Last Saturday, the Colton Lions Club set-up shop at Pepper’s Park (5th St and N St) to hand out free backpacks to the first 100 kids, any school age, who came to the park with their parent(s). Now, in its fourth year, the Colton Lions Club, under the direction of new President Carlos Araiza, has sponsored this event, which is designed to help kids get off to a positive start when school began Aug 4.
“We believe in helping the community,” says Evelyn Lopez, one of the long-time members, who went on to explain, “The funds came from Forest Financial Insurance Co, who offer grants for local community efforts.” One of the members of the Colton Lions, Debbie Walker, devoted several hours to research grant opportunities and worked to write and secure this community grant which brought forth the funds within six weeks. “Once received,” responded Debbie when asked, “We set out to contact Amazon to purchase the backpacks.”
Within a couple of weeks, the backpacks were delivered to the Lions Club just in time to prepare for this popular event. On August 2, about 100 kids came to the park and walked away with a new backpack. “I like to see the smiles on their faces when they pickup their new backpacks,” added Walker.
Assemblymember Mr. Robert Garcia, of the 50th Assembly District took some time to come to the park to lend his support to the event. He commented, “This backpack give-a-way helps parents financially and give kids a good start.” About a dozen Colton Lions members came to help with the event including Evelyn Lopez, Rogelio Robles, Christina Gaitan, Shelba Calderilla, Noah Gago, Lisa Roo, Matthew Hernandez, Christina Valdivia, Marla Robledo, Carlos Araiza, Assemblymember Robert Garcia, and Council Member Dr.G.
The Annual Backpack give-a-way has become a very popular event for the Colton Lions Club. “It’s has grown over the years,” exclaimed Lisa Roo, one of the more active members. On that day, local children were able to come with their parents to pickup a colorful backpack of their choice, all provided from the grant from Forest Financial. Congratulations to the Colton Lions Club for another successful backpack give-a-way event and may their efforts continue to shine in the community. For more information about the Colton Lions Club, contact President Carlos Araiza @ 951-232-2901.
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