Strengthen the Pride Through Service PAGE 2 JANUARY 2015
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` New York State aNd Bermuda multiple diStrict 20 l ioNS January 2015 Congratulations to Chris Han the MD-20 Winner of the 2014-2015 Lions International Peace Poster Contest Strengthen the Pride Through Service PAGE 2 JANUARY 2015 Council Chairman’s Message up to the big July 2017 Lions Clubs International Convention in Chicago. To get started now you can participate in your local club Centennial Committee Welcome to the over 500 new Lions that you asked to or contact your District Centennial Coordinator. Be sure to also check out the join our clubs during the past three months and greetings new “one-stop shop for all things centennial” website at www.Lions100.org to the 28 charter members of the new Piermont Lions for more promotional materials like brochures, fact sheets, press releases, Club in district 20-R1 and the 32 charter members of the logos, and videos, etc. New York Bangladeshi American Club in district 20-R- 2. This is also a great time (for some of us) to make a New Year’s resolution to increase the frequency of the club’s monthly service activity reporting (SAR). Happy New Year, Lions of New York State & Currently, about two-thirds of the clubs regularly report their activities. Bermuda! There is a lot to see in this issue of the MD20 Throughout the next three years we and LCI will be tracking our local and Lion magazine. You’ve all been very active with global progress towards the CSC goals. There will be periodic recognition and fundraisers, service actions and district conventions. To - awards, club banner patches, and special pins for districts, and clubs including gether you are making a positive impact on your communities. Many of you all their Lion members that achieve the benchmark goals along the way. Let’s have been reaching out to your friends, family, and neighbors to share your make sure that all your activities are counted. It’s easy to determine which ones passion for service and to personally ‘Ask 1’ new member to join our clubs. are considered qualifying activities. On the Service Activity Reporting (SAR) Your efforts to “Strengthen the Pride” are working. Membership is growing system in MyLCI, when you select an activity type, just look for CSC eligible and retention is improving. service project categories branded with the centennial logo. Your progress has been recognized. Congratulations to DG Virgil Garner 20- In addition to starting new clubs, inviting prospective members, and encour - E1, and DG Fred Rieger 20-K2, for receiving International President Preston’s aging participation in fun and meaningful service projects, we also have plenty Period 1 ‘Bronze Paw Achiever’ awards. Congratulations also to DG George of opportunities for all Lions interested in personal growth and professional Allen 20-K1, DG Mike Lawkowski 20-N, DG Manny Pardo 20-O, DG Mike development. Specifically, the Council of Governor’s 2014-15 strategic GLT Bhuiyan 20-R2, DG Skip Meinhold 20-S, and DG Marianne Lynch 20-Y2, for goals and action plans have focused on active participation to all interested receiving the prestigious ‘Gold Paw Achiever’ awards. These awards were pre - Lions by providing many leadership development opportunities. Action items sented to District Governors that had shown positive growth exceeding their have included increasing webinar participation, promoting self-paced educa - district’s prior 5-year averages or had established at least one new club with tion through the online courses in the Lions Learning Center, and by expanding more charter members than the district’s prior 5-year average. local district and club leadership training opportunities through offerings like The highest level ‘Double Gold Paw - Period 1 Lions Pride Awards’ went to the new online Club Officer Training Program and the materials for the creation DG Gary Boisseau 20-E2 and DG Dennis Hardy 20-R1 for exceeding both of locally customized instructor-led workshops. membership and growth goals. They were two of only 18 DGs from the U.S. In October, the 2nd Vice District Governor’s also completed their training and Affiliates, Bermuda and Bahamas, and Canada, to receive this award and seminar while the DGs and 1st VDGs worked through the agenda of their sec - in recognition of this achievement they were also presented a Presidential ond council meeting. All of this was held in Binghamton at the site of this Medal. year’s convention. Simultaneously, in a different area of the DoubleTree Hotel, The New Year can be a good time to reflect, give thanks, and make new two dozen Lions from across MD-20 were attending the exceptional Regional plans. As the two Lion heads on our logo represent, we can look back to both Lions Leadership Institute (RLLI). Thank you to all the instructors, team men - remember and honor past Lions and accomplishments, and also look forward tors and volunteers whose efforts made this a great success again this year. On to the future, such as the plans we are making for the Lions 100th birthday cel - Saturday night the always popular closing dinner ceremony was attended by a ebration in 2017. full house of graduating Lion Leaders, the RLLI Faculty, the Council of Gov - This month the ‘Lions Worldwide Week of Service’ will kickoff January 10th ernors, and the International Family. It was a productive weekend and memo - – 16th in honor of LCI Founder Melvin Jones’ birthday on January 13th, This rable evening with some Lions overheard to say, “It’s a real jungle out there!”