Lions donate $5,000 to library
'The Lions Club has been a great supporter in the past. They're a wonderful organization.' - Sandi Banks Librarian
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

LIONS ARE COOKIN'- Camarillo-Somis Pleasant Valley Lions Club President Tom Blattel, center, grills hamburgers alongside District Governor Bill Dunlevy, left, and his wife, Margaret Dunlevy, during last year's Fall Harvest Festival in Moorpark. The service organization is known for its barbecue talents, which raise money for a number of local charities.

The blind and those with poor vision will have more to choose from at the Camarillo Library because of a $5,000 donation from the Camarillo/Somis Pleasant Valley Lions Club.

The club recently delivered a check to the city so the new 65,000squarefoot library can buy more materials in formats such as videos and audiobooks for those who cannot read the traditional way.

"We're really pleased," librarian Sandi Banks said. "The Lions Club has been a great supporter in the past. They're a wonderful organization."

The all-male, 112-member club raised about $65,000 in 2007, close to the amount it raises every year to donate to charitable organizations and causes, primarily those in Camarillo and Somis.

Club members also collected more than 1,000 used books to donate to the Friends of the Camarillo Library bookstore. President Tom Blattel said he was surprised the club was able to round up so many books; he had expected to have only about 400 books to donate.

Mary Stumpf, bookstore manager, said the books the Lions donated were in "beautiful condition" and that she expects them to fetch between $500 and $600.

The bookstore donates its proceeds to the library.

"I'm sure half of them are sold already," Stumpf said.

The 62-year-old Lions Club also donates to the Braille Institute, City of Hope and Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo, and it funds annual college scholarships for Adolfo Camarillo and Rio Mesa high school students.