The Carlyle and District Lions Club held another successful fundraising dinner and auction, bringing in more than $30,000.
Event organizers seemed pleased with how the event turned out, and the 220 ticket holders appeared to enjoy their night out.
This was the 20th year the Lions hosted the annual dinner, proving it has become an event people look forward to within the community.
In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary, emcee for the evening, Lion Wayne Wilson, gave a bit of the club's history.
"On behalf of the Carlyle and District Lions Club, I would like to welcome you to our 20th annual event," Wilson spoke to the crowd packed inside Carlyle's Memorial Hall on March 3. "March 4, 1992 was our first event, held at the Skyline Motor Inn. The chairperson for our first event was Lion Frank Faber, with fellow Lions Bill Brown, Mac Fletcher, Terry Steininger and Ron Harms."
Wilson then went on to honour five individuals, whose involvement with the Lions dinner over the years has been instrumental in its success. The five individuals were: Ken Anderson, auctioneer; Ward Cutler, auctioneer; Wendy Bax, caterer; and Eileen Corrigan and Linda Chapman, caterers.
"On behalf of the Lions Club, I would like to thank these people for their contribution over the years," said Wilson. "I would also like to thank the Skyline Motor Inn for the use of their facilities when this event first started."
"I would like to thank the Legion for the use of their hut to organize all the donations, as well as C.E. Franklin for their patience during the past two months," he continued.
Every year, money raised through the Lions Dinner goes toward helping local organizations or people in need. In past years, money has been donated to the Moose Mountain Health Care Recruitment Committee, the Carlyle Public Library, Rusty Relics Museum, and the list goes on.
This year, the club is doing something special in addition to donating to local organizations.
"We have started the process to purchase a seizure dog to help a local 20-year-old girl," Wilson told the crowd.
The dog would alert the young woman as to when a seizure is coming on so she could find a safe place to sit down to avoid injury.
Much of the success of the Lions Dinner is due to the wonderful people who come out and support the evening by bidding on items or buying raffle tickets. Without the generous event sponsors, the dinner and fundraising auction would not be possible.
There were many great items up for grabs this year, including a set of tires, an iPad, a pontoon boat excursion, a one-hour ride in an airplane, a 50'' 720p plasma television, and one special last-minute addition.
"The first thing I'd like to do is, the first item on the bid is not on the program," Wilson announced to the crowd, which then began chuckling. "I would like to call Kent and Myrla Holland to the front please."
At this point, knowing that Amber Holland (the skip for Team Canada) is their daughter, some clearly had an idea as to the identity of the last minute addition to the auction list.
"What we have here is, if you don't know, Kent and Myrla, their daughter just won the Scotties," Wilson explained to the audience, which erupted in cheers. "What we're going to do, is we're going to auction off an autographed broom from Team Canada, and hopefully Team World coming up right away. So the first item up for bid is an autographed curling broom from Team 'Ladies' Canada."
After a long bidding war, the "Impact Team" came out on top, winning the autographed broom for $900.
