VERGENNES — The Vergennes Lions report that this year’s Toys for Kids Drive was a huge success, with over 185 children in the Vergennes area receiving toys or gift cards at Christmas. Such success would not have been possible if it had not been for the many generous people dropping toys and money at  A&D Automotive, One Credit Union, Dollar General, Jackman Fuels, Kinney Drugs, Long Trail Physical Therapy, Middlebury College and Sheer Cuts. WOW Toys also donated many toys toward the effort.
Many parents said there would have been no toys for their children if it had not been for this effort. Toys were available for pickup at the Congregational Church of Vergennes on certain publicized days when the Community Food Shelf was open.
Recently, the Vergennes Lions made a donation of $250 to Dinners with Love, part of the Addison County Home Health and Hospice, to assist getting dinners donated by Addison County restaurants for people on hospice plus an aide. Sarah Audet, who manages the program in the county, thanked the club for helping make people’s lives a little more pleasant.
Currently, the Vergennes Lions are selling 50/50 raffle tickets to support their scholarship program. The program provides scholarship awards to graduating seniors in June in order to help them with their college expenses.  If anyone is interested in purchasing some tickets, they can contact any Vergennes Lions member or send a check to Vergennes Lions Club, P.O. Box 94, Vergennes, VT 05491, with a note of how many tickets they would like. Tickets are $10 each and the drawing will be held in late May.