SEPTEMBER ISSUE
First, Chicago! Inspiring, Educational, Entertaining and Spectacular Team Building! We had a great time together and in OUR City. We learned a lot and we see changes coming through your Lions Clubs International. You should all be very proud of your District Governors! They worked very hard and … more important … they worked together! Governors Bert, Tom, Bob and Debi are an outstanding team working hard for you, your clubs and your communities. I’m such a lucky Lion to get to hang around with them!
Speaking of big Lions gatherings and … in case you’ve been living in a cave for the past several years … the 41st Annual USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum will take place at the Oregon Convention Center Sept. 21 – 23! If you’re not signed up, it’s not too late! Go to https://lionsforum.org and http://2017pdxforum.wixsite.com for the most up-to-date information! We still need volunteers! If you’d like to volunteer, go to the Host Committee website, (2017pdxforum.wixsite.com). Hope to see you there!
In my travels around MD36 with your Oregon Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation, I get to meet and work with happy Lions doing great service in their communities. That service is heart-felt and MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
I am not allowed to mention names or places … so, several weeks ago I was doing community screening with some hard-working and happy Lions and we met a young mother. When her vision was tested we thought we’d made a mistake, but when the auto-refractor objectively demonstrated we hadn’t, we determined this young mom wasn’t just legally, but functionally blind! This mom was fast tracked to a local optometrist and when she received her glasses, she wept tears of joy at seeing her children clearly for the first time. Needless to say, hers were not the only tears shed.
Yup, this is why we do what we do! Let’s continue to move MD36 FORWARD! Through SERVICE, LEADERSHIP, COMMUNICATION, and FELLOWSHIP, we’ll grow and culture MD36 and move forward. Through our SERVICE, we impact our communities. Through our LEADERSHIP opportunities, we improve that service and spread our influence in a positive way. As we improve our COMMUNICATION, more community members will see and become aware of our work and want to join us. Through our FELLOWSHIP, we’ll enjoy our service, our fellow Lions and our families even more! Because we all know … the happiest Lions are those who serve together!
Before I forget, school will be starting about the time you read this. With school starting, so starts school vision screening! Great news about this … Senate Bill 187 recently passed! Unanimous votes in all committees and in both houses! Governor Kate Brown signed the bill into law on August 2nd and now there’s a stash of $1 million in public funds to help continue this program all over MD36. Be prepared to volunteer at a school screening! It’s a ton of Lion FUN!
Keep LCI’s 5 areas of specific Lion’s service in mind, Vision, Hunger, the Environment, Diabetes and Pediatric Cancer! Let’s be creative; let’s work together; let’s communicate and have fun finding new ways to address these issues and make the impact like a Lion … with a ROAR!
As always, I’m honored to serve you, so proud of your confidence in me and humbled to be counted among you great Lions of MD36!