Katie Ryan
Special to The Lake Report

Members of the Niagara Lions Club will be collecting donations at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s two grocery stores on Saturday in aid of the Newark Neighbours food bank.

The Lions will be at Hendrik’s Independent in Old Town and Phil’s in Virgil from 10 a.m until 2 p.m.

Lions spokesperson Catharine Wickabrod said one goal of any Lions Club is to feed the homeless and needy.

“This is a great opportunity for the Niagara Lions to provide a service to those in need,” said Wickabrod.

It is also nice to get out into the community, meet different people and talk about how the Lions have been supporting the community for more 80 years, she said.

“This is the first food drive since COVID-19 hit,” but the need for food has not diminished, said Wickabrod.

At the height of the pandemic, the club purchased food and delivered it to Newark Neighbours to make sure the food bank’s shelves were full and nobody would go hungry.

The Niagara Lions started collecting food for Newark Neighbours in 1971 and as the need grew the club knew it had to find grocery stores that would be willing to allow the donations.

“It was a win-win situation for the Niagara Lions and the grocery stores because with any cash donations the Lions would go in to the store and spend that money buying more groceries,” Wickabrod said.

The food drives turned out to be a huge success and a convenient way for shoppers to contribute and make donations while doing their weekly shopping, she added.

Newark Neighbours is asking for non-perishable food items such as soup, chili and vegetables, and household items such as toilet paper, paper towels and dish soap.