The Lions' Duck is on the move in Rockville Centre

Have you seen a blur of yellow feathers? Have you heard the squeaky tread of webbed feet zipping stealthily across your path? What could it be? Could it be that the big yellow duck, the mascot of the Lions Club Duck Race, is moving to its new secret home somewhere in Rockville Centre?

For the last 12 years, the Rockville Centre Lions Club has hosted the popular Duck Race in Mill River, along with a fall festival at Centennial Park. Each rubber duck in the race was sponsored with a $5 donation and if the duck was one of the first several dozen to cross the finish line, sponsors had the chance to win one of a number of prizes.

In 2011, the mascot will be up to something new! Rockville Centre residents and friends will still have the opportunity to sponsor a rubber duck and support the many charities served by the Lions Club, but the duck has decided to change its feathers, and the fun is moving to a whole new place. Where? Solve the Duck Puzzle Jumble, below, and you will know.

For the next four weeks, the duck will move across Rockville Centre, stopping each week at one of the many recognizable landmarks in the village, on its way to a new home. The duck is big, with yellow feathers and large webbed feet. Keep your eyes peeled, and your pencil sharpened. If you are the first to reply with the correct answer to the “Where’s the Duck” puzzle, you will win a $100 Gift Certificate to Matty’s Toy Shop, on Sunrise Highway.

And, starting in May, members of the Rockville Centre Lions Club will again give residents the opportunity to sponsor a duck in the new Lions Club Duck festival! You will still have the chance to win many fabulous prizes, if your duck is plucked on the day of the festival.

What does a $5 donation support? The Lions Club has been in existence in Rockville Centre for 77 years. During that time, it has supported many local and national charities, with a special focus on sight.

The Lions Club collects used glasses and hearing aids, and refurbishes them for people who cannot afford them. The Rockville Centre Lions Club has actively supported charities with donations of nearly $20,000 per year to, among others, the Long Island Eye Foundation, diabetes prevention, blind baseball teams and blind bowling leagues, and local charities that include the RVC Community Fund, Youth Council, Hispanic Brotherhood, the RVC St. Patrick’s Parade, senior softball, Make-a-wish, Adopt-a-family, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy organizations.

Most recently, the RVC Lions Club contributed to the Lions Club International’s direct aid to earthquake victims in Japan that mobilized $5 million for immediate relief within hours of the disaster.