Immediate Release
Lions Clubs provide life saving relief in Philippines
Honiton and District Lions Club is providing life saving relief for local communities
affected by the disaster caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Lions Clubs
throughout the British Isles and Ireland have pledged £200,000 to send 1,000 Lifesaver
water filtration systems providing up to 20 million litres of sterile water for drinking and
medical use.
The local donations support the US $500,000 (over £310,000) pledged immediately by
Lions Clubs within Southeast Asia and other global fund-raising activities. This money will
deliver vital on the ground relief through volunteer members of Lions Clubs in the
Phillippines working closely with government officials and other agencies. Lions Clubs in the
area, including four in Cebu and one in the disaster epicentre of Tacloban, were already
helping those affected by last month’s major earthquake in nearby Bohol, when the latest
crisis occurred.
“Lions Clubs provide a global network that is able to give immediate practical and financial
support when such disasters strike,” explains president of Honiton and District Lions Club,
Ed Pescud. “Though our Lions Clubs International Foundation we maintain a disaster fund
enabling the organisation to respond immediately with one hundred per cent of donations
going direct to local relief efforts co-ordinated by Lions operating in affected communities.
“In addition, local fund-raising in Honiton and Ottery St Mary is going to provide the most
basic of human needs, clean drinking water. Typhoon Haiyan has been called the worst
storm to make landfall in recorded history, and its devastation is hard to imagine. As Lions,
we not only help our local communities throughout the year, but are able to respond when
relief is required in any local community. ”
For more information contact:
Media release: Local Lions celebrate Good Deed Week
page 2
Bob Francis
PRO/Webmaster – Liaison officer to Honiton Chamber of Commence
Honiton and District Lions Club
www.honitonlions.org.uk
NOTES
Lifesaver water filtration system
Each LifeSaver water filtration system can produce up to 20,000 litres of sterile water,
making potentially contaminated sources safe to drink or use for medical purposes. For
more information see: http://www.lifesaversystems.com
Lions Clubs International
Lions Clubs International has 1.35 million members in over 200 countries, making it the
largest service club organisation in the world. It has 17,000 active members belonging to
900 Lions Clubs located throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Each Club supports a range
of projects in its local community, including health and youth initiatives.
In the last ten years, Lions Clubs International Foundation has over US £100 million for
disaster relief programmes helping local communities impacted by natural disasters.
Financial and practical help was provided for those affected by the Oklahoma City tornado in
May 2013, as well as Superstorm Sandy in 2012. More than US $21 million was mobilised
following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Lions Clubs relief efforts are ongoing in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake helping families move into new homes and improve
healthcare.
Lions Clubs undertake hundreds of fund-raising activities in cities, towns and villages, with
100% of monies raised going direct to good causes.
In Europe alone Lions Clubs members volunteer almost 6 million hours of service, and raise
£88 million annually to support the needs of local communities.