Lions Clubs of Multiple District 36, Oregon and Northern California

We Serve

Eugene, OR USA

541-484-0452

Lions of Oregon & Northern California are a part of an international network of 1.4 million men and women in 200 countries and geographic areas who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world. Lions are best known for working to end preventable blindness, the giving of eyeglasses and hearing aids for the needy and local service projects.

 

Mission Statement of Lions Clubs International:

 

"To create and foster a spirit of understanding among all people for humanitarian needs by providing voluntary services through community involvement and international cooperation."

 

Can You Believe It?

September 29, 2014  /  Guest User

“October Newsletter”

Can you believe it!  One- fourth of the Lions year is already complete. Are you and your Lions club on target to reach your goals?  Do you need some assistance to help reach those goals?  There are Lions that you could call for some help.  Maybe there is a Past District Governor, a Zone Chair or a Vice District Governor who would visit your club.  These Lions might look at your club from a different angle and be able to make suggestions that no one in your club has thought of in the past.

Now is a great time to start planning for your holiday activities.  A project that involves your club with members of your community is a great way for your neighbors to find out what Lions do.  We help with so many needs in the community but we don’t tell anyone about our successes.  Make sure that you let the local media: newspaper, TV and radio know what you have done or, better yet, ask them to help you advertise your event.  Sometime this month, we should have totals on our success with “Cans for a Cause”.  The funds will have been distributed to the various Honor Flight Hubs and we will know how many WWII Veterans were given the opportunity to make the trip to Washington, DC.  What a terrific opportunity this has been for the Lions of Oregon.  It gave us an opportunity to partner with other organizations and to provide the trip that many of these Vets would not have been able to make.

I hope that you plan to help celebrate Lions World Sight Day on October 10th.  That would be a great day to continue with one of our Statewide Service Projects: Eyeglass Collection.  There is always a need for more eyeglasses that can be sent to places that have no means of getting glasses.  Although we can’t always put used eyeglasses to work here at home,  we can help people in other countries while at the same time making use of glasses that are no longer needed by the person that made the donation.

Please welcome the members of our newest Lions Club in MD 36, the Southern Oregon Drifting Lions Club in Medford.  What an exciting day we spent on August 31th at their Charter Party.  It was a great day of fun, food, excitement and fellowship.  This Club chartered with 23 members, but they added five more members during the day.  For me, it was really exciting.  I had the opportunity of taking a couple of rides around the track!  For someone who is known to have a “lead foot”, I realized that these folks have terrific skill.  They can drive their car fast, shift from gear to gear and use their hand brake all at the same time.  It’s not something that can easily be done especially after having had knee surgery.  It was really exciting to be on the track with these great drivers but even more exciting to see that we now have 28 more Lions to help provide service to those in need.

We wish these Lions and their sponsoring Club, the Grants Pass Redwood Lions Club, “the best of luck.”

Will your club take the challenge from our International President Joe Preston and “Just Ask”?  We can make this a terrific year! 

If you see a bit of a deeper tan on some Lions of MD 36, it might be that they were some of the 17 Lions who travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to attend the 38th Annual USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum.  The weather was great; the scenery was beautiful and the Convention Center was terrific.  With so many great training sessions to choose from, it was easy to find topics that were useful, educational and presented with enthusiasm.  

The Planning Committee spent many hours in preparation for 1,600 Lions to travel so many miles from home and still make the most of the time spent in these meetings.  We learned first hand about President Preston’s “Centennial Service Challenge”, what needs to be done to create a “Blueprint” to build a stronger club and more information on Lions University.

In the next issue of the Oregon Lion, there will be more information on some of these items and a summary of the plans for the Lions of MD 36 as we prepare for the future and for hosting the 2017 USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum.

There are many exciting things to plan.  Stay tuned to see how you can be involved! 

“Will you not help me hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness; no little deaf, blind child untaught; no blind man or woman unaided? I appeal to you Lions, you who have your sight, your hearing, you who are strong and brave and kind. Will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in this crusade against darkness?”
— Helen Keller's Speech at 1925 International Convention Cedar Point, Ohio, USA June 30, 1925