Mark your calendars!
As in previous years, the Cupertino DeAnza Lions Club will organize a Food Drive on the weekend before Thanksgiving, which will be Nov 21-23, 2026.
Details will be posted soon.
“A huge thank you to all the Cupertino De Anza Lions members and volunteers for making the 30th Cupertino De Anza Lions Crab Feed such a success! Every member contributed in some way, and special thanks go to those who brought friends and relatives to help on Saturday, January 31. I truly believe our guests enjoyed the event, and I hope those who helped organize it experienced minimal stress along the way.”
Those are the words of one of the event’s co-chairs, Lion Sashi. Together with Lion Sue and many others we were able to feed about 300 people in two seatings, with fresh salads, yummy spaghetti in tomato sauce, and fresh crab with crunchy garlic bread. Musical entertainment was provided by the Mission Gold Jazz Band
Many special items were raffled off at certain intervals and the silent auction as well as the key box netted a handsome profit.
A good time was had by all, and we have already commitments and a date for next year’s event.
As in previous years, the Cupertino DeAnza Lions club under the leadership of Lion Sue secured two spaces at the Cupertino Earth Day and Arbor festival, which was scheduled for April 5th. At first, we were a bit baffled that the event was on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, and not near the official Earth Day (April 22nd), plus it was no longer on the Greens behind the Cupertino library, but in the courtyard in front of it, but it turned out to be a perfect day, and a perfect event.
A few strong lions helped to get canopies, extra tables and chairs from our storage to the event, and with a few seasoned fellow lions and volunteers we did our usual activities: invited passers-by to seed sunflowers, get some free seeds and view our immense brag board. Some folks stopped to get some information about Lions Clubs, and volunteers/helpers from Camp Via West spent some time helping out at the booth. A stuffed Lion mascot was a special attraction for kids – we made sure this lion was chained to the table.
It’s quite a bit of work to get ready for this event, seeding and planting some show pieces, preparing seed packets, and getting ad materials together, but I’m sure we’ll have another good crew at next year’s festival.
Under the chairmanship of Lion John Smith and with the help of many senior Lions in the district, a very successful vision clinic was held on Sunday, April 25th, 2026, at St. John Vianney Church in San Jose. It was the 8th event in 3 years in our district.
202 patients were served, with 60+ volunteers, who were served 80 lunches, and 168 pairs of glasses were dispensed, 25+ Zenni glasses ordered. The cost to date was $117 for printing and supplies, expected cost might be $500 for cleaning, and 8 referrals. 35 people visited the mobile screening unit of A.J.Robinson which was stationed outside the church hall.
At the District Convention early May, Lion John was awarded a special prize for starting vision clinics in Silicon valley in April 2023. They are now a district-wide event, and many more are being planned.
Once again, we had a very successful Project Linus Blanketeering Night! I am thrilled to report that we completed 74 blankets and that they should be distributed to the children who need them by the end of May. The number of Blanketeers reached a total of 36!
I just gave you two amazing numbers that we all should be excited about. First, seventy-four is the highest number of blankets we have made in one sitting since long before the Pandemic. We should be encouraged by that great comeback. The second number to excite everyone should be the 36 people in attendance. These participants were from our own Club and two others in the District, they were family and friends and neighbors of Lions, and there was one dozen—that’s 12—from the De Anza College Omega Leos (DACOL) Club. They came without an RSVP so they were quite a happy surprise. One more big number that should amaze you is that of the 34 attendees, 20 were totally new to Project Linus (PL). We should be so proud that we did this amazing job for community service. But we should be equally proud that we exposed 20 new Blanketeers to the great Project Linus organization for the first time. They all learned of the important service provided by PL and about the 15-year commitment the DeAnza Lions have had supporting that organization.
So, three cheers to the Cupertino DeAnza Lions and to all Lions involved that evening, to friends, family and neighbors and to the DACOL, along with those who made blankets at home because they couldn’t attend the event; cheers for participating in such a fun and meaningful project. Can’t wait to see you next time!
Contributed by Lion Leslye
On Feb 1, 2025, the 29th Classic Annual Charity Crab Feed and Auction took was staged once again at the Community Center of Saint Lawrence the Martyr in Santa Clara.
As in previous years, we had two seatings of an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT feast, which included fresh crab, pasta, salad and garlic bread. Almost 300 people had signed up and enjoyed a very well-organized event. For the first time the “Mission Gold Jazz Band” entertained the guests with lively music. Apart from many lions, including some from other clubs, a big number of LEOs had signed up to help serve and a lot of non-lions helped with a variety of activities that contributed to the overall success.
The new chair persons did an outstanding job, and we are happy that at least one volunteered to do it again next year!
Many thanks to everybody who made this event so worthwhile.
Fellow Lions, family members and volunteers
Time again to say THANKS to all the folks participating in our annual Thanksgiving food drive which took place over the weekend of Nov 23 – 25, 2024.
Two boxes of food per family for 177 families in the community were able to be filled with holiday dinner items and a sizeable turkey.
