CLEARLAKE ? The Clearlake Kiwanis Club is putting its goodwill to use in the community. The club recently adopted one of the cabins at Lake County Community Action Agency”s (LCCAA”s) transitional shelter in Clearlake.
“This is part of the Clearlake Kiwanis Club”s ongoing mission to serve the Clearlake community,” Mike Boyle, club president said. “We recently painted the exterior, remodeled the bathroom and cleaned the interior of the cabin. We will be performing maintenance on the cabin and keeping it stocked with household goods.”
According to Boyle, adoption of the cabin of one of the club”s four core community projects for 2009 and 2010. As families graduate from the transitional program the Kiwanis will again repair, refurbish, clean and restock the cabin as needed.
There are five cabins located at the facility. The units are designed for families or single persons. Including cribs, the facility can serve as many as 18 people. “Basically this shelter is for people in transition. It is not a homeless shelter,” LCCAA Executive Director Georgina Lehne said. “It”s for people in transition and it”s the only one like it in the county.”
Lehne said that this commitment made by the Kiwanis Club is vital to continuing services to local families. “The key thing to this that is so important to us and our community, is that 100 percent of the funds for this shelter were cut by the state,” she said. “So, I went to our service clubs to see if they could adopt a cabin and hence came this wonderful partnership with the Kiwanis Club.”
Boyle along with fellow Kiwanians Linda Burton, Mort Loeb and Betty Chambers exhausted a total of 75 hours of service refurbishing the cabin. Boyle said that additional members of the club donated more than $700 in materials and household goods to ready the cabin for the next family.
“Betty Chambers took the initiative to make sure the cabin had a few homey touches to welcome the new family. Betty donated a quilt for the main bed that was a favorite of her late sister, Catherine Erdahl,” Boyle said. “Catherine”s service as a Kiwanian to the community lives on through the quilt. Betty also made sure little touches like soap dishes, pot holders, new pillows, a crock pot and an alarm clock were provided to get the new family off to a good start.”
For more information regarding the transitional shelter and/or opportunities to contribute, contact the Lake County Community Action Agency at 995-0495.
