Mountain Roar

By Lion Milt Fox, for The Mountain Times

Thank you for attending our annual Jim Turin Memorial Scholarship Dinner. We had a nice turnout of 80-plus happy customers. The dinner was chaired by Lion Craig Calvert and prepared by a small but great crew of hard working Lions. Proceeds from this dinner help with funding for our Scholarship program. These scholarships are for Oregon Trail School District graduates who are also graduates of Welches School. 

Thanks also go to St. Michaels Catholic Church for the use of their kitchenware, and to Welches Clackamas County Bank, Welches Mountain Building Supply, Coffee House 26, Brightwood Tavern, Mt. Hood Cannabis, and the Whistle Stop Tavern for the sale of our tickets.

Club Election: We held our annual election at the April 8th meeting. The following Lions were elected to serve during the 2026/2027 year: President Marc Closner, 1st Vice President Katie Wirth, 2nd Vice President Nicole Guyer, 3rd Vice President Kristin Graybeal, Secretary Cindi Sempert, Treasurer Vacant, Tail Twister Fred Ellison, Lion Tamer Lindsey Costanich, one-year Director Marlyne Casley, one-year Director Candice Kelly, two-year Director Jennifer Heitzman, two-year Director Brennan O’Dowd, House Manager Jason Kelly, and Immediate Past President Dave Anderson.

Red Cross Blood Drive: Our club hosted a Red Cross Blood Drive on Saturday, April 18th. Over 20 units of blood were collected. Additional blood drives are planned throughout 2026.

New Member Initiation: Lion Dan Wolf conducted the Initiation ceremony for several new Lions at our April 22nd meeting. New members were treated to a free steak dinner.

Bingo: Our Last Bingo night was Friday April 24th, and we had a great season! Thanks go to our regular crew of Bingo Lions Chaired by Lion Carol Norgard. Thanks to all of you for the great support of our Bingo fundraiser –  we’ve had a great year!

Swimming Lessons Dinner, Saturday May 2nd! Please plan to come to a wonderful Mexican dinner in support of our Swimming Lessons program on Saturday, May 2nd. Happy hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. The menu includes chicken fajitas, rice, beans, salsa and tortillas. Tickets at the door are $8.00 for kids 10 and under and $22.00 for adults. Special adult presale tickets are available for $20.00 at Mountain Building Supply, Welches Clackamas County Bank, Brightwood Tavern, Mt. Hood Cannabis, Coffee House 26, and the Whistle Stop Tavern – or ask any Lion. Please come and enjoy.

Lion Patti Buoy: Patti also be on hand to register your students for this year's swimming lessons. Lessons will be June 15th thru June 19th and June 22nd thru June 26th. 

Don’t forget to purchase your 50/50 raffle tickets. Tickets are $5 each – just ask any Lion. This raffle will support this year’s Swimming Lesson program   

Chuckwagon Breakfast: This year's Chuckwagon Breakfast will be held on Saturday July 4th and Sunday July 5th.We will also be having a car show on Saturday July 4th this year. So if you would like to show your favorite car, please give our Club President Lion David Anderson a call at (971) 373-3869. The price to show your car is $20. More details about this Lions Club tradition in next month's column. 

Club Service Projects, a retrospective:

The Mt Hood Lions Club has never charged for any of its many services to the community. (we do take blood) 

One of our first club projects was a Red Cross blood drive, held just after the club was chartered. It netted over 90 units. This project went on for many years and was eventually discontinued. It was restarted again around 2018 and continues today.

Local swimming lessons began in 1952 with over 130 students registered. These lessons were free, and conducted by the Red Cross. Lessons were given at the Cooks Motel pool. These lessons were well attended for about 15 years and were discontinued in the middle 1960s.

Swimming lessons 2.0 began in 2019 but were interrupted by Covid. Two years passed, before they began again in 2022. These lessons have proved to be a very successful project for our club and our community. Lessons are given at the wonderful Camp Arrah Wanna pool.

Free Inoculations (Polio, Measles, Flu) began around 1952/1953, discontinuing around 2005. During those many years, the club gave around 12,000 free inoculations to our community.

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) began in 1991/1992. This project originally was intended and proposed as a tutoring program. To date, the club's RIF program has given out over 14,000 free books to Welches students, and continues today.

Christmas Toy Drive Dinner began in December of 1996 and has provided thousands of toys to local children in need. This program also continues today.

Scholarships to Sandy High School Students (who must also be Welches Grade School graduates). This program was started in 1998 and continues today.

These are just a handful of the projects our club has done over the last 75 years. Our club has also helped many individuals with family and community disasters, medical needs, and other burdens, in addition to youth projects like scouting, teen dances etc. 

It’s Great to be a Lion!