. is a special international ‘Centennial Service Challenge’ event that will bring If you are interested in attending next year look for the registration information Lions Clubs together during the week for shared service and celebration. at the RLLI convention booth. Special thanks goes to the MD-20 Organization of Past District Governors which once again provided scholarships to each dis - January continues with one of our four ‘Global Service Action Campaign’ trict. themes: ‘Relieving the Hunger’. In our communities today, food insecurity af - fects as many as 1 in 5 children and the local food pantry will often find it dif - If you have attended these programs in the past and you are interested in ficult to keep up with demand this time of year. In our mission to strengthen continuing your education, there is more. Over the past several years, some our communities through service, this month we can affirm our commitment Lions from MD-20 have also graduated from the Lions Faculty Development to action by organizing food drives to assist local hunger relief organizations Institute (FDI) or the North American Advanced Lions Leadership Institute to collect and distribute food. (ALLI). This year the ALLI will be held from March 7th - 9th in Calgary, Canada and a new FDI has also been scheduled for May 31st – June 3rd in As our Centennial celebration slogan states, “Where there’s a need, there’s a Oak Brook, Illinois. These are both excellent senior leadership and faculty de - Lion”. This can be a great time for us to involve other Lions and for each of velopment programs. If you are interested in attending either one of these in - us to ‘just ask one’ of our friends to serve by our side. Together we can help stitutes, please contact your GLT Coordinator and District Governor. relieve hunger in the community now. I think that Melvin Jones, who said, “You can’t get very far until you start doing something for somebody else” The month of March will begin with another great opportunity to have fun, would have liked that approach. learn new ideas, and meet interesting people from across the state and around the world. Saturday March 7th is the 37th Annual Lions Day with the United Share the good news with your friends and join with Lions around the world Nations (LDUN). This year commemorates 70 years of our partnership ad - in posting Lions Worldwide Week of Service experiences. Let other people dressing global humanitarian issues. Reservations are required and space is know what Lions do. You can help them see all the service activities by sharing limited but still available on a first come, first served basis. The event is held images of your event on Facebook. When you post your comments, use the at the UN Headquarters in New York City. Guided UN Tours are available Fri - hashtag ‘#Lions100’. day, March 6th with early registration pick-up from noon and an afternoon This year began with the big ‘Centennial Service Challenge’ (CSC). The hospitality cash bar from 4pm – 6pm in the registration area. I hope to see CSC is a global service initiative with the goal of serving 100 million people many of you there. by December 2017! With 15,000 members our multiple district has more than The 92nd Annual MD-20 NYS & Bermuda Lions Convention will be held 1% of the total number of Lions worldwide. Lions clubs plan to meet the chal - in Binghamton, April 24th – 26th . This year we are very fortunate to have lenge through service projects that impact Youth, Vision, Hunger or the Envi - the special honor of receiving First Vice President Dr. Jitsuhiro Yamada and ronment, reaching 25 million people in each of the four areas. It is a very his wife Dr. Toshiko as our VIP guests and keynote speaker. We expect about ambitious goal but we know that serving together we have met big challenges 1500 Lions and partners to attend so register today and book your rooms early. here before. Remember the words of Helen Keller who said, “Alone we can Look for the convention registration form in this issue of the MD20 Lion mag - do so little; together we can do so much.” azine or online at www.md20lions.com.