Club History

Brief History of La Salida del Sol LC

The Sierra Vista La Salida del Sol Lions Club was chartered on 10 May 1974. Our Chief Fund raiser is the Lion's Swap Meet located on Highway 90 Our many charity outlets include eyeglasses for the school children of this area, boy Scouts, Camp Tatiyee, our four State Projects, school functions such as scholarships. Project Graduation/sporting events, Red Ribbons (Drug Awareness) Flags for 1st* Grader HOBY, C. Kirby Smithe Youth, plus many more "spur of the moment" donations that come up. As you can see from our may activities "We Serve".

Chartered on May 10, 1974, La Salida del Sol roughly means “Rising of the Sun”.  Originally the club members were issued Mexican ponchos as their vests.

As with all Lions’ clubs, we soon found our first projects.

1. Assisted Lion Dale Lopshire (Ford dealership) to relocate autos.
2. Landscaped traffic island at Wilcox and 2nd St.
3. Assisted Special Olympic Games in Sierra Vista
4. Sponsored local Ford’s Punt, Pass, and Kick program
5. Sponsored two “Dale Carnegie” courses
   

Prior to the Swap Meet, we raised funds by: selling brooms and light bulbs, door-to-door; recycling newspapers and aluminum cans; and raffles.

1978 began our foray into Swap Meets.  Our fist location was the present National Bank of Arizona on Fry, second was west of the current Sierra Vista Florist, and third was the present Wal-Mart. Our final location is the north side of Highway 90, east of Young Block.

Dale Lopshire was District Governor (International Counselor) from 1962-63 while serving the Benson Lions Club. He then became a Charter Member of this club. Jack Stidham, another Charter Member, held this office during 1978.  During 1992-94, Art Ostrander, a member of the Huachuca City Lions Club was elected to the same office. He became a member of La Salida del Sol Lions Club in 1999.

In an effort to foster international relationships, our club presented the Cananea LC with a used school bus obtained from the Benson USD.  Shortly after this we became twined and have shared many happy events.

Current ongoing projects:  Collection of used eye glasses and hearing aides; providing eye glasses to area youth, college scholarships; Camp Tatiyee; Melvin Jones; C. Kirby Smithe Youth Exchange; Cub Scout Pack 408 and Boy Scout Troup 408; American Flags for 1st Graders; Peace Posters; Liberty Days; LCIF; Leader Dog; Sierra Vista/Kiwanis Skate Park; and White Cane.