'Lion Pete' receives highest award

MOSES LAKE - William "Pete" Peterson received the highest honor a Lions Club member can earn, courtesy of an effort by the Moses Lake Leo Club, the Lions youth organization.

The Melvin Jones award, named for the Lions Club founder, is the "highest award you can get in the Lions Club," Brittany Karas said, who was the Leo Club's first president. "It's a huge deal."

The Leo Club just celebrated its first anniversary, and Karas said the project was a lot more difficult than she originally anticipated. A fundraising auction was part of the effort, and as the details started to overwhelm Karas and the other club founders, somebody, somewhere, helped them, she said.

Somebody went around and talked to local business owners, Karas said. "He got all our auction night items donated." The somebody was Peterson, who saw they needed help and got busy, she said.

Peterson helped them organize that first meeting, and he's been there for the Leo Club since."He just always helps us out without us even asking," Karas said.

The aid to the Leo Club is only part of the work "Lion Pete" puts into the Lions and into charitable activities, Karas said in presenting the award to Peterson.

"I'm at a loss for words," Peterson said. It would be difficult to live up to the award and he didn't know how he was going to do it, he said, but he planned to try.

Peterson is the first member of the Moses Lake Lions to receive the Melvin Jones award, according to club members.