TOWNSHEND — Several members of Lions Clubs from throughout Vermont and Vermont Lions Charities recently presented a check to Grace Cottage Hospital in the amount of $13,250 to help fund four generators for the hospital's campus.
The donation was the result of an interesting sequence of events.
Taylor Young at WCAX-TV in Burlington had seen Grace Cottage's Facebook post about the fundraising campaign for four generators, which would enable the hospital to continue operations during power outages. Young traveled to Townshend to do a story, which aired three times on WCAX on Jan. 8.
Meanwhile, way up on the Vermont/Quebec border, Connie Laplume of the Troy & Area Lions Club saw the WCAX newscast and emailed Vermont Lions Charities President Stan Patch, who also saw the story air on WCAX and put out a statewide plea.
As a result, a $10,000 donation was made from Vermont Lions Charities, with the balance coming from the Troy & Area Lions Club, Valley Lions Club, and Londonderry Tri-Mountain Lions Club.
“This gift represents the effort of many, many Lions throughout the state of Vermont,” Patch said in a news release.
“It didn't seem acceptable to us that someone had to come in to start portable generators in the middle of the night every time the power goes out at a hospital,” Laplume added.
“It means so much to all of us here at Grace Cottage that Lions Clubs, whose motto is 'We Serve,' stepped up from all over the state to help us out with such a generous gift,” said Andrea Seaton, Grace Cottage's Director of Development.
Thanks to the Lions, she said, the hospital “met our Generator Fund goal of $115,798 within one month.”