OCTOBER ISSUE
Great things are happening as we “MOVE MD36 FORWARD!” this Lions Year and beyond! As summer transitions into fall, my travels and the good times with my fellow Lions will slow down and I’ll be back in schools doing vision screening with Lions, moms and dads, high school students and other community volunteers. Guess what attracts a lot of people to join Lions? That’s right! School-based student vision screening with your OLSHF! Just talk to me! We have a new member in my Club who joined after doing vision screening at an elementary school. Invite your friends who aren’t Lions to help with this incredibly important job! Neither of you will regret it!
As I mentioned in my column last month, SB187 passed unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Brown in early August. That’s $1 million over 2 years. In real terms, that will cover the vision screening of approximately 35% of the school students, grades K-8 in Oregon. That’s good news, but we still have 65% of those kiddos to continue to try to reach and that means continued financial support for your Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation.
As I write this in early September, we … that’s your Host Committee and many, many volunteers, are preparing for the 41st annual USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum. By the time you read this, it’ll be over. I sincerely hope you registered, volunteered, met new friends, learned new things and had an amazingly great time at the USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum!
On August 19th, your Council of Governors met in Portland and many of your fellow Lions Leaders braved the “Eclipse Traffic” to attend this important meeting. Your District Governors, DG Debi, DG Bob, DG Tom and DG Bert are working so hard for all of the Lions of MD36 and their clubs! I just got an email from our amazing MD “do-it-all” lady, Lion Leah Hawes, that our minutes from this meeting are on our MD36 website, http://www.md36lionsclubs.org, (so many interesting things to see there!). We voted unanimously to join Oregon VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters) as a Multiple District. Many thanks to dedicated Lions Sherri Young and Charlene Larsen! Look for more opportunities for Service, Leadership, Communication and Fellowship through ORVOAD and in many other ways! This includes our first MD Service Project of collecting used eyeglasses during the week of Oct. 10-16. Make sure you publicize this and all of your service and, every bit as important, report your club’s service through MyLCI. Club Secretaries, if you need help with this, feel free to contact me! It’s easier than you think!
Please make a note, the next scheduled meeting of your Council of Governors is Saturday, December 2, 2017, 1:00p.m. at the Littlebrook Clubhouse, 200 Littlebrook Lane, Roseburg, OR.
Did I mention how hard … and smart your District Governors are working for you? Well, sometimes I forget and … sometimes it’s important to repeat! Governors Bert, Tom, Bob and Debi have become a cohesive team and are a great example to Lions of how to work together to MOVE MD36 FORWARD, through “Having Fun Through Service” and enjoying our “Service Through Fellowship” we’ll be “Restoring the Roar” and “Bringing Opportunity to Others Trough Service”, and we’ll accomplish our International Mission and Theme: “WE SERVE”!