The Pineville Lions Club recently presented a pair of local organizations with donations, providing checks to the Bell County Senior Center and to the Friends of the Bell County Animal Shelter.

Friends of the Bell County Animal Shelter President Dinah Presnell said the Lions Club regularly makes such donations.

Brenda Johnson presented a $1,000 check to Bell County Senior Citizens Center Director Carolyn Mason, and Ron Presnell presented a check for $500 to Friends of the Shelter President Dinah Presnell recently. Both donations were on behalf of the Pineville Lions Club.

The donation to the Bell County Senior Center is intended to provide assistance with the rising cost of food the center must purchase to be used by the home-delivered meals program.

The release states the Bell County Senior Center currently prepares 65 hot meals every day to be delivered to homebound clients or picked up by those that come into the center regularly to share a meal. The rising cost of food has had a large impact on the amount of money that must be budgeted for each meal. In order to help offset some of the increased costs, the Bell County Senior Center will be happy to accept any and all donations from the community as well as businesses. This will allow the senior center to continue to meet the needs of at-risk senior citizens.

The Bell County Senior Center can be contacted at 606-248-2990, 606-337-7478, or on its Facebook page.

The release also states Ron Presnell of the Pineville Lions Club presented Friends of the Bell County Animal Shelter President Dinah Presnell with a donation of $500.

The donation will be used to purchase food for the Bell County Animal Shelter’s Dog and Cat Food Program. The Friends of the Shelter work with Pineville’s Lighthouse Mission to provide cat and dog food to participants during their food giveaways.

Dinah Presnell explained as more people are turning to food banks because of situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are discovering they are also in need of food for their pets but have no way to purchase it.

The Friends of the Bell County Animal Shelter has had to cancel nearly all of the fundraising events that normally pay for the organization’s activities; therefore, donations are greatly appreciated, Dinah Presnell said.

Friends of the Bell County Animal Shelter can be contacted at shelterfriends09@gmail.com, on the organization’s website at www.shelter-friends.org, or on the Friends of the Bell County Animal Shelter Facebook.