The weather held out on the days of collection and shopping, but Monday morning it started drizzling again. This did not prevent about 25 volunteers to show up at the Odd Fellows Hall to help with final filling of the boxes and transporting them to the refer truck for delivery. Additional 50 turkeys and a number of other foods were delivered to the Farm Workers in Watsonville. This comment was received hours later
OMG!! Thank you for delivering all the turkeys today, Claire! We were shocked and more than pleasantly surprised! E. and T. are calling FWs in both the Oaxacan and the Michoacan/Jalisco communities to come and pick up a turkey! How can we EVER thank-you for this enormous gesture of kindness in the face of the threats now faced by undoc FWs. Goddess bless you and your associates! This means the world to us and to the FWs!! Have a lovely holiday and thank-you for providing a lovely holiday and holiday meal to FWs who can’t afford to buy a turkey! Ann Lopez 👍😃🩷
Lion Dave Kaplow, 2nd Vice District Governor, Lions District 4-C6, made this short video about our Food Drive
More to come.
Meanwhile a heartfelt big THANK YOU to all who participated, including students of Bellarmine, and to Lion Don, for securing the Odd Fellows Hall for 3 days for our project.
Lions District 4-C6 held their 4th Vision Clinic on Sunday, June 9th at Community Services in Sunnyvale, Northern California.
A total of 361 patients attended, most of whom received eye examinations and re-cycled glasses.
Patients attended from 12 cities within a radius of 60 miles.
Dr. Art Low and his team of 6 optometrists volunteered their services on the day. Over 60 Lions from 16 clubs helped to put on the clinic.
Guest volunteers included Lions from Districts 4-C2 and 4-C4, 4 opticians, nurses and translators from RotaCare, a member of Sunnyvale Rotary Club, Boy Scouts Troop 13, Girls Scouts, a member of Stanford Medical Alumni Association, City of Sunnyvale Sustainability Commissioner, students from East Palo Alto Academy, friends and families.
We have one new member in our District who came as a patient, stayed with us as a volunteer/translator, and now she is joining Lions—what a way of paying back!
There were 15 referrals/potential patients of LEF.
There will be a special eye clinic in August, where those people who could be seen due to time limitations will be either seen; they will be the only ones admitted.
Attached are also a few photos from your club’s frequent photographer.
It’s very clear that there is an enormous need for this kind of community outreach, so the next clinics are already in discussion.
2024 061324 Gosia Thank You Note
Golf Tournament by RLancon
We held the 28th annual Cupertino DeAnza Lions Golf Tournament at Los Lagos Golf Course on Friday, June 14th.
While we had only 32 golfers, everyone I spoke to had a great time. We had a putting contest, sold mulligans and licorice and there were raffle prizes and a silent auction, as well.
The golfers enjoyed a good breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes and coffee. After golf, lunch was served: there was a great BBQ with chicken, tri-tip, and corn along with potato salad.
The event earned the Club about $3,000.00. As usual, we had some great volunteers from the Lions and friends of Lions. Thank you!
With your support, we are looking forward to continuing this fund raiser in the future.
After the usual meticulous preparations, including pickup of tables, chairs, A-frames and boxing materials plus their colorful labels, the 2023 Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive was kicked off on Saturday Nov 18th, with several lions and friends manning the doors of three longtime partner stores: Lucky’s on El Camino, Lucky’s at Pruneridge and Lunardi’s in Los Gatos. In the meantime, another crew under the guidance of Lions Jen and Charles started to build and label 360 boxes at the Odd Fellows Hall, which was once again rented out to the Lions free-of-charge for this major project.
Food and money donations trickled in slowly at first, considering the high cost of groceries these days, but we had already budgeted for some extra shopping.
The food collections continued on Sunday for half a day at the two Lucky stores, while the packaging and boxing at the Hall was greatly supported by youngsters, friends, and other Lions club members. The remaining perishable goods were picked up with the refrigerated truck, skillfully maneuvered by Lion Jeff.
Monday’s crews completed the boxes with perishables and all 360 boxes were loaded strategically in the big truck, the last deliveries in the back, the first ones just behind the truck door. Lion Jeff led the small convoy, following a preplanned itinerary to six different destinations, offloading between 20 and 90 boxes at the locations, with the help of Lions Charles, Kent and Ray, and eager support from the recipients.
At about 12:30pm, Lion Jeff proclaimed the successful conclusion of the distribution drive.
A pretty good amount of excess food donations will be delivered to the Farm Worker Families this week.
The club is grateful for all the support from the volunteers, their friends and families, without their efforts, this event would not have been possible.
We are also thankful for every donation, food and $$$, big and small, including internet pledges, and very appreciative of all the help from Lucky’s personnel and management as well as Lucky’s and Lunardi’s shoppers.
Here is a very heart-warming story, submitted by Lion Kent
“Fellow Lions,
A very giving man, Tilo Bormann, approached our table at the El Camino Lucky Store this afternoon (Sat Nov 18th) offering to pay for a shopping cart full of whatever we needed, provided we did the shopping. Lion Joan offered. The total, including three turkeys, came to $410.19. Tilo returns to his home in Germany tomorrow (Sunday). I forwarded the three attached photos with deep thanks to him by text, to which he replied:
“It was a pleasure to help. I hope it will help some families and motivate many others also to join your Lions club. I’m really thankful that people like you exist that sacrifice their own time to help others. This earns a lot of respect. Many greetings to the others. Tilo”
PS: Tilo has given us permission to post his story and pictures on our website.