Kids love Lions Club egg hunt

April 2, 2004

For a community that has been around for over a century it is always amazing to think that while we have existed for so long, our traditions are still very young. For newcomers it may seem as if we have only been around since the 1980s. Most of the homes are new, as well as five out of seven of the schools, and let's not forget that Oakley has only been a city for less than five years.

So when we say that the Almond Festival has been around for 15 years, Breakfast with Santa for 13 years, and the Oakley-Delta Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt has been around for about 10 years, it seems like that is such a short time, but for Oakley that is a long-lasting tradition that people have looked forward to year-after-year.

That's why the groups keep putting on the shows. This weekend the Oakley-Delta Lions will once again be hosting their Easter Egg Hunt out at O'Hara Park. If you've never been and have kids between the ages of one and 10, it's the place to be this Sunday. According to Alice Posin, the committee for the hunt has been busily putting together plastic eggs and has already filled between 6,000 and 7,000.

"It's really quite a fun event," Posin said. "I always get a kick out of it. And where else can you go where the kids can have so much fun and get prizes for just a $1 donation?"

If the group keeps going they will have probably about 10,000 eggs filled by the weekend. Posin said that usually a couple hundred kids show up for the event. The toddlers are set in a separate area where they can take their time collecting the eggs and not get trampled on. That is a good thing, because I've brought my son to this event and once the kids are all lined up and sent to get their eggs it's everyone for themselves and those little ones take off running.

Don't forget to bring the grandparents out for the day with you. It is a sight to watch the kids. Hey, even if you don't have any kids under 10 you might want to just come out and check out the fun. The group is serving lunch of hot dogs, chips and a soda for just $2, which is quite a deal. The real deal, however, is for those who benefit from the Lions Club's programs.

Which for the Oakley-Delta Lions Club is the local sight-impaired. The group is very active collecting eyeglasses and donating them to organizations who give free prescription glasses to those who can't afford them. When we think of those who are down on their luck, we usually think of people just needing food. That is not always the case. Many of these people are sight-impaired just like the rest of us and if you have been out to purchase a pair of glasses lately, you know that they don't come cheap.

The Lions Club also donates scholarships to local kids each year for college. They also feed the poor during the holidays.

At the Easter Egg Hunt this weekend the group will be providing pictures with the Easter Bunny for just a $1 donation. There will be prizes besides just the eggs. There will be eggs out on the ground that will have little slips of paper in them. Some will be for baskets filled with prizes and some will be for free merchandise from local stores. Like a free kids video from Video Cinema in Oakley. The baskets have also been donated by local business owners.

Next up on the Oakley-Delta Lions Club calendar is a special kids day on April 24. The event is sponsored by several different Lions Clubs throughout Contra Costa County and is being held at Castle Rock Park in Walnut Creek. It's a day just for the kids and there will be many activities for children available throughout the day.

Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.

Distributed by the Contra Costa Times

Return to Oakley in the News