YACHATS – The Yachats Lions Club announced more than $30,000 in donations and charitable giving Tuesday during its annual dinner to award college scholarships and gifts to community organizations and nonprofits.
“We want to give back to the community what we raise in the community,” said Jim Finlayson, the club board member who oversees charitable giving.
Finlayson said the club raised $30,588 in the past 12 months from its popular thrift store on West Fourth Street, the resumption of its all-you-can-eat breakfasts during major holidays, and its crab feed in January.
The club awarded six $1,000 college scholarships to recent high school graduates, and contributed $6,930 to the Lions Sight and Hearing program.
Getting checks ranging from $500 to $1,500 were the Yachats Food Pantry, Waldport Food Share, Meals on Wheels, Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program, Friends of the Yachats Library, the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District, South Lincoln Ambulance, the student government organization at Angell Job Corps, Crestview Heights and Waldport Middle/High schools, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Lincoln and Tillamook Counties, and YachatsNews, which is in the middle of a fundraising campaign as it transitions to nonprofit status.