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Linus Projects Spring 2023 – Three Teams at Work

Dear Fellow Lions –

Throughout March 2023, the De Anza Lions, led by Lion Leslye, organized and conducted 3 different Blanketeering events, resulting in the completion of 86 fuzzy blankets for children in need.

Cupertino DeAnza Lions Support Union Middle School & Alta Vista Elementary School with Project Linus.

Always on the lookout for service projects with Lions involvement, Lion Claire once again got the OK from the Union Middle School Principal to hold a Blanketeering event for Project Linus; this year in person rather than over Zoom. With funds in hand, Lions Les, Dagi and Joan had fun shopping for the desired number of fleeces. On one of the rather rare sunny afternoons, March 8th, the 17 or so registered students, parents, siblings and friends, armed themselves with a fleece and the necessary tools, chose one of the picnic benches in the quad, and after a short introduction by Claire with Dagi beside her, started enthusiastically in on making blankets. During the 90-minute event, 23 beautiful blankets were completed, with a few people taking some material home to finish another blanket there. (A few days after the blankets were given to the Project Linus organization, Leslye got a call telling us that the blankets made by the Union Middle School students and families had been delivered to the Red Cross in Pajaro to help the children after the floods.) A note from the principal stated that the combined effort of this service project was ‘extremely appreciated’. Well done, Middle Schoolers!   Contributed by CKalia, LNoone

 

On Saturday, March 25, Lions Leslye and Claire ran a Project Linus Blanketeering event at Alta Vista Elementary School in Los Gatos. Approximately 25 parents, students and siblings attended, and 25 blankets were made. A couple of families wanted to keep working so took a few fleeces home to finish on their own time. Many of the attendees mentioned how much fun they had! One fun fact about the Blanketeers there that day: NONE had made a Project Linus blanket before! The events were terrific. The students were excellent. Thanks to all involved and cheers to the partnerships between both schools, the DeAnza Lions and Project Linus.

Contributed by LNoone

Last but not least, Lion Leslye held the official Linus event on March 29th at the Odd Fellows Hall, with a small crowd of attendees, who were nevertheless quite productive. A total of 38 blankets were made either during the evening or completed at home, followed by later delivery to Lion Les. Look at the fun patterns of the blankets!

 

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Earth Day 2023 – A Fun Day In Cupertino

April 22, 2023 – Earth Day all over the world, and in Cupertino, CA!

The Cupertino De Anza Lions Club was represented by a number of fellow lions and helpers, show-casing a beautiful display of sunflowers, free seed packages and hands-on seeding of sunflowers for the public, courtesy of the VIA-Lions Co-operative Garden (VIA Services and the De Anza Lions Club have been in partnership for over 35 years).

Read more here 2023 042223 Earth Day Festival – LionsClub Exhibit; Blog

                                                                    

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Student Speaker Contest – Feb 16th, 2023: Cancelled

It is with great disappointment that we have to report that this event had to be cancelled after all registered candidates cancelled last minute.

The topic would have been quite interesting, and the club had set up everything for the evening, when the cancellations came in.

Let’s hope we will get more commitment next year!

This year’s topic is:

“Social Media: Connects Us or Isolates Us?”.

We hope that another local club will be able to hold the club level contest and publish the winner and finalists for the next level in our district.

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Our Annual Charity Crabfeed 2023 – Feb 4, 2023! Success!

Dear Friends of the Cupertino De Anza Lions Club –

We are happy to report that we had a very successful Crab Feed on Feb 4th, 2023 – downscaled in terms of number of guests, but with the best all-you-can-eat crab in town, fine wine and lovely happy jazz by the Thrown Together Jazz Band

The venue was

SAINT LAWRENCE THE MARTYR COMMUNITY CENTER
1971 Saint Lawrence Dr. in Santa Clara

A more detailed report will be posted soon, together with more snapshots of this memorable event!

Watch this space! 

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Food Drive 2022 – Another Great Success!

Thank you all for your support of another successful Thanksgiving Food Drive!  We just completed our seventh drop-off, to the farm workers in Watsonville, which wraps up the drive for another year!  In addition to the 170 families to whom we provided our regular pair of boxes, we also delivered over 50 turkeys and many boxes of non-perishable items to the farm workers.  Lion Al will give a final count of the total monetary donations; as of Saturday night over $5200 in cash donations for our drive, in addition to the food items were collected.
So much gratitude to every one of you who helped by:
– volunteering at the stores, the Odd Fellows Lodge, with driving, shopping and making deliveries
– donating to our “Sponsor a Family” program
– helping with planning and execution of the event
– spreading the word to your friends and families
Special thanks to Lion Charles for stepping up and running the entire effort at the Odd Fellows Hall for the whole weekend, to Lion Jeff for driving the reefer truck and donations and helping in every way possible, and to Lion Ray for his tireless planning efforts and work all weekend long.  Countless other Lions contributed endless hours of sweat equity, so a huge THANK YOU to you all!
A happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Best,
Lion Claire
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Supplies for the Farm Workers in Watsonville

