march 2015 governors newsletter
DESCRIPTION
District 1A Governor's Newsletter for the Month of March, 2015. Edited & Published by Lion Austin for Disirict 1ATRANSCRIPT
March 2015
Greetings!!!! Spring is in the air. Cool breezes, warmer temperatures coming our way and soon and very soon all the white stuff on the ground will turn to green, with beautiful flowers springing all around us. Winter is gone, so long until next year. I am also springing into my 8th month as your Governor. I have enjoyed these 8 months tremendously, travelling through the district and State, meeting so many kind hearted, compassionate, and hard working lions. I am SOOOOOO proud of our district. District 1-A You Are the Best!!!!
Our District, this year is also now in the lead in membership in the State. District 1A….this is where
we need to be. We are DISTRICT 1A. The first district in lionism all over the world. We are currently at 1789 members, with a plus
of 61 after drops. Lions, my goal for the year was 1800
members. Help me reach that goal. I need 11 more members and I have 4
more months to go before the end of my term. I know District 1A clubs will step up to the plate and get those 11 members. Also in donations, we have almost doubled our amounts from past years. We have donated 20,192 to LCIF.
We are approaching almost $5,600/- to Leader Dog. Leader Dogs for the Blind located in Rochester, Michigan provides a very valuable service to our visually impaired brothers and sisters. This school that trains guide dogs free for their clients is running out of space. They are in the process of building new kennels to train more dogs because the demand for trained dogs has increased. When we reach 7,500/-, we will have a kennel named after District 1A. This will be our legacy lions. My other charity “Operation Smile” is still lacking. Operation Smile is when children are born with
cleft lips. It makes it difficult for them to go out and
play because they are made fun by others, they cannot go to school for obvious reasons (they are made fun of), normal eating and drinking is difficult. It takes only $240/- per child to be operated and live a normal life. It will make all the
difference in that child’s life. My goal was to have enough to make a difference in the life’s of 5 kids i.e. $1,200/-. So far I only have enough for 2 kids. Peace Poster: Our District 1A peace poster for 4 years in a row which was the best in the district went forward to the state and came # 62 in the world. Below is a list of added members and their sponsors for the month of February, 2015. I congratulate one and all those who helped our district to grow with new members. Let us go further in maintaining plus in membership. As International President Joe Preston says: “Ask1.” I ask every club in our district to bring one more member before the end of June 30, 2015.
CLUB # Sponsored New Member’s Name Sponsor's Name
Jefferson Park 1 Gina M. Grizzaffi Lynn Oliva
Mexica 1 Rosa Viramontes Brenda Gutierrez
Windy City 1 Natasha Salley Emily Burnett
LaGrange Highlands 1 Michael McNicholas Thomas Carlson
Lansing 2 William A. Martin Humberto Rivera
Santos Rivera Humberto Rivera
Orland Park 4 Marie S. Driscoll Timothy McCarthy
Krista M. Lieser Timothy McCarthy
Jan V. Prieti-McCarthy Timothy McCarthy
Andrew J. Mekstan Jim Smith
Riverside Townside 2 Frank Gangware Llewellyn Lou Theine
Kathryn Marchetti Jonathan Marchetti
South Holland 1 Richard Thornton Donald Grimwood
TOTAL JAN MEMBERS +13
-Terry D’Souza, District 1A Governor
Editorial: This weekend we lost
one hour due to day light saving
time. Snow is still on the ground
and there are hopes that it will melt
soon as the weather during this mid
week we are going to have 50 degrees. We are all
happy to hear this good news as we were waiting
for this moment to welcome spring.
Similarly all Lions in District 1A are waiting for
March end to celebrate our District Convention.
PDG Steve and his committee is working hard on
Convention Schedule and all activities for three
days, i.e., March 26, 27, 28 and 29.
Our International Guest
ID Karla Harris along with
her First Gentleman of
State of Wisconsin Lion
Clarence Harris will be
arriving to Westin Hotel
on March 26th around 2
p.m. We request all lions
that can make it to be
there to greet and welcome them with District 1A
welcome as our own PID Dan O’Reilly will bring
them from O’Hare Airport to the hotel.
Then our festivities will start nonstop until Sunday, March 29 noon. 8 Hospitality Rooms – 2 more than last year are ready to decorate their rooms with this year’s Governor’s theme –Who is Your Super
Hero? I am so anxiously waiting to see all decorations, lions dressing up with their super hero costumes, taking pictures in the photo booth – something special this year to show
your photogenic talent where every picture will be saved on the disk and shown on a screen during luncheon. Be ready for action photos and show your God given talent to us all while enjoying luncheon. We have Lions Ralph Zarada running for Governor, Ernie Lapid running for I VDG, Pat Duda for II VDG, Dr. Richard Rucoba running for District LIF Trustee and we will have 3 lions seeking directorship for our own charitable arm – VOICES. All elections will be held on Sunday morning and their nominating speeches will be held during second plenary session after luncheon. We are going to meet Peace Poster Winner from our District who became #1 in MD1 – State of Illinois, Lion of the Year, Lioness of the Year, Leo of the Year and Citizen of the Year winners. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so ASAP and join to celebrate our success for the entire year with International Guests and our District Governor. See you there with more surprises to come – Pie on the Face, Bloody Mary Toast for milestone celebrating clubs in our district with governor’s toast, wonderful theme baskets, attractive vendors, Melvin Jones Fellows recognition during Saturday banquet, etc., etc.
