June 2005

At the end of this month I will have served as your District Governor for one year, where oh where has the time gone? Thanks to all of you great Lions who have supported me through thick and thin times I succeeded and met my sixth goal which was if you all remember, “just to survive the year”. Before I say my final farewell, I need to Congratulate the Goodyear Lions Club on their sixty years of service to their community and to the Wickenburg Lions Club on the fifty years of service to their community, both clubs have done a superb job serving those in need and both had wonderful celebration parties. Our new club, the Mohave Valley Lions will hold their charter night on June 18th at the Ramada Express, Laughlin, NV. if their article doesn’t make it to this newsletter in time please contact me if you are interested in attending. We need to support them. I want to thank all the clubs who have responded to the great Osco/Lions Sight project (there are still some stores left), to all the clubs and members who donated to the Tsunami disaster fund, to all the Lions who have attended the Cabinet, Conference, and State Conventions, to all the Lions for all that you do not only to your communities but to the State Projects, to all the Lions of Arizona who donated their time to the Special Olympics…THANK YOU. By the time you read this our State Convention will be in the past, if you didn’t attend then you really missed a great time.
Now the time has come to THANK some very special Lions that have been at my beckon call and have come to my rescue when needed…my club, the PEORIA SUNSET LIONS, I wouldn’t have been DG without their wonderful help and support; to the DISTRICT CABINET OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS…what a wonderful job you did this past year; to all my ADVISOR’S who were there for me when I needed them; to GOVERNOR’S GERSON, BOB AND COUNCIL CHAIR VIC…what a wonderful year we had together, they hold a very special place in my heart; to CST LINDA, there is not enough room in this newsletter to express my thanks, she worked countless hours trying to keep you Lions and me updated and in line with, or should I say, trying to keep LCI in line with us, the Lions of District 21-A. If I have forgotten anyone, please forgive me. Last but by no means least, my thanks, my love and my gratitude to my husband, PDG RALPH…I couldn’t have done this without his support and love, THANK YOU. I want to take this opportunity to wish the very best and to pledge my support to DGE Bill and VDGE Margie for the next year, best wishes to all the clubs and Lions of District 21-A for the coming year, and best wishes to the new DGE’s and VDGE’s of District 21-B and 21-C.
Again, THANK YOU LIONS OF DISTRICT 21-A, we did “SHARE SUCCESS TOGETHER and NOT ALONE”.

May 2005

This year is really winding down fast; there are only two months left to this Lionistic year. There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to complete everything that has to be done in time for our awards breakfast and final cabinet meeting for this Lionistic year. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all the new club officers and thank all that attended the April 2nd Officers Training seminar and hope that if you didn’t make that date you attended either Tucson or the Flagstaff Officer training. These training seminars are extremely important for all officers, committee chairpersons, and Region/Zone chairpersons, whether you are new to the position or whether you have held the position for years. As some of you have found out, LCI tends to change some things from year to year and if you don’t keep up with the changes it makes the job of District Governor and Cabinet Secretary/Treasurer very difficult.

As of April 15th there were still quite a few club rosters and PU 101’s that hadn’t been sent in. Unfortunately a portion of the LCI computer software received a nasty worm and of course the part that was affected had to be our reporting system and the supplies ordering system so some of you may have had to send in a paper copy; sure hope you did.

I had the pleasure of visiting several Lions clubs and installing their new officers, but better yet, I had the pleasure of inducting several new members in the month of April. Congratulations to all! Because of a lot of effort on behalf of PDG Wayne Adams and PDG John Ballard we are getting closer to making our 5% net increase that President Kusiak has asked us to make. The two PDG’s walked and talked for three days and formed a new Lions Club in Mohave Valley with 37 new Lions so far. Hopefully their charter date was April 5th or 6th depending on when LCI received it. Congratulations PDG’s Wayne and John.. If they keep it up we just might make it, but you have to remember not to drop any Lion that has paid his or her dues through June 30th. They are still a member in good standing in our District, Multiple and with LCI.

Remember World Wide Induction Day? Well, unfortunately it had to be canceled due to lack of participation. As soon as I can get next year’s date from LCI it will get published and all clubs will be notified and asked to keep that specific date open.

