Dee Pelewski (left), treasurer of Oglethorpe County Lions Club, and volunteer Emma Walter package pajama packs for Piedmont Athens Regional. The packs include new pajamas, underwear, socks, and sometimes blankets and activities for the children with extended stays. (Submitted Photo).
The Oglethorpe County branch of Lions Club has been helping children and families in need by making pajama packs for kids with extended stays at Piedmont Athens Regional.
Corrine Thiel, president of Oglethorpe Lions Club, coordinates the creation of the packs with the club members and Piedmont. She began the project by donating items she purchased, which expanded into the club taking over the project with everyone’s assistance.
“And the fact that we take care of their kids makes me feel good,” said Thiel, who owns TLC Limousin Ranch on Hargrove Lake Road. “These kids are our adults of tomorrow.”
The packs consist of new pajamas, underwear, socks and sometimes blankets or coloring books with crayons, as well as contributions outside of Lions Club. This will be the fifth year for the project, with donations brought once a year to the hospital.
In the past five years, Lions Club has donated more than 450 pajama packs with each pack taking around $25 to create.
Individual members bring items to club meetings at Thiel’s home to create packages. The packs are later delivered to Piedmont by Thiel and other members of the club.
The pajama packs were initially a Lions Club International project that has been providing pajamas for children going through cancer treatment, but the Oglethorpe branch has been providing to all families who have children in need.
The club mainly gathers clothing for the packs, but the club is open to other items from community members, such as new pajamas, socks, money, and any other items that would be fit to add.
“It touched me,” said Emma Walter, the Lions Club secretary. “It showed a lot that people care enough to donate, to help where there's a need.”
The packs are for children of all ages, and donations have been made for toddlers to teenagers.
Oglethorpe Lions Club also works closely with other organizations, including Covered with Love, which has made several of the blankets included in the pajama packs.
Families have posted on various social media accounts expressing their gratitude for the Lions Cub pajama packs, some mentioning they were “a godsend,” Thiel said.