Thank You Yosemite! Successful Spring Blood Drive 2015

Many thanks to the Yosemite community for another successful blood drive! This year's annual Spring Blood Drive in Yosemite Valley collected 41 pints of blood from 46 potential donors. The Lions Club Eyemobile provided free eye health exams as well as  education and information.  We had many returning donors from the community, new community donors ("First Time Ever!") and several park visitors who donated while vacationing (including one gentleman from Australia!). 

As always, the Yosemite Lions Club provided free orange juice, doughnuts and t-shirts for all donors. Special thanks to club member and blood drive coordinator Bill Thomas, and club volunteer Diane Stewart for always making the drive run smoothly.

We look forward to hosting the annual Fall Blood Drive in El Portal during October.

Looking Forward to 2015 with Yosemite Lions Club

Happy New Year from Yosemite Lions Club! We had a great 2014 thanks to our supporters in the Yosemite community. We ended the year on a high note with donations to support two causes that are new to the club: purchasing library books for the Yosemite Valley school and purchasing food for a homeless shelter in the Yosemite gateway town of Mariposa.

In the fall, we received a request from the Yosemite Valley School to support the purchase of new library books. With a donation of $2000, we assisted the school in expanding their library materials for the benefit of elementary school students in Yosemite Valley. We received a lovely handmade thank you card from the students for our efforts:

 

In December, we received a donation request from club member Bil Gleason to support Mariposa Open Arms, a homeless shelter that is operated out of the United Methodist Church in Mariposa. We donated $500 to purchase gift cards from local grocery store Pioneer Market to provide several meals. The all-volunteer staff feeds approximately 40 homeless individuals each day and the gift card donation will allow them to create some healthy meals to support their mission. We hope to create a partnership with Mariposa Open Arms that benefits the community.

 

We wrapped up 2014 with a wonderful holiday luncheon meeting at The Mountain Room restaurant at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls. Club members brought guests to help celebrate our successful year in 2014 with holiday spirit. In honor of the book donation to the Yosemite Valley school library, we performed a holiday gift exchange in the form of well-loved books. Club members chose titles from their personal libraries to share with others and many were pleased with the thoughtful choices. Many thanks to our server Sydney at The Mountain Room, who decorated our table and helped make our luncheon so special.

We look forward to our first events of 2015 in the form of the Yosemite community Easter Egg Hunt for local children and the Pancake Breakfast during the Spring Fling event in the community of El Portal. Both events take place in April. Proceeds from the Pancake Breakfast support the El Portal school, so we hope to see you there with a hearty appetite!

Summer in Yosemite with Yosemite Lions Club

Summer has come and gone in Yosemite, along with our annual summer fundraisers: Gear Swap, Mosquito Festival and Golf Tournament. The newest club event - the gear swap - raised $200 at the Curry Village Community Center in June by giving community members the opportunity to sell and swap old gear for hiking, fishing, biking and camping in Yosemite National Park. In August, we hosted the Mosquito Festival at the Yosemite Valley School to celebrate the leaving of the mosquitos from Yosemite (or at least we hope so!) and raised $874. Our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Yosemite Lions Club Golf Tournament, raised $5000 from 68 golfers at the Wawona Hotel golf course on September 6th. BBQ dinner on the hotel lawn and a prize raffle capped a perfect summer day in Yosemite. We are ever thankful for the enthusiastic participation in the tournament by so many community members and offer congratulations to this year's tournament winners:

1st Place Team:  Bill Carroll, Bob Blumerich, Rich Waller and Mike Lewis

2nd Place Team:  Jim Barstow, Guy Bostick, Kyle Hypes, Dave Gunderson

Golfers with the Longest Drive:  Kevin Lauterbach and Max Ringrose

Pink Lady Winning Team:  Brian Burt, Loren Fazio, Jodi Gover, Gary Rosenfeld

Special thanks to Lions Club Volunter Shari Baudoux for again being Registrar Extraordinaire and keeping everyone in the know, along with club members Audrey Lanting, Brett Archer, Jennifer Cleary, Bil Gleason, Michelle Hansen, Alison Grove, Kym Wright-Youngdale and Jodi Gover for keeping it all running smoothly.

