Members of the Prince Albert Lions Club dropped off their donation to the evacuee shelter set up at the Prince Albert Exhibition Hall. (paNow Staff/Nick Nielsen)
Over $30,000 Canadian donated by Lions so far.

Lions Club donating over $15,000 worth of goods towards Saskatchewan wildfire evacuees

Jun 7, 2025 | 5:44 PM

“He said spend the money. It’s coming.”

That’s the reaction Prince Albert Lions Club member Randy Braaten recieved the moment he submitted his pitch to the Lions Club International for funding to help evacuees. Braaten is also the Second Vice District Governor for District 5SKN for the Lions Club International.

On Saturday, Braaten and other members of the Prince Albert Lions Club brought snacks, drinks, diapers, and a ton of other important goods to the Exhibition Hall in Prince Albert. It’s part of a grant provided by the Lions Club International totalling $15,000 USD, or about $20,543.25 CAD, that is all going towards supporting evacuees.

“Emergency grants are available from Lions Clubs International Foundation and the district 5SKN Lions applied for $15,000 grant because of the wildfires in northern Saskatchewan, and it’s $15,000 US and it’s to enable us to help all the evacuees in the area, so we’re expending money primarily right now in the Prince Albert to Saskatoon corridor, bringing supplies out to the evacuation centers.”

The idea for the local Lions to apply for the grant from the Lions Club International Foundation came to Braaten at a Lions convention in Saskatoon. While Braaten has spearheaded a lot of the efforts to gather the supplies for the donation, he credits the idea to the Governor of District 5 SKN Ray Tatro.

“We were at our Lions convention in Saskatoon, at the Dakota Dunes, and we had a presentation on the grants that were available, and it came up that we have an emerging need right here in Saskatchewan. So our district governor Ray Tatro from Lloydminster Club said go ahead, apply for a grant, and we got the application in and it was approved almost immediately. They said go start spending the money, the cheque’s in the mail.”

The donation consisted of mostly food and toiletry items that evacuees would be going through on a day to day basis. When choosing what to donate, Braaten said it came through some coordination with one of the people helping evacuees in the area.

“I talked to Weldon McCallum from PBCN Emergency Measures and he gave me a list of some of their most needed items and that. So we went shopping today and picked up what we could pick up.”

While the donation of the Lions Club International will help evacuees in the province, it isn’t to be outdone by the local Lions Clubs spread out around the province. Altogether, the Lions in Saskatchewan have donated well over $30,000 in goods towards evacuees in the province since the wildfires began.

“I think it’s important. Lions are there to support the communities and we’re there to meet the needs. The motto of The Lions Club is ‘we serve’, and that’s why we’ve come out to serve. I should mention we got the $15,000 US grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation, but the Lions clubs in Saskatchewan have donated an additional $15,000 to date, and an over and above that amount. So we’re able to commit about $30,000 of buying supplies for the evacuees.”

Braaten also thanked Lakeland Co-op, who let them buy the goods at a 10% discount to make the best out of their grant.

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