Congratulations to 21-B DG Gerson and his convention committee for having a great convention this past April 15 and 16 and many kudos and best wishes go to the newly elected DGE John Hart and VDGE Norm Harbinson. I know you both will do a great job next year. Second Vice President of LCI, Jimmy Ross and Lion Veda were the guests for the week end. What great plans he has for our Lionistic future.

If your club is interested in sponsoring a sophomore to the HOBY Youth Leadership classes please contact me and I will forward the information on to you.

I hope all your dues and bills have been paid to LCI, the Multiple and to our District. If not you won’t be able to vote at the State Convention in Tucson May 20-22, 2005.

The Governor’s Contest and Newsletter/Brochure Contest ended April 30th; sure hope your club has sent them in. Attend the awards breakfast on Sunday, May 22nd to find out who the winners are!

Don’t forget Special Olympics, May 7th at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. We need all the help we can get, the hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or split a shift 9 to 11 or 11 to 2, but let me know as soon as possible.

To all our Lady Lions and to the Lioness may you have a very happy and enjoyable Mother’s Day and please have a happy and safe Memorial Day holiday week end. That’s it for this month…Remember to “Communicate, to Orientate and to ask someone”.

April 2005

Well another month has passed. It is so hard to believe that we only have three months left to this Lionistic year. I can’t begin to tell you where the time has gone but I can tell you that it has been an extremely busy, enjoyable and fun nine months. By the time you get this article you will have nominated and elected your new club officers, you have ordered all your awards, have planned your installation and all your officers attended the April 2nd Officers Training Seminar, if not there are two more to choose from, April 23rd in Tucson and April 30th in Flagstaff. These training seminars are extremely important for all officers, committee chair person’s, and Region/Zone chair person’s, whether you are new to the position or whether you have held the position for years. As some of you have found out, LCI tends to change some things from year to year and if you don’t keep up with the changes it makes the job of District Governor and Cabinet Secretary/Treasurer very difficult. The time has come for all the club secretaries to send the club roster to CST Linda Finley and to file the club PU101 with LCI and with CST Linda. All this is needed like yesterday but no later than April 30th. As most of you club secretaries know, CST Linda has been working very hard and very long hours with LCI to get all your correct membership numbers up to date, her exact words to me were “LCI and District 21-A will agree on the correct number of members in all our clubs by June 30th or someone will be in a lot of hot water and it ain’t gonna be me”! So please work with her when she contacts you, she is just trying to do her job and do it right. Thanks Lions for your help and cooperation as I and she do appreciate all that you do.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Laveen Lions club and presenting PDG Les Daviet, II with the International President’s Certificate of Appreciation that I wanted to present to him at our convention in Laughlin. I also had the privilege of visiting an LFA board meeting, a Sun Cities Foundation meeting, the Goodyear Lions, and made another visit to the Kingman Mohave Lions. I had the distinct honor of inducting three very young, very pretty and very knowledgeable ladies into the Black Canyon Lions Club; I also inducted a new member into the Glendale Sunrise Lions. Congratulations to all! We are still a long way from making our 5% net increase that President Kusiak has asked us to make but at least we can’t say that we didn’t try. Remember World Wide Induction Day April 9th and State Convention in Tucson May 20-22, 2005.
By the time you read this I will have attended the District 21-C convention in Flagstaff and I want to extend my Congratulations to DGE Richard “Dick” Sawyer and VDGE Phil Castrovinci on their election and give them my very best wishes for the ensuing year.
I hope everyone had a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day and a wonderful Easter. That’s it for this month…Remember to “Communicate, to Orientate and to ask someone”.

