Lions European Carousel (in English)

The Lions European Carousel in Helsinki will support children to stay away from drugs.

The European Carousel is an unofficial ring of seven Lions Clubs, who meet annually, alternately in each other's home towns. It all started in 1996 with the idea of the clubs of Mechelen in Belgium and Stuttgart Airport in Germany.

The clubs had already been friendship clubs, but wanted to expand the circle. Little by little, the clubs from Leeds in England, Haarlem in the Netherlands, Bourg-en-Bresse in France and Parma in Italy have joined the Carousel. And last - so far - in 2009 the Lions Club Helsinki/Revonsalmi in Finland.

The Lions Club Helsinki/Revonsalmi has invited a total of 49 lions and spouses from all over Europe to Helsinki on 25 - 27 May 2012. Some have previously visited our country, but most of them are coming for the first time to Helsinki and Finland.

We support the strengthening of children's self-esteem

The Carousel is fully financed by the participants themselves. The host club traditionally receives a small donation for its activities from each visiting club.

The Lions Club Helsinki/Revonsalmi is likely to use the possible donations for training teachers in the Lions Quest. Through this training, the teachers will learn practical means to strengthen a child's self-esteem so that the child will stay away from alcohol and drugs.

Networking and exchanging ideas

The programme organized by Revonsalmi starts on Friday evening 25 May and ends after lunch on Sunday afternoon 27 May. The programme on Friday consists of a sightseeing tour and dinner at a restaurant Tervasaari Savu. On Saturday, there is a boat trip with m/s Panda from the city center eastwards through the archipelago to Villa Ivan Falin in Vuosaari. On Sunday there is lunch in Restaurant Kappeli.

The Carousel is a great means for networking and exchanging both ideas and experiences between the lions of different countries.

Raino and Oivi Heinonen