Community & Business
15 July, 2022
Lions look to new year
MAREEBA Lion Justice Eales has been recognised for his selfless years of service to the Mareeba community, being named the 2021-22 Lion of the Year at the club’s recent changeover.
Justice has been a member of the Mareeba Lions Club for a decade, initially spurred on by his grandfather to join a club, and since joining has been involved in many of the club’s fundraising and volunteer roles.
Most recently, Justice took on the task of collecting old car batteries to be recycled, raising more than $3000 over the past 16 months through the initiative, with the money raised going back to Lions.
Upon being named the 2021-22 Lion of the Year at the changeover, Justice was both surprised and honoured saying he does not volunteer for recognition.
“Lions is a social life for me, I enjoy meeting everyone from the Lions Club, they are good people,” he said.
“I was surprised when I was named, I wasn’t expecting anything but it is nice to be recognised.”
At the changeover, the club also retained their existing committee, with Rico Cabassi returning as president, accompanied by Terry Wallace as secretary and Alita Jennings as treasurer.
Terry also received a special secretary award from Rico, to recognise she had been instrumental in many of the club’s projects over the past few years.
The Mareeba Lions have two projects on their plate they will be working on over the coming year – installing an additional covered seating area at the Bunny Seary Lookout, and a joint venture with the Dimbulah Lions Club to restore an old tobacco picking machine.
The machine was donated by ex-tobacco farmer and Dimbulah Lion, Eddie Toffanello, and will be donated to the Mareeba Heritage Centre when completed.
