Eunice Gomez takes Reigns at San Felipe Amistad Lions Club

July 12, 2008
By SW TEXAS LIVE
Special to LIVE!

The San Felipe Amistad Lions Club announced last month that Eunice Gomez will be the 2008-09 president. She replaces outgoing president Claudia Lopez. Gomez is a 1998 graduate of Del Rio High School and the general manager of Del Rio Home and Auto, also known as H&A.

The San Felipe Amistad Lions Club is a women-only organization comprised of business leaders in the community, according to Gomez. It is the newest of the three Lions organizations in Del Rio. Gomez says the club has experienced substantial growth since it was organized. “Monica Martinez encouraged me to join. She was the 12th member,” Gomez says.

Gomez was attracted to the organization’s bond of Del Rio businesswomen who she considers to be community leaders. “I knew if we got a bunch of young businesswomen together, we could get a lot accomplished,” she says. The group has grown almost three-fold over the past year, to 35 members.

Now the San Felipe Amistad Lions are at a size where the women can make an impact, Gomez says. “But when we only had 12 people, people would come see us to do things, but he had to decline because we didn’t have the funds,” Gomez says.

In addition to supporting the vision and youth programs of the International Lions, The San Felipe Amistad Lions provide scholarships to students from the local area. In an annual pageant, the club selects a king and queen of the club and those winners receive scholarship money for college.

Gomez says that the club will accomplish more for the community this year. “I want to get the community involved in our fundraisers,” Gomez says. Two major goals of Gomez’s tenure will be helping to protect the environment and promoting fitness and health.

She says they are going to initiate a recycling program for tennis shoes. “Everybody has a pair of old shoes in their closet,” Gomez says. In the fitness arena, Gomez says her goal for the club is to organize a fun run or even a marathon as a fundraiser. “I am wanting to do something to promote health and at the same time raise money to give back to the community,” she says.

How does the club give back? One way is helping families that suffer catastrophes. “Because we’re women, we are also good cooks. We’ll go help people who are suffering, like a family that loses its home in a fire, we’ll be there helping with meals,” Gomez says.

Other projects the club participates in are the annual “Stuff the Bus” event where the community donates school supplies to less fortunate children in the school district. They also volunteer for the annual Feast of Sharing.

Their signature fundraising project is the annual Duck Race on San Felipe Creek. Rubber duckies are sold to donors and released simultaneously into the creek for a race. The winners win a prize. “We want to expand the annual duck race. The first race was held in 2005 and it has grown steadily ever since. That is our biggest project and where we raise the most funds,” Gomez says.

Lastly, Gomez says they want to raise awareness of the fight against child and elderly abuse.