Coppell Lions collect toys at the Coppell Middle School North Winter Band Concert.  An unwrapped toy for the Holiday Food and Toy Drive was suggested as the price of admission to the concert.

Coppell Lions Holiday Food and Toy Drive

The Coppell Lions Club recently sponsored its annual food and toy drive.  The drive raised over 4 tons of food, bags of toys for almost 350 children, and many gift cards.  Now in its 31^st year, the Holiday Food and Toy Drive is a partnership between the Coppell Lions Club, the Coppell Independent School District and RE/MAX DFW Associates.

The drive begins each year with the Coppell schools.  Coppell teachers, administrators and counselors take a leadership role in introducing the concept to the students, often as part of a project based learning initiative.  Coppell Lions visit with students in many of the schools to help kick off the drive.  The students take it from there, organizing the drive in a way that they believe will work best in their school, then encouraging fellow students to participate and donate.  This year 14 Coppell schools participated in the drive.

Coppell school nurse and counselors are also very helpful in helping to reach out to families that might benefit from the drive, so those families can contact the Lions if interested.

Once the schools complete their drives, the Lions stop by to pick up the proceeds.  Several schools have assemblies or presentations when the Lions arrive, so the students can see the results of their efforts.  The Lions consolidate all of the donated items, and sort the canned goods.  The Lions supplement the canned goods with turkeys, flour, sugar and potatoes for each family.

Real estate agents from RE/MAX DFW Associates then jump into action.  Led by Christine Glidewell, they organize the toys and provide gift cards where appropriate.  They also handle delivery, this year to 105 Coppell families.

“This is truly a community effort,” said Dan Madden, Coppell Lions Club President.  “We really appreciate our relationships with the Coppell schools and with RE/MAX.  We love working with them to help brighten the holidays for our neighbors.  We’d also like to thank our many sponsors, including Frost Bank, Robertson Pools and The Rich-Adams-Edwards Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors.”

Coppell Lions Club Celebrate 100 Years of Lionism and win 2nd place for best decorated

float in the Coppell 4th of July Parade.

The Coppell Lions Club has dedicated the “Coppell Lions Club Game Shelf for Blind and Visually Impaired Players” at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. Coppell Lions Club is celebrating the Lions Club Centennial this year and developed the game shelf as a legacy project to offer accessible gaming to the blind and visually impaired members of the community. Braille overlays have been applied to many elements of the games which allow sighted players to seamlessly play alongside players with visual impairments.

 The game shelf currently offers nine games, including Tsuro, Roll for It, Mille Bornes, The Resistance, Love Letter, Yoink, Apples to Apples, Munchkin, and Memory. The games are available for checkout at the Library, 177 N Heartz Rd Coppell, TX, for a 21-day period. Library cardholders may begin checking these items out this week. Non-cardholders may obtain a TexShare card from their home library for the opportunity to check out a game.

 The Coppell Lions Club will maintain the games on the shelf and as part of the legacy project will add new titles annually. Games are suitable for ages 3 to adult and for all levels of braille use.

 For more information, please call 972-304-3658, stop by the Information Desk, or email CozbyPrograms@coppelltx.gov. 

Twenty-seven years ago the Coppell Lions Club helped develop and build a "Welcome to Coppell" sign on

Belt Line Road just north of Highway 635. Over the years, the sign started to show its age, and needed to

be refreshed.The Coppell Lions Club worked with the city to develop and implement a plan to clean and

paint the sign as one of our Legacy Projects.  We also replaced the Lions sign that accompanied the city sign.

The work was completed on April, 2017.  The first photo shows the sign prior to our efforts.

The second photos shows new Lion Margaret Meek painting the sign, her first project as a new Lion.

The third photo shows the finished product.  Coppell Lions President Mindy Helsley is on the left, with

Incoming President Lion Dan Madden on the right.

The Coppell Leo Club held a bake sale in front of Ace Hardware on March 18^th to raise funds for portable nebulizers for the Primary Care Clinic of North Texas.  The clinic treats low income uninsured patients.  Leo Club Vice President Isabel Mascarenhas knew from volunteering at the clinic that there was a significant need for portable nebulizers.  Low-income patients with asthma can use these machines as a low cost treatment for asthma symptoms.

Leo Club President Veronica Nguyen was very impressed with the generosity of shoppers at Ace Hardware.  “Once people heard about the opportunity to help provide nebulizers for low income patients, they were very willing to help out,” she said. “We also appreciate the support from Ace Hardware.”

The Coppell Leo Club is a service organization for high school students.  It is an extension of the Coppell Lions Club.  There are over 6,500 Leo clubs in more than 140 nations.  Leo clubs provide young people with an opportunity for development and contribution, individually and collectively, as responsible members of the local, national and international community.  The Leo club motto is Leadership, Experience, Opportunity.