Oct., 2015 Governors Newsletter My Fellow Lions, I am back from the USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum filled with energy and renewed commitment to the Lions and its mission. I strongly recommend the Forum to all the Lions of the district for its educational seminars and networking opportunities. Next year's Forum will be in Omaha, NE (September 15-17). Plan on attending. Registration can be done online at lionsforum.org. The book collection initiative is moving along very well. Lions Judy Toft, Sig Polanek, and Lourdes Mon are doing an outstanding job. So far we have collected over 3,500 books. At this pace we will surpass our goal. But that's OK. The need is great and the effect of the access to books has been well documented. There is a strong correlation to the access to books and its effect on a child’s ability to learn and become a productive citizen. The initiative/project is part of the Centennial Service Challenge being promoted by our association and the upcoming Centennial Celebration of the formation of our association. The Challenge is to serve 100 million people by the end of 2018 in the areas of Youth, Environment, Vision, and Hunger. Please continue to collect the books and contact Lion Judy for outlets for your books. Or collect the books and give them to a community center, school library, or day care center. Encourage reading in your club area. And, don’t forget to report this activity on your monthly LCI activity report!
As an extension of the book collection initiative, I have asked the committee to gather books for the Christmas Cheer Foundation (CCF). The CCF organization distributes meals and gifts to needy families at Christmastime. This year they will serve over 1,000 families. They plan to prepare 15,000 meals and provide a book as a gift to every child under the age of 12 in the families they serve. The CCF has asked for our help in gathering books for this project. This is a great partnership and an opportunity for us to extend our reach for service through another organization. The Centennial Celebration of our association is getting closer. Lion Bob Block is staying on top of the developments in the planning for the celebration. As details become available they will be passed on to all of you. The fall months are upon us which means club meetings will start to resume. I have been sending the link to my calendar to each Club President and Secretary who has an email address. Please use it as tool for planning your Club Governor visits. My goal is to touch as many clubs as possible during my leadership year. I also want to remind you to visualize the future of your club and develop plans to keep it going into the future. We have a few clubs that are very close to the twenty (20) member mark. All that is needed is the addition of a couple new members to reach that mark. Try to reach that mark by recruiting and reaching out to potential new members – all you have to do is “Ask One.” At the other end, lets "Keep One" member. Make sure you keep the members you have by looking at retention strategies and keeping them involved in the operation of the club and any service projects that you may have.