Volunteer Shari and club members Michelle, Bil, Audrey, Brett, Alison and Jennifer.

We started off summer with officer elections in June and are pleased to announce our new club officers:
President Brett Archer (former club secretary)
Vice President Michelle Hansen
Secretary Alison Grove
Treasurer Audrey Lanting
Club members are also busy recruiting new members this year. Would you like to become a Yosemite Lion? See any club member for details or join us for noon lunch at The Ahwahnee the first and third Thursdays of each month.

Just before we teed off in Wawona in late summer, we received a visit from Lions Club District Governor Kent Christensen and entourage at our bi-weekly lunch meeting in the first week of September. Kent shared news about Lions and introduced us to the rest of the district cabinet while having lunch at The Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley. Kent also presented awards to some of our club members for years of service with Lions Club: Jodi Gover for 15 years, Yolanda Cheley for 10 years and Sean Pence for 10 years. We are proud to serve with such dedicated club members!

Jodi Gover and Kent Christensen

We are set to host the annual fall blood drive, along with the Central California Blood Center, in the community of El Portal just outside of Yosemite's west gate and even planning a new fall fundraiser with a dinner of Mexican food at Curry Village. Stay tuned for details, and we hope you will consider donating blood this year.

Recap: Spring Events with Yosemite Lions Club

Spring in Yosemite is about waterfalls and wildflowers, but it is also about the beginning of event season for Yosemite Lions Club. Each year in April we host a Pancake Breakfast for the annual Spring Fling held in the community of El Portal that raises funds for the El Portal school. This year's breakfast was not as successful as years past, but we hope to see you there next year with a hearty appetite.

May is now filled with club events. Last year, the Yosemite Rotary Club disbanded and we have taken on a few of their annual events to continue the tradition. This year we hosted the former Rotary Annual Easter Egg Hunt for children in the Yosemite community at the Yosemite Valley School. Kids find eggs with prizes and candy, and they also have their photo taken with the Easter Bunny. The American Cancer Society Relay for Life takes place every May in the town of Mariposa, and the Yosemite Hiking for a Cure team sponsored by the Yosemite Lions Club again contributed great fundraising efforts to support cancer research. Team Captain Teri Tudela and Past President Kym Wright-Youngdale anchored the team at the event by participating for the entire 24 hours. Our team raised $3000. May also sees our annual Spring Blood Drive hosted with the Central California Blood Center in front of the Yosemite Valley visitor center. This year we collected pints of blood for a life-giving cause.

New to the event roster for Yosemite Lions Club is the annual Summer Gear Swap. Hosted at the Curry Village Community Center, the gear swap allows Yosemite residents to sell, buy or swap gently-used gear for something new to you.

In addition new events, we are pleased to announce the new members of Yosemite Lions Club - Jennifer Cleary and David Crow. Jennifer and David both work for DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite.

Next update: Summer Gear Swap, Mosquito Festival and the Golf Tournament!

Happy New Year from Yosemite Lions Club!

We are so pleased to announce that two new members have joined the Yosemite Lions Club: Lyn Maher and Bryan Hammil, both residents of Yosemite Valley and employed by DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite. We are off to a great start for 2014 and we hope it is our best fundraising year ever. See the recap below of events in 2013.

Club Treasurer Brett and new members Lyn & Bryan

2013 Event Wrap-up: After El Mosquito Fiesta in July, we held the annual Yosemite Lions Club Golf Tournament in early September at the Wawona Hotel. Our two largest summer events were also our most successful - we raised a record-breaking $6800 at the golf tournament this year! After the successes of summer, we are also pleased to announce that our annual fall blood drive, held at the community center in El Portal, collected 48 pints of blood from the Yosemite community. As always, we could not do these good deeds without you! Bill Thomas, club member and blood drive coordinator, thanks you from the bottom of his heart!

Take a look at the fun we had at the golf tournament this year on yet another perfect late summer day in Yosemite National Park. Though the Rim Fire was still burning to the north, we appreciate the support of all those who braved Mother Nature to participate. Tournament winners received gift certificates for any DNC lodging, retail or restaurant operation in Yosemite. Congrats to tournament winners young Max Ringrose and his family team including Bill Cordry from Oakhurst!

