LIMA — Despite the rain, the Lima USO Club held their annual picnic Saturday at Faurot Park, including a low-rider car show.
Since 1996, the Lima USO club has served to connect people with other car enthusiasts.
"We've been doing our picnic now, I think this is our ninth year, and everything's free. We just do it. We can kind of consider it a car guy's appreciation," USO member Pat Law said.
Although the rain challenged the group, the car show still stood strong thanks to their partnerships with other groups.
"We're going to have our crew that usually comes here and supports us. We go to a lot of other low rider shows all over, so we support them, and they support us," said Jerry Lynch, president of USO.
The clubs teaches attendees that no matter what kind of circumstance is thrown their way, USO will have the support from their fellow clubs.
One group that set up was Working Class Ohio from Dayton.
"We come out and support every year when they have their seasonal picnic, and they show the same respect to us when we have ours," said Josh Baskin, member of Working Class Ohio.
Baskin mentioned the importance of community within the car show.
"We get to hangout together, show off our cars. Show off the camaraderie, you know, amongst the low rider community, and they always provide free meals and stuff. It's really family-oriented," said Baskin.
The club doesn't simply hold events to show off cool cars, but they also work to give back to the community.
"We do more of local charities, like if a kid is dealing with illness, we'll just donate to them. Earlier this year, we gave to a fundraiser for that, and then we will find something later on in the year to also give to. We just try to help out whenever we can," said Law.
The club gets funding from local sponsors, but they also host their own fundraisers to excite attendees while also bringing in revenue.
"The biggest thing we do here is 50/50. We got a fire ring that we raffle off and those proceeds from the 50/50 is what really helps," said Law.