March 2005

WOW…First on the list…this past month on February 5^th…if you missed hearing Past International President Kay K. Fukushima speak to us on membership and the ingredients of the Healthy Club Tool Box, it most certainly is your loss as it was a super day with a super crowd of Lions and guests.  Each attendee was given printed information and brochures to take back to their clubs. If your club needs a Healthy Club Toolbox please contact me.  Congratulations to PID Joe Preston, PID Dave Roberts and to all the Lions who helped and worked in the back ground so to speak to put this rally together for the Lions of Arizona.  DOUBLE WOW…Second on the list…the District Convention, February 11 – 12, 2005 at the Edgewater Resort, Laughlin, NV., was in my own personal opinion “Superb”, and I don’t believe I’m being a bit partial since I had little input into it!  Seriously, PCC Dave Lambert, the Phoenix Metro Lions Club, the Phoenix Metro Lioness Club, ZC Rand Terwilleger and the Kingman Lions Club, and last but certainly not least, the Needles Lions Club did a fantastic job.  Registration went as smoothly as any convention registration can go, the program book is great, and the raffle was great.  The entertainment at the luncheon will be very hard to beat and the visiting International Director Gary Brown, what a wonderful Lion along with his lovely, dedicated spouse, Lion Brenda, did a fantastic presentation at the Saturday evening banquet.  The Director presented three International President Certificates of Appreciation to three very deserving Lions…Congratulations to Lion Jim Seidl, Lion Anna Roberts and PDG Les Daviet.  Thank you to PID Dave and Lion Ann Roberts for hosting I.D. Gary and Lion Brenda, PCC Jerry Allen for heading up the DG Wanna Be seminar, to I.D. Gary for the RC/ZC seminar and to our CST Linda and PDG Ralph Williamson for the Closing of Your Year seminar.  These seminar leaders had a tough job to do in a very short time as the hotel cut our scheduled time back by 30 minutes which really hurt, but as the great leaders that they are they did it and finished on time…they deserve a lot of “thanks” and a big hug from me.  Thank you CST Linda Finley and your crew for doing an excellent job on certification for the elections.  Now for more good news…you, the members of 21-A elected a new District Governor, William “Bill” Morrison and a new Vice District Governor, Marjorie “Margie” Tellkamp for the Lionistic year of 2005-2006, CONGRATULATIONS BILL and MARGIE, you too spouses Lion Joanne and Lion Bob.  You will be seeing and hearing a lot more from them real soon.  

For the past six months I have shared with you a little bit about each one of the six programs that International President Clem Kusiak wanted you to help him Share Success Through.  They are: Share Success Through Service to Youth and Children in Need; Peace; Leadership; Public Relations; Share Success Through Membership and Through LCIF.  I believe the Lions of District 21-A have met and implemented five of these categories, we are having just a bit of a problem meeting his request for the 5% net increase in membership but, we will, with all your help meet and go beyond this increase by June 30, 2005! This can happen if every club would have a net gain of one new member along with the new Mohave Valley Lions Club that PDG Wayne Adams and PDG John Ballard  have put together, we will not only achieve President Kusiak’s goal but increase our district growth.  Without these new members we cannot expand our service to those in need.  We, each and every Lion, need to “ask”.  If you don’t “ask” you’ll never know if that friend, family member or just an acquaintance was ready to say “yes”!  I am sorry to have to announce that the Sun City Business Club has dissolved, fortunately we were able to transfer their remaining members into another club. Congratulations to all of our new members and welcome to the greatest and largest service organization in the world.  Once again, if your club wants or needs help in recruiting new members please contact your Region or Zone Chairperson, they will visit with you and your club, they will contact DGE Bill Morrison to bring in the district MERL team.  The resources are out there to help you, won’t you please take advantage of them.  Just a friendly reminder to the Club Secretaries, we need your MMR’s in by the 5^th of the month, CST Linda Finley is having a rough time meeting her schedule that LCI requires. 

HELP IS STILL NEEDED…we still need a Leo Liaison Chairperson for the District, please contact me if you are interested in working with the youth. Congratulations to Surprise Grand on their new Leo Club.  If you have expanded or added a new Youth Program please contact me so that you can apply for the New Youth Banner Patch.  It’s not to late to still be a 100% club contributing member by donating $20.00 per member to LCIF to receive a very nice lapel pin for each member along with a Banner Patch.  Remember Officer Training in Phoenix April 2^nd, World Wide Induction Day April 9^th and State Convention in Tucson May 20-22, 2005. President’s, it’s time to get your nominating committee to work, election of new club officers need to be completed by mid April and all PU 101 and club membership rosters need to be to CST Linda Finley by April 30, 2005.  Happy St. Patty’s Day and have a great Easter.  Remember to “Communicate, to Orientate and to ask someone”.