
DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709260395

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 19   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   46 lines

``DRIVE FOR THE BLIND'' SET FOR NOV. 1

The Southside Lions will again ``Drive for the Blind'' on Nov. 1.

The club, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, serves the Indian River and Greenbrier neighborhoods of Chesapeake.

Like Lions Clubs across the nation, the Southside group performs extensive volunteer work to benefit the sight and hearing impaired with such well-known and traditional Lions' fund-raisers as the broom, fruit cake and white-cane sales.

But according to Oliver W. Hawkins, publicity chairman for the Southside Lions, the Nov. 1 ``Drive for the Blind'' gala is its biggest fund-raiser of the year. It is the fifth time the club has held it.

The fund drive will include a chance to win a $10,000 grand prize, a chance to win $250 in cash with every 25th ticket drawn; and food, music, dancing, an auction and a cash bar.

Only 400 tickets at $75 a piece will be sold. And for every $75 ticket purchased, an additional $25 ``Party Ticket'' can be purchased.

But the real winners will be the sight impaired helped by the Southside Lions. Money raised by past Southside Lions events have enabled the service club to help more than 70 needy folks with eye exams and glasses. It has also arranged to connect more than 20 hearing impaired individuals with needed hearing aids.

Hawkins said all applications for glasses, hearing aids and eye and ear exams are received and processed at Irwin's Good Neighbor Pharmacy, 4300 E. Indian River Road. Anyone wishing to donate used glasses or hearing aids may drop them off at the pharmacy. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

WANT TO GO?

WANT TO GO

What: Drive for the Blind

Who: Sponsored by the Southside Lions Club

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 1

Where: Executive ballroom of the Holiday Inn-Executive Center,

5655 Greenwich Road, Virginia Beach

Cost: Donation of $75 per ticket, which includes heavy hors

d'oeuvres, music, dancing, prizes and an auction

Call: For more information, call 436-5322