Coronado Lions Club Roars Into the New Year with Donations to Fisher House San Diego

By ANGELICA MOSER

The Coronado Lions Club recently made a donation of essential household items to Fisher House San Diego, a facility that provides lodging for military families whose loved ones are undergoing medical treatment at nearby hospitals. The donation was part of the club’s ongoing effort to serve the local community as well as the military.

Though small in number, with ten members, the Coronado Lions Club is part of a larger network of service organizations that have a rich history of helping those in need. “That’s [our] motto: We Serve. It is a matter of trying to do good in our community but also to do good internationally, showing everyone we’re all connected,” said Coronado Lions Club Secretary Carrie Downey.

The Lions Club began in the midwest around Chicago in 1917. “They had a conference and invited Helen Keller to speak, and she challenged the club to become Knights of the Blind [...] to make things better for people who were optically impaired,” Downey continued.

According to Downey, the Fisher House comes out with a list each day for people to fill. However, a challenge they faced was being limited to what they could and could not buy because there were other people wanting to help out. “They only wanted [us] to spend $200 because there were other groups coming in,” said Downey. “But we wanted to give more.”

The donation is part of the club’s ongoing efforts to support the military community. “Coronado is a patriotic city, and their Lions serve those who serve the most, our Service Members, Veterans, and Retirees,” said General Manager of Fisher House San Diego Tiana Babcock. “The Coronado Lions Club’s generosity in providing household goods enables us to provide the comforts of home for military families during times of medical crisis.”

Both Downey and Arnold were motivated to serve the residents because they could relate to their situation on a personal level. They each shared their own experiences of having a loved one in the hospital over a longer period of time and how it was important for them to be close by.

“I had a niece who had cancer, and her family stayed at the Ronald McDonald house while she was going through chemotherapy treatments, and they went on for two years,” said Arnold, adding that she successfully recovered from her illness. The Ronald McDonald House is similar to Fisher House, only that it is not a military facility. Both give families a supportive environment to stay close during medical treatments and al-

leviate some of the stress that comes with being away from home. Arnold’s personal experience with the Ronald McDonald House made the Lions Club’s donation to Fisher House more meaningful to him.

Downey chimed in with her story, explaining that when she gave birth to her daughter, her baby had to stay in the NICU. Downey had to drive 35 miles back and forth every day in

order to see her daughter. “If we had something like Fisher House, that would’ve been amazing. It allows for people to come and be together,” she said.

These firsthand experiences gave them an appreciation for the support that facilities like Fisher House provide to military families – eliminating the stress of traffic time, where to eat, or where to stay overnight.

Arnold and Downey were given the opportunity to tour the facility before they donated the goods, but they were without the chance to give the items to the families firsthand. “We didn’t see any of the residents because they were at the hospital,” said Downey. “The program manager said that they were so thrilled to get everything that they needed. They never even need to leave the complex – they don’t have to go anywhere. There’s food to eat, there’s things to wash their clothes, and there’s snacks to take if they have to wait in the waiting room.”

Currently, Fisher House is raising money to remodel, Downey added. On the Lions Club’s agenda for the next few weeks is to develop ways to gather monetary funds to help the process of renovation.

Coronado Lions Club is also commissioned to make this excursion twice a year – once in June and once in December.

If interested in helping out or joining the club, the Lions meet on the fourth Thursday of the month at Swaddee’s restaurant in the evening. For more details, contact President Eugene Arnold at (619) 807-0604.