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Lions of Yavapai is a coalition of Lions from Lions clubs all across Yavapai County, Arizona. 

• This grouping arrangement provides Lions service beyond what individual Lions clubs can do.

• Participation in Lions of Yavapai is voluntary.  One only needs to be a Lion in good standing.

• Its activities purposely avoid interfering with work being done by any Lions club in the county.

Lions of Yavapai Foundation, its official name, is an Arizona corporation and has an IRS 501(c)(3) certification as a Public Charity.  It is recognized by Lions Clubs International as an official Lions organization, a Foundation, instead of the more familiar club organization.  Its formation was formally approved by Lions Arizona District 21 North. 

The Lions of Yavapai organization has real potential to do good for persons in need in the region, and that is the reason for developing it as another Lions presence here.  Its mission is that of every Lions group - serving our community.

Part of the need for this Lions coalition is the expansive rural nature of Yavapai County.  Clubs’ limitations often mean service is only provided in the town in which they meet. But in the rural areas of our community Lions service is often absent.  Providing more Lions service is the impetus for and focus of Lions of Yavapai.  To accomplish this Lions of Yavapai can and does provide:  funding via conditioned access to the Lion Melvin Clack Fund and potential grants, organization of larger service projects, and sharing volunteers and resources. This can better enable Lions serving our Yavapai community.

Lions of Yavapai is a young endeavor still filling out its organizational structure and formal operation.  These startup details have been a second priority to its service mission.  The Lions creating this Foundation have already developed and implemented significant Yavapai County-wide Lions service.  They and coalition members will work to expand its service capability.

Lions who serve in Lions of Yavapai projects in addition to services of their home Lions club have found it provides rewarding in-person experiences.  And making Lions service more available in rural Arizona helps recognition of Lions International’s mission of service wherever there is a need.

Service – Mobile Eye Care Van

Lions of Yavapai is a way to bring Lions service to underserved parts of our Yavapai community, places where folks have been unaware of Lions service availability.  There are many people in need in rural, poor Yavapai.

Lions of Yavapai owns and operates a Mobile Eye Care Van with a fully equipped eye doctor’s examination room.  It travels to the rural burgs in Yavapai County where poor people need eye care and cannot afford such “luxury”.  With volunteer doctors and volunteer Lions, Lions of Yavapai delivers Lions eye care service, enriching lives of struggling folks.

2019 was the third full year of eye care van service.  In that calendar year, Lions of Yavapai performed ten eye care van events in rural burgs and helped 234 persons get exams, glasses if needed, and covered referrals for needed therapy.  2020 was much the same, despite the Covid virus.  In 2021 again the eye care van went to six rural burgs and served 140 persons.  These clients are people who would not get eye care otherwise.  The glasses and any needed therapy are funded by the Lion Melvin Clack Fund, due to Lions of Yavapai studiously working out this access to the fund.  Lions of Yavapai made these folks lives a bit better by caring and getting them free Lions eye care.

This is:

• Very successful service to our greater Yavapai community;

• Very good publicity for Yavapai Lionism; and

• Very rewarding person-to-person service opportunity, and ongoing, for many Lions.

Service – Lions Screen Kids Sight

Lions of Yavapai was invited to apply for a $25,000 grant from Arizona Community Foundation to vision screen young students in Yavapai County schools.

Three Lions from two clubs, working as Lions of Yavapai, developed the capability to photo screen kids in pre-K through grade four across the county, a task beyond a single club’s ability.

Visiting every club, this Lions of Yavapai startup team recruited 23 Lion volunteers from almost every Lions and Lioness club in Yavapai, trained them and they travelled across club boundaries to where kids needed to be screened.  There was new “across the mountain” cooperation.  The number of school kids and the locations of clubs do not match, so Lions travelled out of their immediate communities to fix this service challenge – with no club wrangling about jurisdiction.

Year one’s pilot program teamed with 11 schools and vision screened 1,258 kids.  In school year two, ’19-20, with the teams from clubs nearby owning their schools, and doing 27 of the 33 schools in Yavapai and 5,869 students.  School year ‘20-21 service struggled due to Covid virus constraints, but where we could we did, still vision screening 1,739 students.  School year ’21 -22 unfolded similarly, but ’22-23 seems more promising.

This is:

• Very successful service to our greater Yavapai community;

• Very good publicity for Yavapai Lionism; and

• Very rewarding person-to-person service opportunity, and ongoing, for many Lions.

• And, this is beyond what individual clubs could do; club funding, organization and manpower challenges would not be up to this level of service.

Going Forward

These services, performed and ongoing, demonstrate that Lions of Yavapai is an organization with actualized potential to do good for persons in need in the region, proving its rationale for being developed as another Lions presence here.

Lions of Yavapai, as a coalition of Lions from clubs all across Yavapai County, provides these services that are beyond what individual clubs can do.  These services are delivered by Lions and Lioness, in addition to participating actively in their clubs, coming together as Lions of Yavapai.  Grouped in this way they do service projects that use resources and operate in areas that are out of a Lions club’s scope.

Filling out Lions of Yavapai’s organizational structure and formal operation is a task at hand.  And coalition members will work on creating opportunities to expand their service capability.

If you are a Lion in good standing committed to serving persons in need in our community, please join like minded folks in serving through Lions of Yavapai.

 For information about this website, please contact webmaster@lionsofyavapai.com.