Lions honour Neil

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Lions honour Neil

“TO me, it’s the equivalent of the Brownlow in Lions.”

With those words, Neil Everitt summed up the major award he received from the Lions Club International Foundation, recognising his service to the communities of Inverloch and Toora.

The Inverloch man received a Melvin Jones Fellowship at the Inverloch Lions Club’s Christmas Party recently, from president of Inverloch and District Lions, Linda Aly.

The fellowship, named in honour of the Mr Jones, the founder of Lions, praises Lions members who demonstrate exemplary service to their club and the community.

A life member of Lions, Mr Everitt served with the organisation for 42 years before retiring recently.

“You join a service club for the community but if you get one of these fellowships, it’s a pure bonus,” he said.

Mr Everitt volunteered with Toora Lions for 26 years, serving as president three times, secretary and treasurer, before moving to Inverloch and helping to establish the Lions club there.

The fellowship also recognises his community service outside of Lions, which has included substantial involvement with the bowls clubs at Toora and Inverloch, and writing histories about the Toora Bowls Club and fishing in Corner Inlet, with the latter, They Fished in Wooden Boats, winning a Victorian local history award.

Mr Everitt served on the committees of the Toora Hall, pool building, pool and sports club, was a director of South Gippsland Hospital at Foster, a member of the Toora CFA and a life member of the Toora Football Club.

Since moving to Inverloch, he has driven the Bass Coast community bus, taking elderly people to appointments and shopping, volunteered with the Inverloch visitor information centre and helped Inverloch Lions Club hosted a district convention in October.

Mr Everitt has served as president, secretary and chairman of numerous sub-committees since joining Inverloch Lions, and been on the board of the Inverloch Bowls Club.

He praised his wife Rita for her support of his community activities.

 

Deserving recipient: Neil Everitt of Inverloch with the Melvin Jones Fellowship recognising his service to the communities of Inverloch and Toora.

Deserving recipient: Neil Everitt of Inverloch with the Melvin Jones Fellowship recognising his service to the communities of Inverloch and Toora.

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Posted by on Dec 20 2016. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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