From the Lions Den - January 2019

From the Lions Den January, 2019

Mayne Island Lions General Meeting Minutes for January 2nd. 2019.

For this first meeting of 2019 an invitation was extended to the spouse or significant other of lions in attendance. Present;- - 23 Lions - 6 wives - 3 Out of Town guests.

Special Out of Town Guests: District Governor Mike Dukes and Zone Chairperson Pat Spencer and her husband, Russ.

1.      President Lion Allen welcomed everyone and called for the singing of the two National Anthems before dinner.

2.      Thanks were offered to the kitchen staff and all who helped with the many Christmas events.

3.      Lion Sam Fiddler sent her apology for not being “Rudolph” for the Santa Ship exercise, but she was    assisting first responders and helping an islander in distress.

4.      For the set –up and take –down of the Japanese garden lights it was noted that many helpers were Lions.

5.      Lion Allen spoke re. the Syrian refuge anniversary. It is now three years since the island held a welcoming    event for them at which $27.000 was raised to help for their English Language classes. They are now    eligible to become Canadian citizens and a meeting will be held on February 10th. to organise another    event in celebration.

6.      Our Lions bank account at the Coast Capital Savings was compromised by hackers. In keeping with our    agreement with Coast Capital Savings the details are being managed by the Executive team and further    details may be made available to the membership with the understanding of the confidentiality and privacy    issues. Lions Mike Bullis. and Lion Brian Dearden are in conversation with the bank and Coast Capital    Savings will cover the loss. Lion John Glover will help with this matter. Unfortunately it has been a lot of    worry and work for Lion Mike Bullis. The situation is now in hand.

7.      Zone Chairperson Pat introduced our District Governor Mike Dukes who has been a Lion since 1974. He    started his presentation with greetings from the first woman International President, Gudrun Yngdvadottir, -    with her theme for the year of “Reach beyond the horizon”. He continued by stating his own theme that he    is conveying to all clubs in MD 19-I “Leadership through Service.” He said that through leadership things    happen and Lions can do their work through positive discussion ,not politics or religion. The main topic of    Mike’s speech was membership. He said a District is healthy if it has 1250 lions. Our District has 1230    Lions currently and it is hoped membership will increase by 2% per Zone this year. At the moment,    internationally, 65% of members are male Lions and 35% female lions. His recommendation was to see    where certain age groups are under -represented. He felt that ours is a strong club, but that age is    becoming a problem. In talking to folks “tell the story of Lionism” and encourage people to bring their    passions to the club. Try to create new ideas, or revamp old ideas by listening to potential new members.    Mike also reminded the club about the five main service goals for this year –
Childhood Cancer,
Diabetes,
Hunger
Vision and
Environment.
   Diabetes is the #6 killer in the world, and he is asking clubs to have a diabetes challenge. He suggested    that when sending in personal hours, Lions should say how the hours were spent. Mike finished by saying    that every Lion can touch the lives of 70 people.

8.      The date of the next general meeting will be February 6th.2019.

The following added summary was provided by Vice-President Alan Guy as supplemental information to this Lions Den material.

NOTES FROM THE LIONS’ DEN.
Late November and December were busy, but rewarding ,times for the Lions.

With many community members also there, several Lions took part in the annual raising of the lights at the Japanese Garden on November 27. This is always an energetic and fun event, and once again the weather gods smiled upon the work. The Garden staff obviously have connections in high places!

With our Executive and General meetings complete, Lions were asked to provide a hot chocolate and cookies service at the termination of the Lighted Truck Parade. So, we did. Our congratulations to Jeff Hansen, Parade Organizer, and our thanks to the Bistro and Sunny Mayne Bakery for their generous donations of cookies.

This month is a very busy time for the bearded man in the red suit, but he made time to attend the Truck Parade, as well as the always popular Single Seniors Christmas Dinner, along with music and gifts for all the invited guests. And then, he showed up again on the beloved Santa Ship on Dec 15. How does he do it?

On the previous day, December 14, several Lions attended the always moving Honour A Life event at the Japanese Garden. This is not a Lions event, but we applaud Mayne Island Assisted Living Society for initiating and continuing to run this very special evening.

And then, of course, there was the annual Turkey Bingo at the Ag Hall. This is always a loud and joyous occasion and we thank all who came out to support our on-going Scholarship programs, which are largely funded by the Bingos that we run. There were some pretty wild outfits this year!

By the time you are reading this we will have hosted a visit from our esteemed District Governor, Lion Mike Dukes, who is from the Clallum Bay-Seiko Lions in Washington State.

Mayne Island Lions hope that everyone had an enjoyable Christmas, and we extend our best wishes to you all for a safe , healthy and productive New Year as 2019 begins, in this little piece of Paradise that we call Home.

(for Lion Dave Chase), Alan Guy.

David Chase;
http://www.mayneislandlions.org