Haddonfield Lions Club Donations

The Haddonfield Celebrations Association (HCA) is a volunteer group sponsoring Haddonfield’s 4th of July Fireworks and Parade, Halloween Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony and Santa Parade. We love Haddonfield, we love celebrations and we love creating memories for our families.

First Night Haddonfield is a family-oriented, alcohol-free New Year’s Eve festival featuring stimulating entertainment including magic, music, comedy, dance and theater for audiences of all ages from children and families to teens and seniors. With the support of community leaders, police and fire departments, business owners, volunteers and committee, Haddonfield is proud to host one of the longest running First Nights in the country.

Camp Marcella, founded in 1947, is a residential summer camp ground designed specifically for children and teens ages 6 – 18 with blindness, visual impairments and special needs. It comprises over 200 acres of woodland surroundings and a clear fish laden lake, with all of its facilities designed for the best possible care of visually impaired children. Activities include: Swimming; Arts & Crafts; Sports – Bike, basketball, soccer; Nature classes in the 200 acre campgrounds; fishing & boating on Lake Mitten.

The Lions sponsor a Little League team each year. The Sponsorship Program ($600) was created to allow local businesses to support our youth baseball program. HLL uses these funds to improve, maintain and enhance the playability of our fields. HLL allowed 600+ players to compete in the 2015 Spring season while also providing the opportunity for 230+ players to compete in our Fall League.

Blind and visually impaired children have been enjoying an all-expense paid one week summer vacation at the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home in Avalon since 1972. For eight weeks each summer, between mid-June and mid-August, the Home operates a camp that offers many of the campers their first Shore experience. The campers range in age from 7 – 15; the Home can accommodate 20 campers each week. It costs approximately $1,500 to sponsor one camper for a one week vacation at the Home.

The Haddonfield Japanese Exchange (HJE) is nonprofit that promotes an annual exchange program between students from Haddonfield and Kasukabe, Japan. In alternating summers, about 15-20 students (and chaperones) from Japan and the U.S. visit one another and stay with host families. The HJE was started in 2006 by retired teacher Bill Brown.

Every year in the United States more than 34,000 people have their sight restored through corneal transplantation. In our area, Lions Eye Bank of Delaware Valley works 365 days a year to provide local residents with the highest quality and safest corneal tissue available. Since 1957 we have helped coordinate more than 30,000 surgeries. We uphold the highest eye tissue quality standards and work diligently to make the corneal transplant process as easy as possible for all our recipients.

Haddonfield, NJ Auxiliary Police Officers are sworn, trained, non-paid volunteers, with the powers of arrest, whose mission is to augment the Haddonfield Police Department

Since 1961, The South Jersey Eye Center has been serving the community by providing comprehensive eye health and vision care services to all populations, especially the low income, uninsured, underinsured, and needy residents of South Jersey. This free-standing non-profit facility is a one of a kind resource in New Jersey. Each year thousands of people of all ages benefit from vital eye care services provided by South Jersey Eye Center

Haddon Fire Company Co. No.1 proudly remains the second oldest volunteer fire company in continuous existence in the United States. Each year Haddonfield firefighters answer approximately 500-600 fire alarms, which range from dwelling, vehicle, to brush fires.

Since 1929, the Seeing Eye's mission is to enhance the independence, dignity and self-confidence of people who are blind, through the use of specially trained Seeing Eye dogs. In pursuit of this mission, The Seeing Eye breeds and raises puppies to become Seeing Eye dogs, trains Seeing Eye dogs to guide blind people, instructs blind people in the proper use, hand ling, and care of the dogs and conducts and supports research on canine health and development.

As the official charitable organization of Lions Clubs International, LCIF supports Lions’ works by providing grant funding for their local and global humanitarian efforts. In fiscal year 2014-2015, we had a great impact in lives around the world through 530 grants totaling more than $43 million. LCIF provides grants in these focus areas: Saving Sight; Serving Youth; Providing Disaster Relief; Meeting Humanitarian Needs.

