The Lions Club of Brighton is putting together a fundraising drive, which began March 1, to provide help for the family of a local boy with a rare medical disorder.
During Easter Seals Month, the Lions are launching their ‘Coins for Mason Jars’ campaign, which will help the Galambos family of Alicia and Jared and their five-and-a-half-year-old son Mason, who’s been diagnosed with Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome and also with epilepsy. The jars are being dropped off at participating area businesses to collect coins and bills throughout the month to help the Brighton family.
Alicia describes Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome as an extremely rare condition, with only about 400 in the world born with it. Mason is one of approximately 12 in Canada with the syndrome. It affects all aspects of his life, including his brain and motor functions.
“It affects everything for him. He’s totally care dependent. He can’t hold up his head, or sit or crawl or walk. It affects him cognitively as well, he’s quite delayed. Kind of every aspect of his life. But he is quite a happy little guy despite it all and it just makes caring for him a little more difficult. That’s why we’re hoping to rearrange our house to make it easier for him and easier for us to keep going for many years to come,” said Alicia.
Alicia is grateful for the help the Lions have already provided to the family, including the proceeds from a pancake breakfast as well as the Brighton Lions’ contribution to Easter Seals, which have helped the family purchase equipment needed for Mason’s care.
“They’ve been very good for us,” said Alicia.
“They did the pancake breakfast, which was successful and now they’ve moved on the Mason Jar (campaign) here, which is a cute little twist on the March of Dimes and Mason. They did Easter Seals (fundraising) last year, which has been a huge benefit to us and we very much appreciate their efforts.”
Brighton Lions’ Director Keith Smith said the club members are excited and happy to support the Galambos family through the ‘Coins for Mason Jars’ campaign that will continue throughout March.
“We have long supported Easter Seals kids and we are excited to support a local family and a little guy named Mason,” said Smith. “We’re asking businesses to accept the mason jars and when customers come in if they have extra change in their pockets they can put it in the jars.”
Although it’s yet to begin, the ‘Coins for Mason Jars’ campaign has already received overwhelming community support with approximately 60 businesses agreeing to put the collection jars in their stores.
“It’s been a super reaction. A number of them have called me and said they would like to take part in that,” said Smith.
The Lions are also in the process of arranging a fish-and-chips fundraising dinner for Mason, with the date to be announced soon. Smith said the dinner is being arranged through The Flying Fish/Zack’s Diner in Brighton. The dinner will be a take-out affair due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith said since the Lions found out about Mason’s needs, they have sprung into action to provide financial aid to the family. Smith notes that in the absence of Brighton
Applefest last summer, the Lions put together a pancake breakfast and also a hot dog cookout in conjunction with the Brighton Kinsmen. Although there was no charge for either event, $1,600 was raised jointly by the service clubs and donated to the Galambos family.
Alicia said money raised by the Lions during the ‘Coins for Mason Jars’ campaign will be put toward building a wooden ramp to a new wing of the house being built to accommodate Mason’s care needs.
“Hopefully in the spring, provided permits and everything goes through quick enough, we plan to build kind of Mason wing on the house, take off our garage, since our bedrooms and main bath are 16 stairs up,” said Alicia. “So we’re hoping to put the money raised through these campaigns for the ramp for that. We will need quite a large ramp to the front door, so we’re hoping to focus their efforts on the ramp.”
A member of Brighton Lion’s club for nearly 50 years, Smith said there is no fundraising goal for the ‘Coins for Mason Jars’ campaign, but the club is hoping the community will be generous.
“There’s no dollar figure in mind. It’s just people coming into stores and putting toonies and loonies and dimes and nickels. They can put bills in it as well. We haven’t set a goal. We will be very happy with whatever we get,” said Smith.
Written By: Alan Rivett
