Yosemite Lions Club Bids Fond Farewell to Vice President Michelle Hansen

The October 1 Yosemite Lions Club marked an end of an incredible tenure as an integral member of our club.  With over five years of service here in Yosemite, Michelle spent the last 1.5 years as the club's Vice President.  Her drive, energy and passion are very infections and she brought a lot of great ideas and endless participation.

Michelle's special farewell treat

While Michelle may have left the "den" to pursue a fantastic opportunity in Florida, she will always hold a special place in the "pride."

Yosemite Valley School Participates in Annual Lions Club Peace Poster Contest

 Four YVS students will participate in the 2015/2016 Lions Club Peace Poster Contest.  They joined the Yosemite Lions Club at their October 1 meeting held at The Ahwahnee hotel in Yosemite National Park to hear all the details of the annual contest.  In addition, they had the opportunity to experience some of The Ahwahnee's culinary expertise while dining on organic greens, Chicken Marsala, and the hotel's signature cheesecake.  

 This year’s theme is “Share Peace.”  Sponsoring a Peace Poster Contest for a local school or youth group is a great way for Lions to engage young people in their communities — encouraging children to use art to express their thoughts on peace. The results are beautiful, and the impact made on children’s lives and values even more so.

Check back for their artistic submissions.

A past Grand Prize winner

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!