The Leo club is an international youth organization of Lions clubs international. Its aim is to provide a service for those in the world who are impoverished and are on the cusp of the poverty line. The club focuses primarily on children, although the goals are diverse depending on the development project and services being carried out in different parts of the world. However the underlying principal is the same globally - the club shares a common vision of serving the poor internationally.
The Leo club and its fellow Leos come together, putting aside religion, politics and personal beliefs with a greater aim in mind. The club delves into many projects including team building activities, lectures and humanitarian projects. The first Leo Club in Sri Lanka, the Leo Club of Wattala was inaugurated in 1969. “With a current membership of over 400, an average of 350 projects are being carried out to aid the poor locally,” said Leyon Aponso, District Vice President of the club.
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| Most outstanding council officer |
The achievements of the Leo Club of Sri Lanka this year, which commenced last year, included winning two international awards. The Leo club was recognized with the award for the most outstanding Leo club, and ranked amongst the top 5 Leo clubs in the world. Leo Asitha Pinnaduwa (District President) accepted the most number of Leo awards, while Leo Leyon Aponso (District Vice President) accepted the outstanding Leo award.
“The Leo Club had a numerous number of projects underway this year, the initial one being the 2009 volunteering programme,” said Leyon. The project was a joint venture with the Leeds Metropolitan University in the U.K and the Leo club of Colombo Millennium. “The project consisted of a planned programme for volunteering nine graduates from Leeds,” said Leyon, adding that it is a part of a culture exchange programme. The volunteers from Leeds were taken to the Lions Rock in Sigiriya in order to garner their knowledge about Sri Lanka’s rich history and culture.
“The Leo club also carried out community service programs, organizing monetary aid of around one million rupees, while the club set up medical camps in order to aid the unfortunate and impoverished, most noticeably the District Health camp at Pasyala, on the November 15, 2008. 1500 deprived villagers benefited from this 2 million rupee funded camp.”
The wildlife conservation and biodiversity project was organized by the Leo club of Hikkaduwa on behalf of the district council. It commenced on December 21, 2008 and was witness to 40 participants. Several other small scale projects were also initialized by the Leo club included providing 11 mosquito nets to the Sanhindha Boys home in conjunction with the HNB Securities LTD project, the Knights of Light project donating 800 safety lamps among 400 less fortunate families in Palinda, Nuwara (Mathugama District), the Multi Service Health Camp at Kelabokka Tea Estate, Mathale, as well as the Rare Blood Donation Campaign for Maharagama Cancer Hospital, partnered with Rotaract District Council during the course of the months of august, September and October 2008.
The most anticipated event of the Leo clubs calendar year was the youth leadership camp from February 21-23 this year. “A group of 100 Leos participated in a team building, leadership camp lasting three days at Kithugala,” explained Leyon. “The camp consisted of lectures which were given out by leaders from the corporate sector as well as professors lecturing on leadership and team building roles. Teams also participated in various activities during the duration of the camp, such as rafting, hiking, meditation, dancing and exertions through the jungle.” Awards and medals were handed out to boost motivation and spirits amongst the campers.
Rounding off the year for the Leos, “a conference was held in June to emphasize and encourage team building and leadership roles amongst the youth of today,” said Leyon. The talks focused on aspects such as discipline, team spirit, leadership skills and decision making skills.
Thus the Leo Club ends its bountiful year this June, with a string of success and looks forward to the up coming year to better the world for the needy, one project at a time. The Leo club strides forward hand in hand with the support of the international and local community as well as the youth of today’s generation in order to serve as an organization for the poorest of people.
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