The Year of the Rat officially starts on January 25, 2020! It is the 1^st  animal in the Chinese zodiac and individuals born under this sign possess strengths that make them brilliant business people. The Rat’s personality is outgoing, cheerful and sociable in character.

To celebrate, our Victoria Chinatown Lioness fundraising 26^th Annual Chinese New Year banquet will be held on Saturday, February 1st  at Golden City Restaurant. It will be a delicious 8-course authentic Chinese dinner! This annual special dinner is our main fundraising event and is a popular annual event, selling out each year.

Dinner proceeds give the Club the opportunity to make many donations to organizations in our community and overseas.  An example of our most recent donations include $1000 to both the BC Children’s Hospital, CFAX Santa’s Anonymous as well as $5000 to the new Chinatown Community Services Centre. Through our fundraising efforts,  we are able to support the community by making donations such as over $50,000 to International Relief through the years, $500.00 to provide decorative lighting to the oldest Chinatown in Canada, 200 Mother’s Day gift boxes, $1000.00 to Camp Shawnigan,  $1,000 to our Victoria Chinatown Lioness annual bursary at the University of Victoria, $1000.00 to United Way, to name a few.

To purchase tickets, please contact Lioness members Pat Hannah (t: 250.216.2705), Gayle Chong (t: 778.678.2773) or Amanda Mills (t: 250.720.0222)

Looking forward to seeing you for a great night of fun and excitement!

After suspending meetings for the summer, we are back for a new Lioness year.  With the new year, comes a new board of directors although many will seem like familiar faces!

Drum roll please.  Here is the new Victoria Chinatown Lioness board for 2019-2020.  Thanks to Zone Chair, Eleanor Bawden for hosting our board ceremony.  (Please note that the picture is not the order of the positions.  In fact, there were board members who were not able to attend the ceremony so are not in the photograph.)

President:  Lily Yee

Past President:  Pei Mei Chia

1st Vice-President:  Joanne Wong

2nd Vice-President:  Gaylene Yeung

Secretary(s):  Donna May & Connie Haselden

Treasurers:  Gayle Chong & Penny Lai

Lion Tamer:  Marlee Loiselle

Tail Twister:  Susanne Phillips

1-year Director:  Amanda Mills

2-year Directors:  Pat Hannah & Connie Haselden

Okay.  We are ready to go again!

We would also like to congratulate Victoria Chinatown Lioness member Marlee Loiselle as she volunteered to be secretary for the Lioness District!  Thanks Marlee!

WE DID IT!!! Another successful Chinese New Year’s event, our 25TH under our belt! A full house of guests enjoyed an authentic 8 course dinner as we told them of our traditions and superstitions surrounding our most important holiday of the year! 

Celebrate the Year of the Pig with the Victoria Chinatown Lioness Club!  Enjoy an evening of fine Chinese dining with a traditional 8 course banquet, live Asian music along with raffles and a silent auction where funds raised will be distributed to local charities.  Tickets can be purchased from any Victoria Chinatown Lioness member, at Gala Fabrics (104-1483 Douglas Street) or through the event chairperson, Pei Mei Chia at 250.514.1928.  Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Our June meeting is always a big club event.  It is typically the meeting where we install a new board of directors.  This year, we welcomed Lioness District Liaison, Anne Scott to officiate the installations.

Here is our new board for 2018-2019.

New Tail Twister:  Lioness Susanne.  Bringing calm to the chaos.

New Directors:  Lioness Pat, Connie and Gaylene.  May they keep our club steady and on track based on the club’s mandates.

New Treasurers:  Lioness Gayle and Penny.  The guardians of the club’s purse strings.

First Vice President:  Lioness Amanda (far right)

Second Vice:  Lioness Annette  These are the right hand (wo)men to the president.  They can fill in presidential duties should the president be unavailable as well as assist the president in her duties.

Past President:  Lioness Pei Mei  Having had the experience, the past president can provide insight and help guide the incoming president through the sometimes tricky road of leadership.

And our new fearless leader:  Lioness Lily.  El Capitan

Cheers to our new board.  May we be continue to be active and involved with our community as always.

Some club members spent today putting together 190 boxes that will be distributed for Mother’s Day to the Transition House, Single Parent’s Resource Center and Bridges for Women. It was fun picking out what toiletries should go into each Chinese take out box! And of course, there was great eats to be had while working. This is a yearly activity for the club, so if you have some unopened toiletries or makeup that you would like to donate, please let a Lioness member know! Thank you.

The Club mourns the passing of our friend and fellow Lion, Ed Chow. He was a great friend to our club often attending our meetings, sharing club news, giving advice on protocol even officiating new member inductions.   He will be greatly missed.