-Austin D’Souza, Editor
Fellow Lions,
It’s finally March, one of the
best months of the year from
several points of view.
Daylight Savings time begins,
Spring arrives, baseball camps
open, March Madness for
college basketball, golf and Nascar back in full
swing and oh yes, it’s time for the District 1-A
Annual Convention.
Have you registered yet? What are you waiting
for? It doesn’t get any cheaper from this point on.
We have several ways to register. Just go to the
District website at,
lions1a-us.org all of the forms are on line and there
is a link posted for your convenience to register on
line if that is what you would like to do.
Governor Terry’s theme this year is “Who’s Your
Superhero.”
This is your chance to wear your favorite costume
without having to explain anything about it. The
committee has added some new twist this year and
we hope that you will enjoy them. The Friday night
Presentation of Banners is back. Also, on Friday
this year we will have the Logan Square Lions,
“Ready for Prime Time Players” perform a
Superhero Skit for us during the Opening
Ceremonies. On the second floor from 8:30 p.m.
until 11:30 p.m. there will be a free photo booth
for your use. Take a couple of
photos and we will be displaying
them during the lunch on
Saturday. Speaking of Saturday,
stop by on the second floor
between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30
a.m. for a “Bloody Mary” toast
honoring all of the District 1-A
Clubs celebrating a major Charter
Anniversary this Lion year. It is
open to all registered Lions and
our Governor Terry will be giving
the toast that morning. This
event is brought to you by the
Convention Committee and is
being hosted by the Thornton Lions Club.
On Saturday night at the Governors Banquet, the
committee has been asked to move the Melvin
Jones Awards Presentation to this new time slot.
We have decided to try it this year and see if it
works with the time that is afforded for the dinner.
If you or your club plans on
awarding a Melvin Jones Award
this year please contact PDG Wes
Salsbury, [email protected]
and inform him of the award. All
awardees must attend the dinner.
Of course on Sunday morning we
will be holding our election of
officers for the 2015-2016 year.
At this time the offices for
Governor, 1st and 2nd Vice District
Governor and Foundation
Trustee, have candidates.
However, there are 3 Directors
open for V.O.I.C.E.S., the
charitable arm of the district. If you are interested
in running for election for the V.O.I.C.E.S. Board of
Directors, please contact V.O.I.C.E.S. President Lion
John Torphy at [email protected] he will help you
with any questions that you may have.
Here listed is the contact
information for some of the
fundraising committees of the
convention. These Lions work hard
in their positions to raise money to
help keep the cost of the
convention reasonable.
Hospitality Room Chairman – PDG Mike Smigielski [email protected]
Vendor Room Chairman – PCST Dawn Grogan [email protected]
Kim Murphy [email protected]
Convention Ad Book Chairman – ZC Myrna Cordero [email protected]
PCST Andy Liamaga
Lion Janice Wiggins [email protected]
Gift Basket Auction Chairman – Lion Jerri Abrahamsen [email protected]
ZC Sandy Nedza
[email protected] Lion Linda Nilsson
If you have any questions about the convention please call the convention hotline number at 708-548-8256 and the committee will be happy to help you.
Lion Bill Prucha of the Thornton Lions Club has asked if you have any old Lion pins that you don’t know what to do with, please bring
them to the convention and he would be glad to talk to you about them. Lion Bill is a member of the Pin Traders Club.
Looking forward to seeing you at the convention.
The 2015 District 1-A Convention Committee
-PDG Steve Anton
District 1-A Convention Chairman
(Spiderman)
BEHIND THE CAPE! March 8, 2015
I have been going out and visiting some of the District Conventions that are being held around the Multiple District at this time of year. Trying to attend them all means lots of miles on the car, loss of sleep and a lighter wallet, but it is all worth it. While visiting those conventions you get to spend time with some friends
and have the opportunity to make new friends. It is also is a good time to exchange some ideas with those convention chairmen who are facing some of the same issues at their convention that we might also be experiencing at ours. One of those issues came up in our discussions lately. Every year, our District loses some of our fellow Lions due to death. Of course, there is nothing that we can do about that. The problem is, the club Secretary does not send a picture and name of the Lion to PCC Georg Toft so that he can add that information to the agenda of the Necrology Service on Sunday morning. By doing so it gives those in attendance a chance to say a final farewell to a friend. If your club has had a Lion pass away this past year, please send that information to
PCC Georg at [email protected] so that he can add that name to the service. The district is seeking 3 candidates to serve on the Board of Directors for V.O.I.C.E.S., the charitable arm of the district. At this time, following the Rules of the Convention, we will be taking nominations from the floor for these positions. If you are interested please
contact Lion John Torphy at [email protected] for more information. Please contact Lion Jerrie Abrahamsen at jabrahamsen@ acoem.org if you or your club would like to donate a theme basket for the theme basket raffle immediately following the lunch on Saturday afternoon. The Ad Book Deadline is March 10th. To place an ad please, contact the Ad Book Chairman, Lion Myrna
Cordero at [email protected] and she will help you place your ad. If you have any questions, you can contact any of the committee co-chairman at the new “Convention Hotline “ number, 708-548-8256. Just leave a message and we will return your call. Please share this information with your club and fellow Lions. Use the convention as a tool for expanding the membership in your club by inviting your friends to attend. All are welcome. Thank you, The District 1-A Convention Committee (Captain Marvel)
Governor’s Newsletter Edited & Published by Lion Austin D’Souza, PDG – [email protected]