Morro Bay Lions Club gifts minivan to Los Osos family in need

By Neil Farrell · Fri Aug 14 2026

Quarterly Car Giveaway provides reliable transportation for newlyweds Amanda and Jordan Fuchs as they begin life with newborn twins

The latest car giveaway by the Morro Bay Lions Club is like the icing on a cake of blessings for one Los Osos couple.

On July 13, members of the Lions Club gathered at Todd's Garage on Quintana Road to give away the 49th car in the Lions Club Foundation's Quarterly Car Giveaway.

Garage owner Mike Todd, who started the program years ago with his dad Bill Todd, said this vehicle is a 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan that was bought new with just 2 miles on it. 

It's been meticulously maintained, Mike said, and was donated to the Lions with just 45,000 miles on it. "It wasn't driven much," Mike said. 

But any 20-year old car will have something that needs fixing, and that's what the crew at Todd's has done. Mike said they put in new belts, a timing belt, and brakes on the vehicle that was then given to Amanda and Jordan Fuchs, who are newlyweds with twin month-old babies — Sevin and Wylder.

They're new parents, Mike said, with twins and needed a vehicle that could accommodate the whole family.

And since they just got married, he added, it's a wedding gift too.

The club had intended to give away its 49th car at the Morro Bay Car Show in May but needed to find the right vehicle to meet the needs of this family, he explained. So they searched and searched looking at half a dozen cars, he explained, but they were just wrecks. They had a $6,000 budget, he added, but couldn’t find the right car until the Sienna was donated.

"We were able to do it within the budget," Mike said, of the work they did on the van.

Lion Ray McKelvey said the van was donated by his 93-year-old neighbor Barbara Jamison, who had lost her husband a few years ago, and no longer drives herself.

"It was the perfect car for this couple," McKelvey said. 

Speaking for the family, Jordan said the vehicle is a dream come true for them. "The Lions Club has been a big help," he said. He explained that Amanda has been volunteering with the Lions Club for some time and he too now pitches in with the Club's Monday Night Community Dinners (every Monday at the Morro Bay Veterans Memorial Building). That program has been going on for some 11 years never missing a Monday night, and recently finished up with a successful men's clothing drive.

The couple has been through some very tough times: Jordan explained that they met while both were homeless and sleeping on the City Hall steps in San Luis Obispo. He'd been on the wrong side of the law for most of his life, he explained. "I was in prison for most of my adult life," said the 45-year-old. ""I was at the end of my rope."

When he met Amanda, his mother was sick with cancer and her wish was to see him turn his life around, he said. 

So he said he gave up drugs and Amanda did too. She has two other children, he said. They slept in a vehicle for a time and are still clawing their way out. But she has a job, and he's working too, and they've been staying with a friend in Los Osos.

And the twins seem to be the anchor Jordan needs to stay the course and make his mom proud as she looks down from Heaven.

He said his legal troubles were "like a revolving door, going in and out of prison. But I finally got out of it." He's been sober for two years now — "I'm just done with it," he said.

With the twins, he plans on being around to see them grow up. He also has two adult children ages 18 and 22. "I didn’t get to spend much time with them," he said. 

Information about the Lions Club Car Giveaway Program including application forms is posted online at morrobaylions.org

The program is open to just about anyone who needs reliable transportation. There's an application process and a committee goes through the applications and picks someone to receive a vehicle every three months (quarterly). 

The Fuchs are just one of many needy families that have been awarded vehicles since the program was founded by Bill Todd along with the Community Resource Center, with the Lions Club Foundation coming aboard shortly after that. And Mike Todd has been involved since the inception as well.

They accept donations of vehicles from folks who find themselves with an extra car, often because of the death of a spouse, or they might possibly donate in lieu of a trade in on a new car.

The Club will write you a receipt for the donation at Blue Book value and as a charitable donation it's tax deductible.

They also accept cash donations that are used to purchase needed parts, to pay for things like a smog check and, in some cases, to purchase vehicles to give away.

Recipients commit to insuring the vehicle and maintaining it, as well as keeping up with the annual registration.

There really isn't much in the way of criteria except to have a genuine need for transportation. If a person is an active volunteer in the community or has a job they need to commute to that weighs in their favor with the selection committee.

The Car Giveaway Program is available to folks who reside in Morro Bay, Los Osos, Cayucos, San Luis Obispo, and Atascadero.

Feature Image: Amanda and Jordan Fuchs, with their twin month-old babies, Sevin and Wylder, get the keys to a 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan from Mike Todd of Todd's Garage, along with members of the Morro Bay Lions Club. It's the 49th vehicle the club has given away since 2014. Photo by Neil Farrell