Editorial:
94th Annual Lions of Illinois State Convention
Are We Doing the Right Thing? Lions world over held their elections – in their Clubs, Districts, Multiple Districts and will be soon at International level to elect and select leaders to lead their Lionistic geographical areas. How many of us can say boldly that we did the right thing in selecting leaders?
Our Annual Convention is now history. We had over 395 attendees, including guests, Leos, Lioness and children. The comments were great, the food was great and the hotel was great!
As usual, we had our own agenda in selecting leaders; we had our own selection based on our friendship, based on our own clicks and groups; and based on NOT WHAT THE CANDIDATES KNOW; BUT WHO THEY KNOW!
The hotel staff went out of their way to be sure we had everything we needed, including coffee Saturday morning in the Silent Auction area and tea and lemonade Friday afternoon, along with cookies.
This is what spoils Lionism in this entire world; at our Club level; District level, Multiple District level and International level. Even though we are a group of Humanitarian Volunteers, we bring some selfish politics in our dealings and make things worse.
We want to thank all of you who provided items for the Silent Auction. We made over $1400. We also made over $400 at the live auction Sunday morning, both of which will go to pay for the refreshments on Friday and Saturday. It takes a lot of Lions to make a successful convention and once again you all stepped forward to make this year’s convention work.
I must say that this is one of the reasons we are losing members due to power hungry people. I know it happens everywhere in our daily lives – at work, in our churches, schools, state, local and national government level too.
I want to give a special thank you to the following people:
Hurting someone is very easy with our careless acts of selfishness; however, bringing back that enthusiasm, energy, power and volunteerism is somewhat very hard to achieve. Let us do one thing – as we brag our service to humanity, let us maintain our relationship with fellow members at any level and recognize their talent, knowledge, education, experience and energy while selecting leaders in our Clubs, Districts, Multiple Districts and International level. If we really need or hungry for power, let us climb the tallest tree in our neighborhood and place a chair on the upmost top branch and let us sit on it forever; nobody will bother us and seek more power than us to go higher. Once again I remind all lions in this beautiful world of ours – let us read ‘Lions Code of Ethics’ daily until we improve our character, behavior, attitude and friendship toward our fellow lions and give them valid recognition, Amen. -IPDG Austin D’Souza, Ph.D. My e-mail is: ILStateEditor@gmail.com.
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Lion Nila Hemming, 1G; Lion Betty Thien, 1G; Lion Ken Horn, who filled in for the State Secretary Treasurer, who was unable to attend; Lion John Barsanti, iJ; Lion Alan Barack, 1J; Lion Randy Ferguson, 1CS; Lion Tom Drez, 1B; Lion Snap Hornung, 1H; Lion Ron Fruit, 1D; Lion John Thien, 1G; Lion Bill Foli, 1K; Lion Chip Farrington, 1CS; Lion John Allsworth, 1H; Lion Bob Lutz, 1H; Lion Dick Ronna, 1H; Lion Karen Gumino, 1J; Lion Trisha Simmons, 1H; Lion Mary Reading, 1F; Leo Becca Reading, 1F; Lion Carol Anderson, 1G; Lion John O’Brien, Lion Reveneal O’Brien, 1B; Lion Jim McCarter, Lion Carolyn McCarter, 1H; Lion Susan Borgwardt, 1F; Lion Meg O’Brien, 1B; DGE Buzz Melton, 1H; Lion Sue Zarada, 1A; Lion Sarah Kallbrier, Lion Dan Kallbrier, 1G; Lion Andy Liamaga, Cab Sec/Treas, 1A; Lion Tim Berner, Cab Sec, 1B; Lion Steve Griffin, Cab Sec/Treas, 1CS (also DGE); Lion Nicole Fruit, Cab Sec, 1D; Lion Brad Cash, Cab Sec/Treas, 1E; Lion Shelly Gallagher, Cab Sec, 1F; Lion Cheryl Russell, Cab Sec, 1H; Lion Bonnie Bradbury, Cab Sec, 1J; Lion Dean