St. Joseph Lions Club's fruit sale returns

The fruit sale is set up in a trailer in the East Hills Shopping Center’s east parking lot. It runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Dec. 17.

Barbosa said the fruit sale has become a tradition many people return for each year.

“People know who we are and we have a lot of return customers that come in for Christmas that either want to get fruit for themselves or gift baskets for family,” Barbosa said. “We’re really proud that we are able to have return customers coming in. We also encourage those organizations that we provide funding for to come by and help us out and sell some fruit.”

The Lions Club is a civic organization that works to help give back to the community.

“Our funds primarily are related to the Lions organization for eye care, and we do a lot of that internationally, but we also fund eyeglasses for those in need here in St. Joseph,” Barbosa said. “We also provide dollars for the Children’s Advocacy Center and for the AFL-CIO for Adopt a Family and many other organizations that need our help. We’ve been around in St. Joseph for over 60-some years and we pretty much just volunteer and try to do what we can for the community.”

The Lions Club not only encourages the community to attend the fruit sale but also welcomes anyone willing to volunteer their time to help.

“That’s a lot of days which requires a lot of manpower,” Barbosa said. “A lot of our members are getting older and carrying fruit around is hard so we rely on other relatives and friends to come help out and help us do this.”

Case prices run from $50 to $60, with apples, oranges and grapefruits available. Gift baskets are $32 with different combinations also available for purchase.

“We do compare our fruit prices in regard to the stores and we feel we’re very competitive not only in pricing but in the quality because some of the fruit we have is not available in grocery stores,” Barbosa said.

The Lions Club has found success in the fruit sale over the years, and Barbosa said he’s hopeful this year will be no different.

“If you look back the last two or three years in regards to what we have made, we hope to be in the $10,000 to $15,000 range for our work for all these days and be able to distribute in the community,” Barbosa said. “We are obligated when we buy the fruit to get it sold, so we try and sell out because it’s a risk by buying all this fruit.”

At the end of the day, it’s the community impact that keeps the Lions Club coming back to help through fundraisers each year.

“We’re one of several civic organizations, whether it be the Lions Club or Optimist Club, each one of them has their own their own fundraisers and people know who we are and they know that we do give back to the community and that’s what keeps us going,” Barbosa said.

The Lions Club’s next big fundraiser will be a three-day pancake feed in the spring.