July 17, 2017
Nanango Lions held a small barbecue lunch at Lions Park on Sunday to introduce three exchange students to the town, and present cheques to four Nanango community groups into the bargain.
The exchange students have been staying with local couple Wendy and Scott Matthews for the past two weeks as part of the Lions Youth Exchange program.
Wendy and Scott’s son Brock will be travelling to New Zealand during this year’s summer school vacation as part of the same exchange program.
The three exchange students are Manom Bax, from the Netherlands; Ilgim Cengiz, from Turkey; and Julianna Miller, from West Virginia in the USA.
During the past fortnight the three 17 year olds have visited the Gold Coast, Toowoomba, the University of Southern Queensland and the Bunya Mountains.
They’ve also spent time at Nanango State High School, taken a 23km bike ride along the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, gone go karting at Nanango’s go kart track, visited Mt Mee, and looked over the peanut silos and The Peanut Van in Kingaroy.
The purpose of their visit is to get acquainted with Australian culture, and after a third week in Nanango they’ll be spending the final week of their month-long visit on the Sunshine Coast.
The three girls said they’d noticed many differences between Australia and their own countries – particularly in our school systems – but were enjoying their visit and the people they met very much.
Their parents are all involved in Lions and had encouraged them to take up the opportunity to travel to Australia, they said.
Lions Zone 4 chairman Jenny Robinson said Nanango Lions had hosted a number of exchange students over the years, and the latest group seemed to be very happy with the experience.
Later in the morning, club president Dick Robinson presented cheques to representatives from the Nanango Stags, the Nanango and Districts Netball Association, the Nanango Scouts and Creative Connections to help them with their own projects.
The money had been raised by the Nanango Lions food van, which raises funds the group can reinvest back into the community.
The food van itself had been funded with a grant from Nanango’s Heritage Community Branch three years ago.
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The Nanango Lions meet at the Lions Den (the old Nanango Post Office) in George Street, Nanango at 7:00pm every second and last Tuesday of the month.
Meetings are usually followed by optional dinners at the nearby Nanango RSL.
The club currently has 15 members following the passing of some members and the relocation of others during the past year, and new members are always welcome.
Apart from local community groups, the Lions support Blue Care and Camp Duckadang.
In the past year they have also given donations to the Kingaroy Hospital and the Lady Bjelke-Pretersen Community Hospital.
