KOLOA — “The top just fell off,” said Sandi Sterker of the Koloa Lions Club Thursday at the club’s identifying Koloa sign along Maluhia Road. “We don’t normally drive through this way, and when I saw it, I didn’t realize how much it needed work on.”
A group of Koloa Lions — Sterker, Jeanie Cox, Dave and Janet Aspnes and Russell Hasegawa — met to perform a beautification service project at the sign and its surrounding area.
The top of the sign, clearly rotted through in portions, needed the TLC afforded by the Lions, as Cox tended to getting rid of the grime and mold buildup.
Sterker said the top portion of the sign will be cleaned up and fixed before it is re-installed.
She also extended an invitation for people interested in service projects and fun to join the Koloa Lions Club that meets on the third Thursday of each month via Zoom, starting from 6 p.m.
“Once we get over this COVID-19, our plan is to meet in-person at the Koloa Neighborhood Center,” Sterker said. “But for now, we meet on Zoom.”
Other Lions tended to the overall condition of the sign, affording a heaping dose of elbow grease to get rid of the accumulated mold and grime from passing cars and numerous rainstorms. Hasegawa and Dave Aspnes wielded power equipment to try and get control over the invasive guinea grass as cars and trucks whizzed by.
“We can’t do the vision or hearing screening because of the COVID-19,” Sterker said. “We can’t even do the testing for diabetes. But we can do this. We’re outdoors, we have social distance, and cleaning, especially the environment, is one of the Lions International areas of focus.”
Other Lions clubs on the island have similar agendas, as the East Kaua‘i Lions Club is scheduled to do painting at the Kaua‘i Veterans Center along Veterans Memorial Highway in Lihu‘e on Saturday, the same date as the North Shore Lions Club partnering with Aloha Roofing Supply to host a golf tournament at the Princeville Makai Golf Course to raise funds for student scholarships.
For more information on the Koloa Lions Club, call 639-9631.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
