Lemoore Stadium Cinemas, Kings Lions host Third Annual 'Movies with Santa'

Saturday, December 3, 2016 - 1:38pm By Ed Martin, Editor

Over 300 kids and parents took advantage of a generous Santa and a committed local service club on Saturday morning at the downtown arbor, adjacent to the Lemoore Stadium Cinemas. They also managed to earn themselves an early Christmas – sort of.

The youngsters, thanks to their charitable efforts, got a free movie (Trolls) and a chance at an early Christmas present.

And it was all courtesy of the Kings Lions Club and Lemoore Stadium Cinemas which held the third annual Movies with Santa Saturday morning.

The purpose? Each family or youngster was obligated to bring at least four cans of food to the movie theater early Saturday morning to earn a ticket to see the movie. They also got a free raffle ticket, which they were told to hang on to because after the movie, they’d have a shot at an early Christmas.

Lemoore Stadium Cinemas donated one of the theaters for the event. The Kings Lions Club paid for the other theater.

The Kings Lions purchased about $500 worth of gifts for the event. Lemoore Optometrist Jeff Garcia donated several bicycles, and when the two theaters showing the movie emptied at about 11 a.m. the raffle was held in the arbor.

For the record the kids brought enough canned food to feed a small army. “We filled up a truck load of canned goods,” said Lion Ray Etchegoin.

Half the canned goods were donated to Lemoore’s God’s Bread Box while the other half went to Lemoore Christian Aid.