Many thanks to all the club members who worked hard to host this fundraising event. Special thanks to volunteers Shari Baudoux and Cynthia McFann - Shari for once again being our registrar extraordinaire and Cynthia for taking on our newest addition to the registration table: bake sale goodies! The tournament committee consisted of co-chair club members Audrey Lanting and Michelle Hansen, along with volunteer Shari Baudoux and club president Kym Wright-Youngdale. Thanks to club secretary Brett Archer for stepping into the raffle auctioneer role, with thanks to Bil Gleason, Yolanda Cheley, and Alison Grove for making the tournament run so smoothly! Despite the club's best efforts, we can't have a golf tournament and BBQ dinner without the staff of the Wawona Hotel and golf course so we thank Joe Alfano and his wonderful staff for their support.

 

 

Upcoming events include the Pancake Breakfast at Spring Fling in El Portal in April and our annual Spring Blood Drive hosted in Yosemite Valley. We hope to see you at both events, so check back for details. Happy 2014!

Gracias and Golf in Yosemite

Lions Club Secretary Brett and Vice President Jodi get ready to serve up a fiesta

The Yosemite Lions Club would like to send a heart-felt "Gracias!" to the Yosemite community for supporting El Mosquito Fiesta and Summer Gear Swap. We raised over $900 for local schools by hosting an excellent Mexican dinner prepared by the fabulous Maria La Veaga (who donated her time preparing this wonderful food) and the First Annual Summer Gear Swap.

Newest member of the Lions Club, Bil, is at your service

Five participants provided used gear in the form of backpacks, trekking and fishing poles, camp stoves, bike gear and other goodies for rock-bottom prices. The swap was well-attended and we received many encouraging comments from shoppers who liked the idea of purchasing used gear from the community. We hope that you will join us next year by bringing old gear to sell and purchasing some items that are new to you.

Are you joining us next weekend in Yosemite National Park at the Wawona golf course for the annual Lions Club Golf Tournament fundraiser? Though this popular event is nearly filled, you can check with Registrar Extraordinaire Shari to see if we can squeeze in one more team. Contact Shari at 209-628-5941. We hope to see you there for a late summer day on the greens, BBQ dinner at the Wawona Hotel and the Greatest Raffle in the Known Universe! This year we have many golf-related prizes such as rounds of golf at local courses in addition to dinners for two at The Mountain Room and Wawona Dining Room, Brunch for two at The Ahwahnee, and spa treatments from Tenaya Lodge!

Travel to the Wawona area of Yosemite is unaffected by the Rim Fire. However, the air quality may be affected by this large wildfire that is burning in the northwest wilderness of the park. We'll keep our fingers crossed for clear blue skies on the date of the tournament and give big thanks to the firefighters doing their best to contain the fire. For more info about the Rim Fire, visit http://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-fire-update.aspxhttp://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-fire-update.aspx

Big Summer Events with Yosemite Lions Club!

After successful spring events such as the Relay for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society in Mariposa where we raised over $3000 dollars for cancer research, and the Spring Blood Drive in Yosemite Valley, the club takes a breather before the two biggest events of the year: The Mosquito Festival and the Annual Golf Tournament.

On Monday, August 12, the club will host the venerable Mosquito Festival (now known as La Mosquito Fiesta) at the Curry Village Community Center in Yosemite Valley. From 5:30 to 7:00 PM, we'll serve a Mexican fundraiser dinner prepared by the lovely and talented Maria La Veaga. New this year, we will also host a Summer Gear Swap during the dinner. Inspired by our friends at the Yosemite Winter Club, we hope that community members will bring their old gear to swap or sell. Summer gear only, please, as the Yosemite Winter Club hosts a winter gear swap every year in November during their fundraising dinner. If you would like to participate in the Gear Swap, come on down to the CVCC and with the items you would like to sell tagged with your name and price. We'll sell the gear for you and at the end of the evening, you'll collect the funds from your sold items. Any unsold items must go home with you. If you would like to donate any of your funds to the club's fundraising efforts, we'll certainly accept! We hope to see you and your gear on Monday evening to share a wonderful Mexican dinner of tacos, burritos, beans, rice, chips & salsa and a drink.

On Saturday, September 7, we will be hosting the Annual Golf Tournament at the Wawona Hotel Golf Course in Yosemite National Park. This popular event is filling fast, so if you would like to come golf in a national park for a good cause, please contact our registrar, Shari, at 209-628-5941 or send us a message at yosemiteliosnclub@yahoo.com. You can also download the registration form here: 
http://www.scribd.com/doc/159444362/Yosemite-Lions-Club-Annual-Golf-Tournament-2013

We hope to see you in September too!

Relay for Life This Saturday!

Each year the Yosemite Lions Club sponsors a team for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life - a fundraising event that supports cancer research. Our Relay is scheduled for Saturday, May 18, which means we have two more days of fundraising left!

From our Team Captain and fellow Lion, Teri Tudela:

"Only two more days to go!  Yosemite Hiking for a Cure is running in second place with $3180 raised so far (not including $345 I am turning in tonight)! Thank you for all your hard work.  Some teams have been fundraising since last October - just tells you what a strong team we have! Jodi is bringing a tent if anyone wants to rest.  We will also have a canopy set up for shade.  I would suggest bringing a chair and any snacks you might want during the day. Food is also offered both for sale and for free at various locations around the track. If you are staying the full event you might want to bring a sleeping bag, etc. Don't forget sunscreen (maybe a hat) - I hear it's suppose to be warm Saturday.

Our location is on the same side as parking.  We will have our purple "Yosemite Hiking for a Cure" banner up so we should be easy to find.  We will continue our fundraising during the event with the baskets for raffle and Bingo again this year.  Both were requested by participants from last year.  Vendor donations will make up the giveaways. Thanks again, Teri"



If you would like to make a contribution to our team's fundraising efforts, please visit our team page at the link below. If you are a team member already, we thank you for your contribution and dedication. See you on the track!


Donate here: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY13CA?team_id=1310741&pg=team&fr_id=48977

YLC Raises Funds for El Portal School and Welcomes New Member Bil Gleason!

The Yosemite Lions Club would like to officially announce Bil Gleason as our newest member! Welcome Bil, and thanks for all your help with pancakes. On Saturday, April 27th the club held its annual pancake breakfast fundraiser at the Spring Fling celebration in El Portal. Club Secretary Brett gives us an update:

Club members Mike, Arvin, Brett and Bill T.

"It was an awesome pancake breakfast this past Saturday at the El Portal Spring Fling.  We went through the 150 plates Bill had bought, plus about 20 or so that Arvin found in the cupboard there, plus about 15 ceramic plates we had to break out of the cupboards, making it about 200 guests!

You know it is a good one when you have very little left (2 jugs of syrup only)!

If pancake flipping was an Olympic sport, Bill, would be the gold medalist.  He was crankin' those pancakes out like nobody's business.

Our newest club member, Bil Gleason, was the master stirrer, keeping both the orange juice and pancake batter mixed up.  He also made some signs to go on Highway 140 advertising the breakfast.  The man did not stop from the moment he got there to the moment he left.

Alison had trouble counting correctly every now and then, but other than that, she and Jodi kept the food line moving while Teri was raking in the money people were throwing at her.  Volunteer Shani was out front too helping the ladies and looking pretty!

When Bill had the pancakes done, Sean was there with a plate, he handed them off to Arvin who kept the chafing dish filled until we couldn't keep up and by then, they were coming right of the griddle onto someone's plate.   It was quite the assembly line.

Oz kept all of us in line and was the glue that held us together.  Say it isn't so, Oz.  This is your last pancake breakfast?   :-(

Spring Fling Coordinator Claudine said she had 50 more runners this year.  We took in $285.00, which means we raised this amount for the El Portal school!

As always, it was a lot of fun.  Thanks to Teri for taking photos of the Yosemite Lions Club hard at work."

Club members Bil G., Alison and VP Jodi

Thanks once again to the Yosemite community for your participation and enthusiasm for our fundraising efforts. We hope to see you at the El Mosquito Fiesta in Yosemite Valley on July 25th.