On Oct 29th, the DeAnza Lions once again organized a delivery of goods to the Farm Workers in Watsonville. 3 SUVs and a big family car were loaded to the top with collections of blankets, clothes, stationery, and other gently used items. Lion Kent extracted a very nice bicycle from his car, while Lion Steve and Ellen brought in a 55in TV set with wall mount. Numerous bags and boxes were emptied from Les’ car. The recipients were beaming with gratitude. A young man explained that they will get more donations over the next weeks. And on Friday of the second week in the month, they will display their donated goods on tables in their courtyard and fellow farm workers will     come by and select what they need or could use. Their biggest need, however, is food, like rice, beans, and cooking oil, as well as warm clothes for winter.

Let’s hope we can get great food donations during our food drive on the weekend before Thanksgiving!

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Delicious New Fundraiser – Oct 13, 2022

Fellow Lions,
We held a new fundraising event on Thursday, October 13th, 2022, at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse on 511 Coleman Ave. San Jose, CA95110 (408) 343-7230.
This event was open to all, and more than a dozen lions and family members joined in the fun evening.
Our club received 20% of checks, excluding alcohol.
The final numbers will be provided soon.
The club thanks BJ’s for the opportunity to hold this fundraiser at their location!
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10 Years Omar’s Dream Run – Oct 16th, 2022

Omar’s 10th Dream Run took place on Oct 16th, 2022, at Hellyer Park in San Jose! Congratulations to 10 years of helping “…hospitalized and medically-supervised children to remotely attend school allowing them to stay connected to their teachers and classmates. Omar’s Dream Program is funded by Omar’s Dream Foundation and, thus, is free to qualified students and their educators’.

As in the past years, the De Anza Lions provided tables and chairs plus registration support and more.

This year, the charity was “… back in California signing up Valley Children’s Place in Madera. We have a new normal in place post pandemic. With the support of our sponsors and donors we have been able to bring joy in the lives of hundreds of kids. We will continue our journey and look forward to the next ten years.” The official report from the event is still outstanding,

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Installation-Tailtwister-Charter ‘Night’ event – Great Celebration Picnic

On Sunday, July 17th, 2022, the DeAnza Lions celebrated a 3-in-1 event, organized in big parts by Lions Barbara and Al Knox, the new First VP/Secretary, and the new (and former) Treasurer respectively. It all happened at the picnic area in Memorial Park in Cupertino, where around 50 – 60 Lions with family members had gathered under shady canopies, enjoying a beautiful summer day and the company of fellow Lions. Lion Jeff, our outgoing president, addressed the club members a last time in his official function, thanking all for the last 9 years (and vice versa) before a catered lunch was served by 3 former girl scouts. After lunch Former District Governor Liz Crooke thanked the outgoing board members for their service and inducted the new president and his new ‘cabinet’.

Awards were presented to quite a few lions – congratulations!

Lion John, our new president for the next two Lion years, gave an overview over his ambitious plans for the club, with visitations to other clubs and invitation to speakers at our meetings already in full swing. Lion Prez John remarked after the event:

“A big Lions Roar to Barb Knox and her team for all the hard work in organizing the picnic.  We have a new team installed, congratulations to those who received their well-deserved awards and we really impressed Installing Officer, Liz Crooke (which is not easy).  Great Job, Barb and Al”.
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34th Charity Golf Classic – De Anza Golf Tournament was back, June 20th, 2022

The DeAnza Lions 34th Annual Golf Tournament held at Spring Valley Golf Course was a great success. We had two silver sponsors and there were about 50 golfers playing. Players started at the 10th thru 16th holes. A new opportunity was presented at the 10th hole. Golfers were asked to donate $5 per player to move from the tee box to the 150-yard marker where they would lie one shot. (That would be the equivalent of a 300+ yard drive.) A large percentage of golfers took the deal. Golf was followed by a great steak dinner. After dinner, prizes were awarded for the two best winning team scores (there was a tie), the best women’s team, the longest drives for men and women, the putting contest and the most honest score. We held a Silent Auction and raffle tickets were sold and drawn, as well. Several Lions were generous by volunteering their time to make the event possible.
This was the return of the event after a two-year absence due to Covid. It was a small tournament compared to previous tournaments we’ve held, but still a good fundraiser. We plan to build on this event next year.
Contributed by Lion Ray Lancon