By Lorenzo Salinas

l.v.salinas@panews.com

 

Some lucky children at a local school will soon find themselves gifted with new shoes before the end of the week courtesy of some nice people and a noble organization.

Members of the Port Arthur Founders Lions Club stopped by Thursday at Booker T. Washington Elementary in Port Arthur to donate 30 pairs of shoes for those students most affected by Tropical Storm Harvey.

Washington Elementary currently houses over 200 students from Staff Sergeant Lucian Adams Elementary. Adams was one of the school buildings hit hardest by Harvey and had to be vacated while repairs commenced. Currently, Adams students and staff are split between Washington and Dick Dowling Elementary.

“We selected students according to their needs,” Angela Vincent, counselor at Washington, said of the children picked for shoe donations.

With such a large number of students currently being educated at Washington, Vincent said the logistical demands had been high for the campus, which teaches Pre-K through second grade, but that teachers and staff were more than up to the challenge.

“We work well together,” she said, referencing both Adams and Washington students and staff. “We already know each other with things like the summer school programs.”

Vincent credited faculty, staff, parents and students for making the difficult transition from Adams to Washington “as smooth as possible.”

“We’re all one here,” Vincent said.

Washington Elementary was only the first stop of the day for Lions Club members, as they were scheduled to make donation drop-offs at DeQueen and Travis Elementary Schools as well.

According to PAFLC member Debby Parker, Lions Club members were donating 105 pairs of shoes to children in need, including those students from Wheatley and Adams Elementary.

Lions Club International and Texas Lions Foundation provided the funds with which Port Arthur Founders LC purchased the shoes.

“They offered the funds to help after the hurricane,” Parker said. “So, I got in touch with the schools and their nurses and counselors, and they gave me a list of children who needed shoes.”

Parker was quick to thank the nurses and counselors for doing a wonderful job of providing her with the information she needed to get the shoes to those who needed them.

The PAFLC has been busy lately as the Lions Club donated three uniforms apiece to 18 students at Travis and gave school supplies to 120 students at Memorial Ninth Grade Academy. In addition, they have donated $1,000 worth in teaching supplies for Adams teachers.

Parker said the PAFLC was 100 years old and helped the Lions Club expand from 24 groups to approximately 46,000 clubs worldwide.

“This Lions Club is one of the first 24 clubs that established Lions Club International,” Parker said.

She said throughout the history of the group, service has been first.

“Our motto is ‘We serve,’” Parker said. The group works on vision, hunger, youth, environment and diabetes issues.

Parker said the club is always looking for new members, and regularly meets at noon on the second and fourth Fridays at Courtyard Café in Groves. However, for the months of November and December due to holidays, they will meet the first and third Fridays instead.

Anyone interested could either contact them through their website (e-clubhouse.org/sites/portarthur/contact.php) or through the Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce.