Greenbelt Lions Club Wraps Up the Holidays for Charity

As Greenbelt Lions Club member Richard Jones wrapped an electric blanket for Rodger Stringer in Beltway Plaza Mall on Friday, Stringer said, "It's for my wife with cold toes."

"It's as much a gift for me as it is for her," Stringer added.

Stringer's wife wasn't the only one who benefited, the club's annual fundraiser goes to help needy people get glasses and exams, to a camp for diabetic children in Nanjemoy, Md., and to the Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, Stringer said.

The money made from the gift wrapping, which runs from $2 to $7 per package, goes directly to charity, according to Jones, who added that none of it goes to administrative costs.

Jones, a club member since 1951, volunteers his wrapping services as does Dennis Boles, a member of 25 years. Boles started wrapping in Beltway Plaza on Dec. 9 and has put in about 120 hours and counting, he shared.

The wrapping station is located near Books-A-Million, and it will be open on Christmas Eve. Boles said he'll be there and hopes to start around 10 a.m. and finish up at 6 p.m. Whether it be electric blankets for cold toes or Angry Birds: Knock on Wood, the Greenbelt Lions plan to be on hand to wrap it up.