
$100 Minimum value. Please contact Mike Gresk (845.2582) of Neil Pollock (665.8400 x223) if you plan on donating an Auction Item and please indicate the following info on same: Name/type item & details, approximate value, minimum opening bid, as required to best present.

Santa Lion Keith Carlson, together with Auctioneer Neil Pollock and Elf Mike Gresk auctioned off some mighty nice prizes to raise funds for our sight and hearing impaired in Wheaton.

Christmas Auction
HO! HO! HO!

Annual Christmas Auction
December 19, 2006 Best Ever!

A record turnout for annual Christmas luncheon and auction extravaganza produced a record total in contributions earned. Lion Keith announced that in excess of $6000 was collected. As in past years, we enjoyed a festve Christmas luncheon followed by our annual raffle and auction fund-raiser.

Chairman Keith Carlson asked that each member bring a raffle/auction item to the luncheon. Lions Mike Gresk and Harold Gaede sold raffle tickets before the start. Mike Gresk distributed the raffle prizes while Lion Neil Pollock once again acted as auctioneer to guide us all to bid our best.

LION John Sheahin and we LIONS will be out dodging traffic at intersections and at selected stores within Wheaton, Friday, October 10 and Saturday, October 11.

Candy Day Fund Raiser A Great Success

LION John Sheahin and we LIONS were out dodging traffic at intersections and at selected stores within Wheaton, Friday, October 10 and
Saturday, October 11.

This year’s Annual Candy Days Fund-raiser was chaired by LION John Sheahin. This once-a-year fund raising activity consisted of soliciting contributions "on-the-street", in select stores and "underwriting" funds, funds donated by organizations to offset the cost of the candy we use in the fund-raiser.

Some interesting stories developed from the activity. For instance, Lion Matt Reilland took a few of his Bank One employees down to the dangerous Naperville and Butterfield intersection and collected a record $650. Croucus was able to collect over $450 at his President & Harrison post. Lion Gary Catalani brought students from both North and South Wheaton High Schools to work Jewel north and some intersections, yielding over $365. Lion Jim Mathieson’s collections profited from a traffic bottleneck on Jewel Road.

Our Wheaton LIONS Charities organization contributes (from our annual Candy Day’s collections and other fund-raisers) to The Deicke Visual Rehabilitation Center in the form of equipment and financial funding. Contributions also go to causes within the community such as the LIONS’ own Eye Care Program. The Club works with local eye physicians, as well as local schools, for the purpose of screening financially impaired individual’s (especially children’s) visual health and assisting them in securing glasses, magnification devices, and the like. A college scholarship program was introduced two years ago.

FUND RAISING ACTIVITIES

Wheaton Lions Charities Golf Outing & Steak-Fry
The Wheaton Lions Charities has been serving the Wheaton Community for over 80 years by providing services and equipment for the visually and hearing impaired. Funding for these services is provided by such activities as our annual August Golf Outing and our October Candy Day. Your support for these fund raising activities is vital to our continued commitment to the visually and hearing impaired. We thank you for your support by attending our Golf Outing this year.

Golf Outing Forms Download
Here are the forms in Adobe PDF, ready for download. Simply click on the form you desire and print the document.

Special thanks to the Tee Sponsors, Underwriters and Raffle Prize Donors From 2007's Outing

Special thanks to: Gary Schamberger of Schamberger Bros., Inc. for complimentary beer on course and at dinner and Mike Nass and the Cantigny staff.

ANNUAL NIGHT WALK

2006 2nd Annual Night Walk, June 4, 2006

We completed our 2nd Annual LIONS Night Walk Charity event organized by LIONS of Illinois Foundation. It involved sponsored walkers touring the beautiful trails within the Danada Equestrian Center grounds. The theme is “We Walk In The Dark. . . So They Won’t Have To." The walk began at 7:30 pm on Sunday, June 4, 2006 at the Danada Equestrian Center, 3 S. 501 Naperville Road (Between Warrenville and Butterfield Roads), Wheaton, IL. Last year our club supported 31 walkers and 10 extra sponsors with 107 registered to walk for the Wheaton Lions.

This year we had 54 walkers, 13 additional sponsored other Lions even though they were unable to walk. Last year $7,783 was collected with our club retaining 40% or $3,113. This year we collected $4,037 of which our club will retain $1614.80. This year we saw visually impaired people walking with their seeing-eye dogs, white canes and guides.

Thanks to the Committee: Tony Ladd, Chair; Dorothy Troyer; Joel Riley; Glen Auble; Jennifer Atten; Joe Morrissey; and John Stock.

Lion Jim Mathieson and his wife Gail hosted a pre-walk BBQ party at their house. A great family get-to-gather that got everyone’s energy up for the walk.

For additional photos of the 2006 Walk, click here.

Download Pledge Form for 2007

Fund Raising Activities

> Christmas Auction

> Candy Day

> Golf/Steak Fry Outing

> Night Walk