Spring Events with the Yosemite Lions Club

Spring has arrived and we're looking forward to seeing you at club sponsored events in April and May. Come out and enjoy spring in Yosemite as we host the annual pancake breakfast at Spring Fling in El Portal on April 27, 2013. In addition to our pancake fundraiser for the El Portal school, Spring Fling involves a 5K fun run called the El Portal Spring Run-Off, food vendors, craft vendors and live music at the El Portal Community Hall. If you're lucky, you'll also catch the California Poppy show that debuts each spring in the Merced River Canyon just outside of El Portal.

Each spring, in the Yosemite gateway town of Mariposa, the Yosemite Lions Club is proud to sponsor the Yosemite Hiking for a Cure Relay for Life team representing the Yosemite community. The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life is a 24 hour fundraising event held at hundreds of venues across the country. Team members raise funds by pledging to walk a designated number of hours during a 24 hour time period to symbolize that cancer never sleeps. Located at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, teams walk the track from 9 AM on Saturday May 18, 2013 through 9 AM on Sunday May 19. The event includes contests, team fundraisers, food, music and games to help keep the teams on the track for 24 hours. We are always looking for more team members and if you'd like to join us this year, please send us email at yosemitelionsclub@yahoo.com, join our team online at the Mariposa Relay for Life website or contact any of our club members.

On May 22, 2013, we return to Yosemite Valley for the annual Spring Blood Drive. Hosted in conjunction with the Central California Blood Center, the Bloodmobile will be parked in front of the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center from 10 AM to 3 PM to accept blood donations from community members and visitors. As always, donors receive a free t-shirt along with doughnuts and orange juice. We hope you'll join us for this important event that supports life-preserving efforts in our California community.

Happy Holidays from the Yosemite Lions Club!

Wishing you the happiest of new years, we also want to thank you wholeheartedly for participating in our events and fundraisers to benefit the Yosemite community throughout 2012. This year's holiday tree and wreath fundraiser sold five trees and six wreaths online with $80 in proceeds going to the club.  Trees and wreaths are shipped free of charge after purchase directly to your home. Neatly packed in cardboard boxes, they arrive fresh and fragrant, and trees are securely mounted to a stand right inside the box.

We appreciate the support and hope that you will consider buying trees and wreaths through the club's online program with Dutchman Tree Farms for the holiday season in 2013.

Thanks for the Tacos and Holiday Fundraiser: Trees and Wreaths For Sale!

Each year the Yosemite Lions Club hosts a holiday fundraiser selling trees and wreaths online and a portion of the proceeds go to support our club. By partnering with Dutchman Tree Farms in Michigan, we receive $10.00 for every tree and $5.00 for every wreath sold. The best part is that these trees or wreaths are then shipped FREE directly to your home. There are several trees to choose from and the wreath comes with a big red bow. You can skip the trip to the tree lot or send a great wreath gift and support a good cause all at the same time!

Please consider our fundraiser - you can be anywhere to purchase and they will ship anywhere in the U.S. Check it out at the following link:

http://dutchmantreefarms.com/organization/YLCCA

You can place an order anytime between now and December 11th to have holiday greenery at your door before the Christmas holiday - you can even schedule a delivery for a specific date.

Yosemite Lions Club's annual fall blood drive successfully collected 54 pints of blood on October 24th in El Portal. In the words of Diane Stewart, club volunteer: "We had 64 potential donors with 10 deferrals, for a total of 54 collected pints of precious blood. New donors and faithful friends, thank you for your generosity--your gift saves lives!"

In other fundraising news, the Yosemite Lions Club annual Mosquito Festival, re-imagined this year as El Mosquito Fiesta, raised $800 for the Yosemite community. On October 25th at the Curry Village Community Center in Yosemite Valley, we served 75 plates of delicious Mexican food to hungry diners that included many new faces we haven't seen at club events before. Many, many thanks to Maria La Veaga for preparing the Mexican feast - her reputation for Mexican food contributed to the success of this event. Event chair and Lions Club Treasurer Brett Archer worked hard to present a new twist on a long-time annual event, providing club exposure for an entirely different part of the Yosemite community. Brett also enlisted many volunteers to assist the club with this event and we thank them wholeheartedly! We worked hard and had fun, and we hope to see these new faces at upcoming YLC events. 