Boys State educates our youth in the duties, privileges, rights and responsibilities of American citizenship. Boys State endeavors to provide a foundation for understanding self-government, a rational approach toward the solution of public questions, and a live faith in the ideals and processes of democracy. The program of training and instruction consists of extending the boy-citizen's acquaintance with the background of American ideals, expanding his knowledge of the underlying principles of government organization, and by means of active participation in the government of Boys State helps him to set up constructive ideals toward all phases of representative government.

MAVIS is the Music Association for the Visually Impaired Students of NJ. MAVIS provides free musical instruments and subsidizes lessons for blind students throughout the state. MAVIS of NJ is a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting "joy and confidence through music" by providing individual, specialized musical instruction and instruments to persons who are legally blind in the state of NJ. 1 st, We lend the person an instrument of their choice, if they do not have one of their own. 2 nd , we partner with the student locating an instructor in their area. 3 rd , we subsidize the individual with funds to pay for a substantial portion of the lessons ($20 per weekly lesson).

Each year, individuals donate approximately seven million pairs of glasses. The NJ Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center (NJLERC) in West Trenton, NJ handles approximately 1,200,000 pair each year. The purpose of the NJLERC as an organization is to collect, clean, neutralize & designate the prescription of used eyeglasses and to store and package them for distribution to throughout the world.

PBA Local 328 represents the officers of Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Barrington, and Audobon. Donations support their many community activities and programs.

The Lions Club awards three needs-based $2,000 scholarships to active HMHS LEO Club seniors, based on nominations from the LEOs faculty sponsor, and a thorough review of each nominee’s academics, extra-curricular contributions, and community service. Each May, the LEOs faculty sponsor submits the names of 10 – 20 deserving LEOs seniors. One of the Guidance Counselors prepares a detailed spreadsheet by the beginning of June, including each candidate’s GPA, Test Scores, College choice(s), Scholarships, Activities, and the estimated gap between any scholarships and needed tuition. The names of the candidates do NOT appear on the spreadsheet; they are just numbered from 1 – n. A three-person Lions Club Scholarship committee meets with the Guidance Counselor and reviews the spreadsheet; the Committee does not see the candidate names. A needs-based decision is then made, and the Lions scholarship awards are confirmed.

The Lions Club sponsors four $100 “Achievement Awards” to an 8th grade Boy and Girl at both Christ The King and Haddonfield Middle School. An administrator at each school selects the deserving students; the Lions Club does not participate in the decision. There is currently no formal criteria for selection, nor any direct Lions Club contact with the student or families of the winners.

For more than 25 years Interfaith Caregivers has been helping seniors in our community maintain their independence by providing free transportation, errand running and casual companionship. We are a nonsectarian, nonprofit organization supported completely by charitable donations. Our volunteers serve clients who live in Haddonfield and Haddon Heights.

The Food Bank of South Jersey operates on one simple premise: food should not be wasted when hungry people are in our midst. From this truth, we have built an effective food distribution program that annually links nearly 10 million pounds of food with 250+ charitable food providers, such as food pantries, community kitchens & shelters in Camden, Burlington, Gloucester & Salem.

The story of Bestwork Industries for the Blind, Inc. is a story of vision, persistence, and evolving progress, which has resulted in opportunities for training and productive employment for many people who are blind and visually impaired. Bestwork Industries product line includes examination gloves, traffic safety clothing, industrial paper wipes, reinforced construction worker aprons, military clothing for the Navy and the Army, plus a variety of customer site services such as warehouse management.

St. John of God Community Services is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, non-sectarian agency providing educational, therapeutic and vocational programs for people with disabilities, community childcare, inclusive preschool, and grant-funded job services for people with barriers to employment Archbishop Damiano School services over 160 students with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities. Students are referred from over 50 different school districts throughout central and southern New Jersey. Educational programming is divided into 3 levels: Early Childhood; Elementary & Middle School; and Secondary Program