The Gainesville and North Hall Lions clubs have donated $1,000 to help local children participate in Gainesville Parks and Recreation programs such as youth sports, swimming lessons and camp regardless of their ability to pay. Since the inception in 2006 of the Parks and Recreation department’s Children at Play Fund, more than $170,000 in donations and grants has allowed hundreds of local children to participate in programs. Gainesville Lions Club President Herman Jones and North Hall Lions Club President Ray Chastain said they are “proud to be a part of the world’s largest service organization and felt that the donation to the Children at Play Fund was a good way of giving back to the community.”