By Michelle Rodriguez
The Belton Journal
Hard Hats for Little Kids is an upcoming bicycle helmet giveaway for children. The event will be at Nolanville Faith Outreach Clinic located at 101 North Main St. in Nolanville, on November 16 from 9 a.m. until noon, or while supplies last.
The bicycle helmets were donated by the Bell County Medical Alliance in collaboration with the Texas Medical Association.
“Hard Hats for Little Heads was started by the Texas Medical Association. There’s been several thousand distributions of helmets throughout the years. The gentlemen that started this is Dr. Driver, he started it because of one of his patients,” said Dr. Stephen Ponder, children’s endocrinologist, who recently spoke at the Temple Breakfast Lions Club about the upcoming event.
The Lions Club will provide vision screening for children and items like Buzz Lightyear Bandaids.
“Dr. Ponder is in the Temple Breakfast Lion’s Club and started the Jim Hornsby Feed My Sheep Children’s Free Clinic. He came up with the name for the event ‘Hard Hats for Little Kids,’” said Lisle Meeker, Logistics and Event Director of Temple Breakfast Lion’s Club.
There are 16 districts in Texas, and Dr. Ponder is the district Trustee for the Texas Lions Foundation. They help with disaster and humanitarian grants for club service projects.
The Temple Breakfast Lions Club, not to be confused with Temple Founder Lions Club, meets every first and third Thursday at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 1749 Scott Blvd., Temple. Breakfast starts at 7 a.m. followed by the meeting at 7:30 a.m.
The club is very active with other volunteer events during the year. The club will be at Rucks on Main on November 9th, where the Lions Club and American Legion fill up the local pantries in Temple.
“Lamar Middle School is our adopted school. We help 8-10 families with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. Our club is boots on the ground; we like to help the community raise funds to help with purchasing meals at Christmas time and other charities, like the food drive,” said Meeker.
They are working on the schedule for next year for head-to-toe physicals, dental checks, vision screenings for children without health insurance.
If anyone is interested in joining the Temple Breakfast Lions Club they would need to reach out to Lisle Meeker at lmeeker53@gmail.com or 254-289-9550. Their website is https://templebreakfastlionsclub.org.
Courtesy Photo
Children are fitted for bicycle helmets at a past Hard Hats for Kids event, held by the Temple Breakfast Lions Club.
