Five members of the Lucas Leo Club woke up bright and early Saturday morning to present a check in the amount of $1,267.27 to the Mt. Zion Lutheran Church food pantry.
The Leo Club’s donation will go towards the purchase of food for the food pantry, which serves an average of 130 area families according to Director Jan Grubaugh, who co-runs the pantry with her husband Bill Grubaugh.
“That comes out to about 455 people,” explained Grubaugh. “When we receive donations, the retail value of the donation is 15 times what that check says if we were to purchase it from a retailer, but we purchase our food from the Cleveland Food Bank.”
With the food pantry open the second and fourth Saturdays of every month except for November and December, Grubaugh said members of the Leo Club are part of about 140 volunteers who help at the pantry every month.
“The Leo Club is wonderful,” she said. “Throughout the year they’re always doing something for us, but one of the major things they do at the food pantry is help carry food out. A lot of our people are either injured or have health issues or are elderly, so that is a major thing they do for us.”
According to Leo Club advisor Dan Stotts, the large amount of money donated Saturday was raised through a combination of the Leo Club Christmas craft show as well as a breakfast and lunch event.
“We probably made around $450 from the two meals, and the rest came from the craft show,” said Stotts.
Stotts has been the advisor for the approximately 35 students in Leo Club for the past year, although the club has been around for almost five years as a supplement to the Lucas Lions Club.
“They’re a great group, they work so hard at everything and they help the Lions Club with everything we do,” said Stotts. “Very frankly, we wouldn’t be able to do everything that we do for the community without them.”
“We wouldn’t be able to do everything we can do for the community without a good advisor like Dan,” interjected Leo Club President Christina Tilton, a junior at Lucas High School.
“No, I don’t deserve any of the credit, you kids are the ones who do all the work,” Stotts insisted.
In her second year serving as president of the Leo Club, Tilton said she plans on participating in Leo Club her senior year as well, though maybe not serving as president.
“Everyone in the club is so awesome and they all like helping people so much,” said Tilton. “It’s great to have a group of students like that all together, with their goal being to help people and help the community and be involved.”
“They’re a great group, they work so hard at everything and they help the Lions Club with everything we do,” said Don Stotts. “Very frankly, we wouldn’t be able to do everything that we do for the community without them.”
