This year we are pleased to announce that Julia Abbott, from Palisades Charter High School, won the Santa Monica Lions Club Student Speaker Contest and will be advancing to the zone level. The topic for this year’s competition was "Homelessness in California; What's the Solution?" Julia, a sophomore, presented a very compelling and insightful response. We will continue to watch her progress through the various levels of competition, and hopefully all the way to the state championship.
This month, on Thursday, March 5, Pam Andrews will be passing the president’s gavel to Kingsley Fife at the Elks Lodge at our regular lunch meeting. In addition to the ceremony, we will also have a Lion from the Palos Verdes Club, Ken Marchand, talk about computers and technology. Since he is an instructor of computer science at Santa Monica High School, this should be a very informative presentation.
It is time for our 6th Annual Lions Eyes Across California vision screening at Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica. The event will be held on Saturday, March 21 right next to the Farmer’s Market, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Similar to last year, we will be doing free diabetes screenings and children’s vision screenings, while also offering a selection of free readers for anyone that needs them. Children will receive their choice of a free book, once they have completed their eye screening. We only able to offer this double complimentary screening once a year, so please spread the word to those you think would benefit from it. This is a great time to drop off any used eyeglasses or hearing aids that may have collecting around the house.
Next up will be the Santa Monica Arts & Literacy Festival in Virginia Ave Park on Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. We will be helping children with a craft project and are looking for some volunteers. This is a particularly good project for any high school students looking to complete volunteer service hours before the end of the school year. If you are interested, please contact Susan DeRemer at santamonicalion@gmail.com.
If you are interested in learning more about Lions Clubs and serving the Santa Monica and Westside communities, please consider joining us at one of our twice monthly meetings or a service activity, which are currently scheduled for March, April and June. Please contact Marilynn Schalit at marilynnschalit@yahoo.com or 310-903-8819 or Yoriko Fisher at yorikofisher@gmail.com or 443-883-1101, to learn more.
