AFC Bournemouth striker Jermain Defoe was presented with the Lions Club Humanitarian award at Vitality Stadium on Thursday.
Members from the organisation came to Bournemouth to meet the striker in person, also handing over a £1,000 cheque for the Bradley Lowery Foundation.
The Louis Volks Humanitarian Award consists of a medal, a lapel pin and certificate which were couriered to from South Africa to Great Britain for the presentation.
Formed over 100 years ago, Lions Club International is the world’s largest service organisation with over 1.4 million members in more than 200 countries. One of the many projects is the fight against Childhood Cancer.
The relationship between young football fan Bradley Lowery and Defoe touched many hearts, including those of the Lions Clubs in South Africa (Merriman Lions), who are closely linked with a child cancer treatment unit at the local Red Cross children’s hospital in Cape Town.
They decided to make a donation to expand the facilities in the hospital’s cancer unit and, when making their latest donation, it was unanimously decided to honour Defoe with a Humanitarian Award.
Upon presenting the award, Merriman Lions Club commented: “We are proud to present the prestigious Humanitarian Award in recognition of Defoe's dedicated and distinguished service to the benefit of the community, which exemplifies the ideals of the International Association of Lions Clubs.”
