Lions Club efforts help school kids, fire victims

The Columbia Falls Lions Club kicked off their first Back to School Bash at Marantette Park last week.

“It’s just a chance for the community to get together, pick up some school supplies, and eat a hot dog,” said event organizer and Lions Club volunteer Kelly Hamilton.

The main feature of the event was an array of donated school supplies, ranging from coats to backpacks to pens and highlighters.

Helping out were local Boy Scouts and volunteers. They matched people with the school supplies list from their appropriate teacher and then helped them pick out exactly what they needed.

Lions Club members served grilled hot dogs and Girl Scouts handed out Thin Mints and Samoas. Families gathered on the lawn to eat their picnics in socially distanced-spaced shapes painted in white on the grass. Volunteers handed out masks to anyone who needed them. The masks, 2,500 of them, had been donated to the Lions Club by a Mississippi company that supplies Weyerhauser with face masks. Hamilton, who works at Weyerhauser, had reached out to the southern company who donated without hesitation, she said. The club plans on donating the masks to Columbia Falls schools, which will be requiring all students to wear masks daily.

Also present were the Columbia Falls Fire Department and the Columbia Falls Police Department, out to show their support and familiarize themselves to the community.

The Back to School Bash was the first event held by the Lions Club this summer. Their typical summer events like the pancake breakfast and the summer concert series had all been canceled due to coronavirus, said Lions Club president Steve Melby. All of which the club hopes to resume next summer if conditions allow.

Despite the cancellation of the club’s largest fundraiser — the pancake breakfast — the club hasn’t been hurting for funds, said Melby.

“We live in a good community,” said Melby. “Donations have still been coming in. If we need something, people are willing to give it.”

This is only further evidenced by the two storage containers full of donated household items the club has amassed for the families that were displaced from the apartment fire on Aug. 2, that left about 20 people homeless.

The Bash was a great success, according to Hamilton, with over 100 students being served before supplies began dwindling. Hamilton hopes to replenish stock to serve families that called in and couldn’t make it that evening.

Hamilton buys the supplies using money donated from local banks and Realty businesses, an internal grant from Weyerhauser, and small donations from individuals.

The Lions Club plans on hosting the Bash in perpetuity, with hopes that next year brings an even higher turnout and greater festivities, with added games and activities.

To donate to the Lions Club, send a check to P.O. Box 1191, Columbia Falls MT, 59912.