By Susan Lee DeRemer
If you are looking for an opportunity to get more involved in the Santa Monica community, let the Lions Club of Santa Monica help. While the local Lions are always working to serve the community, this spring we are particularly busy as we sponsor a food drive, recognize a community leader, offer free eye screenings, plant trees, participate in an arts and literacy festival, host a horse racing event, and take part in a walk — all before June.
Food bank donations
The final days of the food drive for the Westside Food Bank are coming up. Want to help but feel you are running short of time? Make a donation online at www.tinyurl.com/lions2016. For every dollar donated, the food bank is able to provide four meals.
Community service award
We are pleased this year to be honoring Dr. LaDonna Ringering with the Santa Monica Lions community service award at a lunch to be held on Saturday, March 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the DoubleTree hotel in Santa Monica.
Ringering is the President/CEO of The Center for the Partially Sighted, a comprehensive low-vision rehabilitation clinic providing services throughout Los Angeles County. She received her doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1982 in the dual specialties of clinical psychology and gerontology.
Ringering started working at CPS shortly after its founding in 1978, becoming the executive director in 1991. It is because of her passion and vision that CPS has become one of the leading low-vision service providers in Los Angeles. Ringering has been involved in Santa Monica for many years, as the clinic was located in Santa Monica before moving to Culver City. She has served on various community and vision-related committees and been an active member of Rotary.
Tickets to the event are $60 and you can register online at https://squareup.com/store/smlions.
Eye Across California
On Saturday, March 19, the Santa Monica Lions will be working with three other area Lions clubs to present Lions Eye Across California. This is a statewide event where we will be providing free eye screenings and eyeglasses at Virginia Avenue Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Partnering with us for this vision event will be The Center for the Partially Sighted and Vision To Learn. We will provide more details for this event next month.
If you want to join us for any of the upcoming projects, contact Susan at 310-623-4499 or via email at SantaMonicaLion@gmail.com. We can always use an extra pair of hands. If you think you may want to become a Lion, contact Susan about new membership opportunities.
For more information about the Lions Club, visit www.facebook.com/smlions, http://e-clubhouse.org/sites/santamonica, call 310-623-4499 or reach them at P.O. Box 3435, Santa Monica, CA 90408.
