In February 2017 Tokai Lion and co-founder of “Boys to Men” SA, Charlie Flanagan, suggested to the then Lions District 410A a collaboration between Lions and Boys to Men Youth Development SA to run mentoring weekends for boys from the community. Lions District 410A loved the idea, and since then seven Lions “Boys to Men” Weekends for community boys have been run. Each weekend takes approx. 16 boys aged between 13 and 18 on a residential weekend. The weekends have changed the lives of many boys, several of whom continue to be involved by joining the team of staff men for future weekends. To find out more about this incredible weekend contact either Charles Flanagan or visit the Boys to Men website – click here.
Louis Volks Humanitarian Award
The Louis Volks Humanitarian Award is the most prestigious award issued by Lions Clubs International in South Africa. The Lions Club of Tokai presented this award to the late Pastor Stanford Hill in 2019 for the incredible work he had done in Lavender Hill. Stanford was been key in sourcing the right boys from Lavender Hill to attend the Lions “Boys to Men” Weekend. The very first boy put forward by Stanford was Yaseem Ismail who was on the very first Lions “Boys to Men” Weekend. Yaseem has completely turned his life around since attending the weekend and since then has staffed on every subsequent weekend helping to guide other community boys through the weekend.