VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It's that time of the year—the Beach Bags drive, an opportunity for the community to drop off food.
Thanks to those donations, that food helps families struggling to put food on the table.
One person who helps out in a huge way with the program is Nancy Watters with the Virginia Beach Thalia Lions Club. She helps raise money and rounds up volunteers to pack the Beach Bags.
News 3 learned she would be attending a Lions Club meeting at the Ynot Pizza off Great Neck Road and that's where News 3 surprised her with an Everyday Hero award.
We told her we've been hearing what she means to the Beach Bags program.
"Well, I hope it's what our entire Lions Club means to the Beach Bags program because we're all in this together and because we know that there's this need in Virginia Beach," she said. "We know this organization the Beach Bags is funded totally by the public and by volunteers and donations and we wanted to be a part of it."
Watters is a leading force with the Virginia Beach Thalia Lions club and while she's not seeking the spotlight, Debbie Hughes, the head of the Beach Bags program is quick to share Nancy's impact.
"She corraled over 60 volunteers this past year from the local Lions clubs and they packed in two hours 22-hundred bags," Hughes said.
In addition to the volunteers Nancy coordinates, she also submits an application every year to the Lions charity foundation for thousands of dollars to buy the food for this program.
Hughes said the club's support is critical.
"We're giving out between a thousand and 1,300 bags a week right now and that's on a rotation of every other week, Hughes said. "So there's a lot of kids in our Virginia Beach schools that need this food. So the fact they go out of their way to make this happen—is huge! Huge!"
Watters also helps coordinate a Lions Club vision program to provide free eye screenings for Beach students at the Back to School Care Fair.
For all those reasons News 3 presented Nancy with an Everyday Hero award, not surprisingly, she didn't want all the credit, "And actually this recognition should go to the entire Lions Club and not just to me."
She also received a $300 Visa gift card from our community partner Southern Bank.
"It's amazing! But what's good is, we have money to do a project with," she said.
