Proceeds will send local child to Bear Lake Camp this summer
By Barb Pert Templeton
Getting the chance to send several local children to camp this summer is something that’s very important to members of the Pearl Beach Lions Club. In fact, Club President Rocky Gillis recently described Bear Lake Camp for blind and visually impaired children, as just amazing.
“They’ve got a rock wall for these children, they’ve got the only certified zip line for the visually impaired in the country,” Gillis said. “It is a super awesome place.”
At an April 21 city council meeting, Mayor Gillis, read a special event permit, which included a request to allow the consumption of alcohol, for a Cornhole Tournament Fundraiser for the camp at the Pearl Beach Lions Club in Clay Township.
The fundraiser, for Bear Lake Camp in Lapeer, will be held on Sunday, May 3 from noon to 9 p.m. The group wanted an okay to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol at the event and was seeking a one-day liquor license from the State of Michigan. An Algonac ordinance prohibits the consumption of alcohol on public property unless the organization gets approval from the city council.
Councilman Michael Bembas said actually the group isn’t looking to sell alcohol at the event, just to allow consumption. Gillis then asked Councilman Jake Skarbek to modify his original motion to reflect it’s just for consumption of alcohol not the sale and the council amended their original approval.
This is the flyer being circulated this week for the upcoming Cornhole Fundraiser at the Pearl Beach Lions Club on Sunday, May 3 from noon to 9 p.m.
Bembas also asked Gillis to explain a little about the camp.
Bear Lake Camp is a Lions owned camp near Lapeer, Michigan for blind and visually impaired children who can go there for a week for free and the Lions pay for everything. The cost is $1,000 per child for the week so the Pearl Beach Lions are hosting the fundraiser to offset the costs to send children to the camp, Gillis said.
When he became president of the Lions Club, Gillis said he wanted to create a signature fundraiser for Bear Lake Camp and they came up with a cornhole tournament.
He said Pearl Beach Lions have sent three children from the local school district to camp so far and it’s not just for the blind it’s for those who are visually impaired too.
“It’s just a way to make every child feel like they have a place to be,” Gillis said. “And then they finally get to meet people that have the same impairments that they do, image growing up in a small town like Algonac you’re not meeting a lot of kids with visual impairments. The kids get to meet each other and they form lifelong friendships because of this.”
Bembas said he thought it was all just great.
“So, for every $1,000 dollars that this community raises you are giving every visionally impaired child a week just to be a kid,” Bembas said.
Gillis said that’s right and in fact there will be additional fundraisers coming up soon including a trap shooting event.
“Bear Lake is awesome, it’s really awesome,” Councilwoman Cathy Harris stated, noting that she visited the camp in the past.
Gillis said the Lions Club also has soccer balls with beads in them so when kids kick a soccer ball, they can hear it and if anyone needs one just contact him.
The Pearl Beach Lions Club is located at 9590 Phelps in Clay Township.
Councilwoman Wendy Meldrum was absent from the recent council meeting.
