San Juan Island Lions Club shopping spree

SAN JUAN ISLAND LIONS CLUB

Wolverine wide receiver sweeps up $452 in groceries
for the food bank in shopping spree

posted 11/22/2006
The Friday Harbor Food Bank's shelves are stocked with an extra $492.11 worth of food thanks to the Lions annual Shopping Spree raffle. The winner donated the prize to the food bank. Dorothy Lawson, who runs the food bank, put together a list of desired items and suggested the Lions find a young man to do the actually running during the four-minute spree.

LEO club charter member and Wolverine football team wide receiver Jordan Taylor was selected. He scoped out the store ahead of time and put together a game plan with LEO advisor John Bostrom.

Taylor started in the soup aisle about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 21, 2006). After stocking up on cans of chili, soup and tomato sauce, the two headed to the other side of the store. Taylor put everything in the cart. Bostrom coached. There was plenty of advice shouted in from others as the seconds ticked away.

Asked afterwards if all the advice from the sidelines helped, Taylor said, " I just blocked all the sound out. I couldn't have done it without John."

The carts were pushed to the checkout line. Taylor estimated the total to be $450. He was off by $2.11. An additional $50 in meat and cheeses is added to the amount of groceries gathered in the spree. The $492.11 worth of groceries is taken directly to the food bank which is open on Wednesdays.

The LEO (Leadership, Experience, Opportunity) is a service club for youth ages 12 to 18. Lion John Towson has been working since February to start the local club. There are 19 members from Friday Harbor High School and Spring Street School. Youth interested in joining can pick up membership forms at the Friday Harbor High School career center office. More informatation about the history of the LEO clubs is available here.

Shopping Spree winner rings up $743 tab

Story by Matt Pranger
Photos by Matt Pranger and Jim Carroll

Four-year-old Kenadi Thompson picked the winning tickets from the bowl held by Lion Treasurer Bob Nieman while current Lion President John Towson and past President Don Galt watched.

Jim Carroll photo

posted 11/23/05
Gretchen Shaw, winner of the San Juan Island Lions annual shopping spree at King's Market, gathered up $743.09 worth of groceries in four minutes yesterday (Nov. 22, 2005). She plans to share some of the food with the Friday Harbor Food Bank. "The community has been good to me, so I might as well share it," Shaw said.

Shaw purchased $10 worth of tickets on Sunday, the last day they were sold. Kenadi Thompson pulled the winning tickets from the bowl. Besides the shopping spree, four turkeys were also given away. Proceeds from the raffle go towards the Lions' scholarship fund.

The Lions sell tickets for a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving. The shopping spree rules are: no alcohol, no tobacco, no more than four of any one item, and no meat. Fifty dollars worth of meat is added to the total when the spree is over.

Shaw didn’t waste time traveling throughout the store searching for favorites -- she pulled mostly from two aisles. Afterwards, looking at the carts filled with food, she said, "It’s just amazing."

Food Bank the winner in annual shopping spree

posted 11/24/04
Three students, one teacher and a pack of generous Lions bagged $702 in groceries for the Friday Harbor Food Bank in four minutes Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004. Friday Harbor High School teacher Susie Hale won the San Juan Island Lions 8th Annual Shopping Spree raffle and donated her winnings to the food bank.

The prize is all the groceries that can be grabbed off the shelves in Kings Market in four minutes. Hale enlisted three high school seniors - Tommy Guard, Maya Kruger, and Kathleen Alluise - to select the groceries.

The students scoped out the store the day before the sweep. Since the groceries were going to the food bank, they concentrated on non-perishable items.

Lion Bob Nieman relaxed the rules a bit and let both the girls grab groceries as Guard pushed the cart. Normally only one person pulls the items from the shelves. "It was for a good cause," Nieman said.

The students filled six carts with $702 worth of groceries. Since the food bank doesn't distribute meat, the Lions added a $50 check to the prize instead of the usual gift certificate for meat.

It was a good day for the food bank, earlier the Lions gave their usual $500 donation. The food bank is located on Market Street (across from Market Place grocery store). It is open on Wednesday afternoons.

