Colton Lions Club members celebrate charter
2 min read
Photo Colton Lions Club: The Colton Lions Club became an official chartered club on Saturday, May 1 after a year delay due to the pandemic. The club provides vision screenings, participates in community cleanup efforts, and distributes food and care packages to unsheltered individuals. Front row L-R: Cynthia Calderilla, Carmen Lozolla, and Club Treasurer Judith Wilson. Back row L-R: President Pablo Ramirez, Secretary Sandra Tucker, Ed Morden, Rebecca Jaurigue, Theresa Caldera, Fred Calderilla, Carlos Araiza, Evelyn López, Donna Hanes, Jeff Ketchum, Ben Wilson, Soledad Morden, and incoming 2021-2022 President Erik Morden.
Last Saturday, May 1, 2021, the Colton Lions Club gathered to hold a Charter Celebration, at which they became an official Lions Club. Those twenty-two members have been providing community service to the Colton area for about a year, but with the pandemic, they were forced to put off an official recognition of their founding as a Lions Club chapter until now.
Pablo Ramirez, current Colton Lions Club President, said that at his job as an attorney, he had seen another barrister with some Lions Club paraphernalia and asked him about it. When they spoke, the gentleman was so enthusiastic about what Lions Clubs do for their communities, Mr. Ramirez wanted to be a part of that, too. He looked for the Lions in Colton, but when he found there was no chapter here, he decided to start one. With the help of the Rialto Host Lions member Kathy Mc Cracken, the Colton Lions were on their way. But then came the pandemic to try and muddle things up.
“It stopped some things,” said Ramirez, “but we have been involved, keeping busy where it counts.”
During this past year, the Colton Lions Club worked with the City of Colton to provide vision screenings. They helped at community clean-up events headed by Colton City Councilmember Dr. G., created care packages and provided food to the homeless, and passed out sanitizers and face masks while they were there.
Mr. Ramirez says that he had always liked to give back to his community and finds that the Colton Lions Club members are people who, in both their professional and personal lives, love to do the same. The Colton Lions Club targets the senior and indigent communities in many efforts they do since, he stated, “They are the most hard hit by this pandemic and its restrictions. We Care. We serve.”
Throughout the past year, club members have been meeting on Zoom but are slowly transitioning to in-person meetings again. The in-person Charter Celebration included an awards ceremony in which members were given honors based on their level of commitment to the community. Dr G was the guest speaker for the group. The Rialto Host Lions Club presented the newly official Colton Lions Club with a flag, and the Yucaipa Lions Club gave them a bell and a gavel to use at their meetings.
If the Colton Lions Club sounds like something you would like to be a part of, please contact the head of their Membership, Soledad Morden, at 909-820-7595.