Treasurer Brett is ready to serve some food

President Kym is ready to collect some money 

Happy diners in the CV Community Center

Brett and Maria, the Queen of Mexican Cuisine!

Volunteer Kurt and Club Member Mike

October Events: The Mosquito Festival and the Fall Blood Drive

The club is sponsoring two exciting events this week: The Mosquito Festival in Yosemite Valley and the annual Yosemite Lions Club Fall Blood Drive in El Portal. On Wednesday, October 24th, the blood drive, sponsored in conjunction with the Central California Blood Center, will take place at the El Portal Community Hall, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. In addition to juice, doughnuts and free t-shirts for blood donors, we will also be collecting used eyeglasses to recycle for the Lions In Sight program.

On Thursday, October 25th, in the Better Late Than Never category, the club will be hosting the annual Mosquito Festival in Yosemite Valley at the Curry Village Community Center. This year's festival, known as "El Mosquito Fiesta" features a Mexican dinner prepared by Maria La Veaga - formerly of the Curry Village Taco Stand. Maria's menu includes enchiladas, tacos, burritos, beans, rice and chips & salsa included in one of three different dinner combos: one item $8.00, two items, $10.00, three items $12.00. As always, proceeds from this event will benefit the Yosemite Community.

We hope to see you in El Portal on Wednesday and at dinner on Thursday evening!

Yosemite Lions Club Golf Tournament 2012

Thanks to thirteen teams competing in the golf tournament this year, the club raised $6000 in funds for the Yosemite community! On a sunny September 8th at the Wawona Hotel golf course in Yosemite National Park, tournament players enthusiastically participated in a putting contest, 18 holes of golf, BBQ dinner and a prize raffle - all for a $75 registration fee. This year's winners - Rich Sischo, Ken Kehrer, Steve Morelli and Bob Berkler - shot a combined total of nine under par to become tournament champions with prizes of $50 gift certificates for each team member. Second place winners Michael Lewis, Robert Lewis, Mike Wally and Dave Braun scored seven under par and $25 gift certificates.

Demonstrating his putting prowess, Bill Carroll reigned supreme in the putting contest and won dinner for two at the Wawona Hotel. Other winners included players with the longest drive: Renae Rippentrop and Matt McNease, and players who averaged closest to the pin: Renae Rippentrop and Jason Dubburke. Success with keeping the Pink Lady in play throughout the entire tournament was achieved by Pat Reilly, Greg Owens, Dennis Baker and Mike Gover. These categories were also awarded prizes of $25 gift certificates good for any DNC Yosemite retail or restaurant location.

After the fierce competition, players relaxed on the lawn at the Wawona Hotel with BBQ dinner and participated in the prize and wine box raffles. Prizes included a travel golf bag, a Pendleton blanket from Grand Canyon National Park, various and sundry goodie bags with golfing items, dinner for two at the Mountain Room, brunch for two at the Ahwahnee and tickets for a September game played by the San Francisco Giants.

Thanks to all the tournament participants and their generosity in supporting our fundraising efforts in Yosemite. The Yosemite Lions Club extends special thanks to the staff of the Wawona Hotel - particularly Golf Shop Manager Roger Lyons - for making the tournament a success, and to Lions Club volunteers Shari, Shani, and Julie. Fortunately, the club has many supporters who contributed raffle prizes or donations to help raise funds: Peets Coffee, Impact Photographics, California Sungold, Smith Western Company, In the Breeze, Smith Novelty Company, Studio Vertu, Porter World Trade, Ramatex, Dutch American Import Company, Staples Promotional Products, Dry Associates, Aloe Up, Bryce Dorst, DNC Parks & Resorts at Grand Canyon, and of course DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite. We couldn't do it without you!

The 2012 Golf Tournament Committee consisted of President Kym Wright-Youngdale, Lion Teri Tudela, Lion Michelle Hansen and Club Volunteer Shari Baudoux. Big thanks to all the club members for their participation and fundraising efforts.

Hope to see you again at next year's tournament which is scheduled for Saturday September 7, 2013.