The Santa Monica Pacific Palisades Lions Club this month hosted the first round of the Multiple District 4 Lions Student Speaker Contest at the Santa Monica Elks Lodge. It was an inspiring evening as we listened to two Pacific Palisades High School students give us their visions on the topic “For A Better World, What Would You Do?” Using two different approaches to the topic, as well as separate speaking styles, both participants gave critiques of today, with hope for a better future. It was a close contest this year, with Luke Schneeman stressing the need for empathy and Carter Yean focusing on climate change. In the end Luke was selected to advance to the Zone level contest to be held in a few weeks.
We would like to thank our three judges, Terry Green, Santa Monica College professor, Henry Waither, retired attorney, and Jill Kalbrosky, LAUSD teacher, for their time, expertise and thoughtful discussions with the participants following the competition. They were impressed by both young men.
The next event coming up for the SMPP Lions is the annual Arts & Literacy Festival at Virginia Avenue Park, on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. — 2 p.m. The theme this year is The Robots Are Here! This year we will be helping preschool age children assemble simple robots. If you would like to join our volunteers for a 3-hour shift in the morning or afternoon, please let us know. This is a great chance for middle and high school students to earn community service hours, helping children with craft projects and handing out stickers.
As I mentioned last month we have a new meeting schedule. Monthly dinner meetings are now on the 4th Wednesday of each month for March, April, and May. All meetings continue to be at 6:00 pm and are held at the SM Elks Lodge. If you are interested in possibly becoming a member or joining us in any of our community activities, please contact Kingsley at 310-454-2960 or smpplionsclub@gmail.com. You can also learn more about us from our website.
Susan DeRemer