Shopping Spree winner takes home $453 in groceries

posted 11/19/03
Joan Castaneda, winner of the 2003 Lions Club Shopping Spree raffle, gathered up $403 worth of groceries in four minutes at Kings Market in Friday Harbor. The rules are: no alcohol, no tobacco, no more than four of any one item, and no meat. Fifty dollars worth of meat is added to the total when the spree is over.

Three people won gift certificates for turkeys -- Colleen Clancy, Judy Fraley donated hers to a needy family, and T.J Wilkinson gave his to the food bank. Proceeds from the raffle benefit the Lions scholarship fund.

Shopping spree winner takes home $504 of groceries

Story and photos by Sharon Kivisto

Judy Nash celebrates after her groceries are rung up at Kings Market in Friday Harbor

posted 11/20/02
Judy Nash of Friday Harbor scooped up $454.46 worth of groceries in a four-minute shopping spree in Kings' Market yesterday (Nov. 19, 2002). She was the winner of the San Juan Islands Lions Club annual raffle. In addition to the eight bags of groceries, she also received $50 worth of meat bringing her total to $504.46.

"It was great fun," she said. Her original game plan was to grab spices, but in the excitement she forgot.

Lions Club members push the cart while the winner grabs the groceries. The rules are: no alcohol, no tobacco, no more than four of any one item, and no meat. Fifty dollars worth of meat is added to the total when the spree is over.

Runners up in the raffle won turkeys. Megan Vivenzio and Curt Vanhyning (pictured at left) were on hand to pick up their turkeys and watch Nash's shopping spree. Proceeds from the raffle help fund scholarships for local high school students.

Shopping spree 2001 donated to food bank

Sharon Link, Janet Ludwig and Victoria Compton pictured in center surrounded by Lions Club members relaxed in King's Market after the four-minute shopping spree Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2001.

posted 12/12/01
Friday Harbor Food Bank was the winner in this year's San Juan Island Lions annual shopping spree raffle. The food bank received $699.30 of groceries after Dr. Fred and Eleanor Silverstein, holders of the winning ticket, donated the shopping spree.

San Juan Island resident Victoria Compton filled in for the couple during the four-minute dash up and down the aisles of King's Market.

With the help of Lions Club members who pushed the strategically placed carts, she filled four shopping carts with everything from soup to baby supplies.

Sharon Link, Janet Ludwig and Keith Baker won frozen turkeys in the drawing. Link donated her turkey to the food bank.

The Lions Club sold about 1,200 tickets which is down from previous years according to Lion Ted Roell. Last year the raffle grossed about $2,300. After the groceries are paid for, the net proceeds go to the Lions scholarship program.

Usually the shopping spree winners end up with about $500 worth of groceries. Compton's tab was not the highest. Roell said one year the winner carefully planned his attack and managed to gather $1,200 in groceries in four minutes.

Shopping trip 2000 winner donates
$550 of groceries to food bank

Three carts of groceries were bagged for the Friday Harbor Food Bank. From left to right, are: Len Severtsen, Brian Brown, Bob Nieman, Warren Jones, Tim Greenelsh, Christina Johnson and Joyce Jones.

posted 11/22/00
Warren Jones and his step-daughter Christina Johnson recently combined talents to give some needy San Juan Islanders a cupboard-full of reasons to be thankful this holiday season.

Jones' lucky buying skills netted him the winning ticket in the San Juan Lions Club's annual shopping trip raffle. He designated Johnson, a cook at Duck Soup Inn, his pinch shopper. In the allotted four minutes, she plucked $507.71 worth of items from the shelves at King's Market Tuesday, Nov. 21. Jones donated the three cart-loads of groceries plus a gift certificate for $50 of meat to the Friday Harbor Food Bank.

"It's a great feeling to be able to do that for families on the island," Johnson said.

The food bank, Jacki Altier and Phil Daniel also won frozen turkeys.

Len Severtsen, chair of the Lions' shopping spree committee, commented, "The food bank made out pretty good."

Proceeds from the raffle, which grossed about $2,300, will net about $1,500 to help fund Lions' scholarships to local high school graduates.

Lions award good citizens

posted 06/07/01
San Juan Lions Club Citizenship award winners for 2001 are Jill Picinich and William Shuman. Both students were chosen by their teachers because they are people of good character and show concern for others while achieving better than average grades.

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Wolverine wide receiver sweeps up $452 in groceries for the food bank in shopping spree