Bob and Liz Pegg, and their daughter Jennifer, all joined the Bradford Lions Club at the same time, 10 years ago – in fact, said Bob, “The same day.”
Before getting involved in Lions, the Peggs were part of the organizing committee for the BWG Santa Claus Parade.
As Liz explained, “The Lions helped us with the Santa Claus Parade, we helped them with the car draw, and their Golf Tournament” – so signing up with the Lions club “was a natural progression.”
Liz and Jennifer Pegg responded to a call for helpers for the Santa Claus Parade about 20 years ago, along with another future Lion, Chuck Skitch.
“We thought we were building a float,” said Liz, but as they soon found out, there was much more to volunteering for the parade.
“As soon as we answered the call, we realized that there were many hats to be worn,“ she said – not only working on Santa’s float, which at the time had to be rebuilt every year, but serving as marshals in the parade.
They organized the annual Santa Claus parade, collecting applications, determining the staging order and making sure things ran smoothly.
“I was also part of the sewing team,” Liz said, working on outfits worn by the ‘costumed characters’ who walked the route.
Bob got off lightly: he usually ended up collecting the Letters to Santa.
“On parade day, we’d be saying, ‘I’m never doing this again’ – and by the end of the parade, we’re already planning the next year,” said Liz. There was just something magical about the whole thing – especially the delighted response of parade-goers, from children to seniors, who lined the roadway to watch.
“Walking that parade, seeing the crowds…” said Jenn – it was inspiring, fulfilling, and fun.
“This is such a good town,” said Liz. “It’s the community.”
“It’s giving back,” added Jenn.
Giving back to the community is just second nature to the Peggs, who own the local Pet Valu franchise – and in fact, the store has also helped shaped their engagement.
“As a business in town, the community gives us so much. It’s being able to do things for the community, with the community.”
Through the store, the Peggs collect donations for the Alliston Humane Society, the Helping Hand Food Bank – “For someone who has lost their job, to also lose their pet, would be heartbreaking,” said Liz – and for Lions Dog Guides of Canada, which trains Seeing Eye and other Dog Guides at no charge.
The Peggs have continued to volunteer for the Santa Claus Parade, which is now run by the Town, but their main focus over the past decade has been the local Lions Club.
Both Bob and Jennifer have served as 2nd Vice President, First Vice President and finally President. Jen is currently serving as President, Bob is the immediate past president.
“It’s a good bunch of people,” said Liz. “They don’t demand anything of you. You give what you can.”
In Lions, she said, it’s “family first, then business, then Lions.”
For Jenn, the club was an especially good fit, for personal reasons.
Ever since Helen Keller asked the Lions to become the ‘Knights of the Blind’ back in 1925, the international service club has introduced programs to assist the blind and visually impaired – from the first white cane program, to Dog guides, to programs that fight River Blindness in Africa and recycle used eyeglasses.
When Jennifer took a tour of the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guide training facility in Oakville, the tour included a lunch, and a guest speaker.
“The guest speaker had the same eye disease as I did,” she said – a rare form of Retinitis Pigmentosa, a genetic eye disease that, in her case, is leading to a loss of peripheral vision.
Knowing that she has a progressive eye disease, needing to be tested every year, “It actually made me change,” Jenn said – not only taking on activities outside of her comfort zone, but dedicating her time to the Lions Club and its causes.
The Peggs are uncomfortable with having the spotlight shine on their own activities, though.
“We did this as a group,” said Liz, referring to both the Santa Claus Parade and the Lions. “It’s not one person, it’s this amazing group of volunteers, all working together.”
“We each bring something different to the table,” said Jenn. “It’s how it works.”
Bob summed it up: “If it wasn’t for volunteers, the world would be a lot worse off. The world runs on volunteers.”
