On April 7, 2026, what was supposed to be a straightforward reimbursement process for ticket holders of a canceled charity raffle in Belize City devolved into hours of confusion, delayed waits, and public tension, leaving dozens of people frustrated with mismanaged expectations from the Sub Umbra Floreo Lions Club.
The local service organization had planned a 2026 Toyota Hilux raffle as a fundraising event, but the initiative ultimately fell through. Leaders publicly promised to begin issuing full refunds to all ticket purchasers starting at 10 a.m. on Monday at the Belize City Civic Center’s ticket booth, with the announcement shared widely across the club’s official Facebook page. However, when early arrivals showed up at the scheduled time, they found the booth completely empty, with no club representatives on site and no advance explanation for the absence.
As more ticket holders converged on the location throughout the morning, frustration mounted steadily. Many attendees had traveled across the region to collect their refunds, facing steep travel costs amid ongoing high gas prices. Multiple ticket holders noted that this was not the first delay: the organization had already pushed back the original refund timeline from Christmas to March, blaming slow ticket sales for the first shift. When no update came on Monday morning, attendees said the lack of communication felt disrespectful to people who had placed their trust in the non-profit service group.
Nearly two hours after the scheduled start time, the club finally posted a brief update to Facebook, attributing the holdup to unspecified banking delays and pushing the start of refunds to later in the day. It was not until approximately 2 p.m. that club members finally arrived at the civic center to begin processing reimbursements. When approached for comment by News Five reporter Paul Lopez, club representatives declined to speak on the record about the delays.
While most ticket holders ultimately received their full refunds after waiting out the extended hold up, the tense start set a sour tone for the entire day. The process was not entirely conflict-free: local law enforcement was called to the site after a confrontation broke out over what attendees perceived as unfair treatment of two young ticket holders. A video and on-the-record interviews captured heated exchanges, with frustrated attendees demanding the money they had paid months earlier.
For many ticket holders, even successful reimbursement did little to ease the disappointment over how the situation was handled. Carl Duncan, a ticket holder who traveled from Ladyville to attend the refund event, noted that he had invested significant time and gas money to attend, saying “People have their trust in the organization, so hopefully it pulls through. It is a big let down.” Other attendees echoed that sentiment, saying that a simple heads-up about the delay would have saved hours of unnecessary waiting.
Elizabeth Ranguy, a former board member of the Sub Umbra Floreo Lions Club who attended to collect refunds on behalf of multiple ticket holders, said the mismanaged fiasco has done lasting damage to the organization’s reputation. “The truth is the Sub Umbra Floreo Club has taken a hit. Will they be able to recover, I don’t know. I hope so. The club is still great, the members in there are still great. This is just one bad situation. I know it has some side effects on Lions International itself,” she said, adding that she is pushing for greater accountability from the club’s current leadership to prevent similar missteps in the future.
While most attendees left with their money in hand by the end of the day, the failed raffle and chaotic refund process have left lingering questions about transparency and management within the local service club, highlighting how poor communication can erode public trust even in long-standing community organizations. Reporting for News Five, Paul Lopez contributed to this report.