Read the Proclamation and Lion John’s speech on Oct 21, 2025, at the Cupertino City Council meeting.
Congratulations to the Cupertino DeAnza Lions Club!
Here is Lion John’s speech: Proclamation Speech Notes
and the proclamation itself:
This message tells it all – from Lion Gosia, District 4-C6 Vision Clinic Coordinator – 10/08/2025
On behalf of Lions Club, District 4-C6’s Vision Team and patients you served, I want to say THANK YOU for your service. Volunteer like you, make Vision Clinic (8 of them so far) possible. Your commitment to serve our community makes a lasting impact on other people lives, people you serve, and people you serve along with.
On Sunday you were a part of a very successful community service project. Let me provide you with some statistics.:
Patients, whose lives you positively changed – 249, from appointments – 179, walk-ins – 70 (including 7 from the floor).
We had 531 patients signed up for the appointment, 179 showed up, which gives us 33% show up rate.
145 glasses were dispensed, 66 Zenni orders for custom glasses were placed, 8 patients will be referred to local doctors for comprehensive eye exam and glasses, 1 Lions Eye Foundation referral for further treatment was placed.
We had 8 optometry doctors working morning and/or afternoon shifts (6 doctors per shift) and 1 professional optician. In AJ Robinson Health Screening Unit we had 1 physician, and 5 nurses. There were 77 general volunteers working each of the clinic part: set up and tear down, volunteer check in, patient check in, patient registration and number station, lensometer, docents and translators for spot vision camera check, spot vision check, docents and translators for doctors and Lions Eye Foundation, Dispensary and Zenni, Docents and translators for Dispensary and Zenni, patient flow, AJ Robinson and docents/translators for AJ Robinson, last but for sure not least Food for Volunteers.
There were Lions form 18 Clubs in our District (that covers Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey County): Almaden Super, Cabrillo Host with Friends of Cabrillo Host, Capitola Coast, Carmel Host, Carmel Mission Trail, Cupertino De Anza, Gilroy, King City, Los Amigos, Salinas Host, Los Gatos, Milpitas Executive, San Martin, Seaside, Scales of Justice, Sunnyvale, Willow Glen, West San Jose Campbell, 1 Omega Leo Club of California Coast at the University of SF, and Students form Salinas Union High School District.
I would also like to thank every person who donated or brought food for the volunteers.
My personal thank you goes to dr. Art for his tireless service to patients locally and abroad, and to all the Team Leads and members of our Vision Clinic Team for their hard work on the day of and weeks of preparation for the Vision Clinic – Lions: (in alphabetical order) Dave, George, Jeanine, John, Judy, Larry, Marty, Pam, Sandra, Sue, Trevor, Valerie.
I also have a favor to ask. We had few volunteers, who did not leave us their contact information
so if you know: Anna, Marvin, Matthew, Mike, Reuben, Reza, Walt, forward them this email, or share their contact with me, and I will thank them myself.
Thank you, Lion Gosia
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
Dear Fellow Lions
Please mark the dates for our annual Food Drive – it will take place between Sat Nov 22 and Mon Nov 24, 20025.
As usual this is the weekend prior to the Thanksgiving holiday which falls on Thursday Nov. 27, this year. It’s still some 6 months away, but please put it on your calendar now.
Many volunteers are needed over those 3 days, to help collect food items and donations as well as deliver the 340+ boxes on Monday.
Thanks in advance for planning to support this worthwhile cause.
Dear Fellow Lions –
As in previous years, the club would like to participate in the Annual Student Speaker Contest 2026.
The topic should be announced by October 1, when the required documents and brochures should be available from the district at no cost.
Starting early on getting a flyer out to the schools in the Fremont High School District will ensure that students can plan for the event date well in advance.
The chairperson or co-chairs will work with the club secretary to get the packages. They should be able to organize the event, using documents from previous events as a guide.
Attention!
Early alert for our 30th annual Crab Feed, coming up on Saturday, January 31, 2026!
Here is the flyer with all the information as well as a QR code to the page where you can order tickets and pay online.
As usual, we’ll have All-You-Can-Eat crab, spaghetti with marinara sauce, garlic bread and mixed salad.
We will also have the best Jazz Band in town for musical background.
There will be many great raffle prizes and a silent auction as well as the famous Key Box.
It’s never too early to plan on coming along – and please tell your friends and neighbors, too!
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
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.