The members of the Perry Lions Club welcomed guest speaker Dr. Randy McCaulley to their March 13 meeting, where nine Lions shared pulled pork sandwiches with beans and coleslaw at the Hotel Pattee.
McCaulley brought the local Lions up to speed on plans for this year’s Meals from the Heartland project set for Wednesday, April 5 at the Perry Lutheran Home.
The project follows the successful 2016 staging of the charity event, with its goal of packaging 22,000 meals for distribution in the U.S. and abroad. This year’s Meals from the Heartland is sponsored by the Perry Lutheran Home and Spring Valley Community.
McCaulley said volunteers are needed to work in one-hour shifts to package the meals. An assembly-line method is used to place the food in the containers, with helping hands from about 40 volunteers needed to complete the work.
This is McCaulley’s second year to spearhead the Meals from the Heartland effort. He said the project costs about $4,500 to produce, with the Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club and Optimist Club each making donations $500 so far.
The Perry Lions voted to donate $250 to the Meals from the Heartland project.
To further support the charity food event, the musically gifted McCaulley said he will host and perform an evening of religious music Sunday, April 2 at 6 p.m. at the Perry Bible Church on Iowa Highway 141 at 12th Street in Perry.
All proceeds from McCaulley’s concert will support the Meals from the Heartland project, he said.
In other Lions business, it was announced that Lions Dwayne Hochhalter and Jim George will be moving from the Perry area and probably transferring their membership to another club. The membership expressed its great fondness for these fellow Lions and said they would be greatly missed.
