District 1A Governor's -Newsletter for April 2024

Introduction

District Governor News

By Tom Elsey

As I am writing this article, we are a week past our 55th Annual District 1-A Convention. I would like to thank all Lions and Guests that came to the convention. I cannot thank the convention committee enough for all their hard work. The convention was a huge success and I hope everyone had a great time. There will be a full recap of the convention at the next cabinet meeting.

Raffle

Congratulations to all the winners of the District Grand Raffle and to all the Lions and friends that bought one or more tickets to help make the raffle a success once again.

We appreciate all the lions and friends of lions that step up to help sell the tickets prior to the convention and the tickets sold during the convention. Special thanks to Mike Weber, Reynel Espiritu, Lani Lagunas and Felix Llanes for helping chair and run the raffle, your help is much appreciated.

Drawn on Sunday,March24,2024

Westin ChicagoNorthwest Hotel

At 2024 District1-A Convention

Hospitality Suite to Showcase “Service in Our Communities

The following clubs were able to create Presentation boards for everyone attending the convention:

Chicago Bayanihan-Sampaguita Lions Club

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago

Chicago Nurses for Diabetes

Stickney Forest View Lions Club

Westchester Lions Club

The Chicago Lighthouse

There were many positive comments from those attending being able to see what great Service project the clubs in our district do throughout the year.

Thanks for all the great service projects that your clubs are doing in your communities. Please post the service projects into the MYLION application so others see the wonderful work we do. Let’ s “ROAR” LIONS.

Winners fromtheroomareas follows:

Most CreativePresentation Boardat Convention

Stickney Forest View Lions Club

Most CreativeServiceProject

Chciago Windy City Lions Club

Most Impactful ServiceProject

Chicago Mabuhay Centennial Lions Club

Best Collaborative Service Project

Chicago Global Lions Club

Chicago Healthcare Alliance Lions Club

Chicago Filipino Lions Club

Chicago FIL-USA

Travels of the Governor/District Events

The first visit of the month was a joint Governor’s meeting with Chicago Hegewisch Lions Club and the Chicago Eastside Lions Club on March 12, it

is great to present Chevron Awards to long time lion’s members that have served their communities for many years. On March 14, I was able to attend a governor’s night with eight clubs of Region 5, hosted by the Palos Lions club and included representatives from Chicago Ridge, Oaklawn, Chicago Beverly Ridge, Burbank, Chicago Mt. Greenwood, Bridgeview , and Worth. Many Chevrons were awarded with the longest membership being 55 years.

On March 16, we attended the St. Patrick Day Celebration hosted by the River Grove Lions Club, a goof time was had by all, with many District 1-A members enjoying the festivities.

Of course we finished the month by celebrating the service our clubs provide out communities and causes at our 55th Annual Convention. A remarkably successful month indeed.

April 2024

3 – 2nd Annual Lions Luau, Hala Kahiki, River Grove, 6-7 Cocktail, 7pm Dinner

4 – Zone 4A & 4B Meeting, LCI Headquarters, 5:00pm Social, 6:00pm

May 2024

4 – VOICES – Run for the Roses Fundraiser, 115 Bourbon Street, 2:30pm –6:00pm

10 – Fil-USA Hawaiian Night, Allegra Banquet, Schiller Park 6:30 – Cocktails, 7:30 Dinner

17 – Council Meeting

17 – 19 State Convention

24– Zone Chairperson Zoom Meeting (Virtual)

27 – Memorial Day

State Convention Information

We just finished the District 1-A Convention and elected the new officers, and we need to look ahead and plan for the MD-1 State Convention. This year it will be held on May 16-19, at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in downtown Springfield, IL

MD-1 State Convention

If you want to register online:

https://lionsofillinois.regfox.com/lions-of-illinois-md-1-103rd-stateconvention

• (2024_Convention_Book_Ad_Form.pdf)

Please consider placing and ad in the MD-1 Convention Ad Book

• (Exhibitor_Show_Application_2024.pdf)

If you would like to be an Exhibitor at the Convention, see details in the above link

• (State_Convention_Flyer_for_Auction_Items_2024.pdf)

If you have any Lions items that you would like to donate to help the convention, please see details in the above link

• (2024_State_Convention_Registration.pdf)

Use the above link to print the registration form

Hotel Reservations:

https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-myevent/lionsofilmd1convention/

The MD-1 State Convention guest room rate is $104.00 per night (plus 14% tax) and includes overnight self-parking in the garage attached to the hotel. When making your reservation by phone, you must tell them you are with the Lions of Illinois to receive this discounted room rate.

Reserveyour roombyMay1,2024.

District Goals

It is always good to be able to review goals and programs for the coming year, so I am including some of the information I shared with you in prior articles this year! As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Mission 1.5

Mission 1.5 is the drive to reach 1.5 million members world-wide, so we can better meet the growing needs of our communities and serve more people than ever before. We have committed the next four years to reaching this historic Lions Clubs membership goal.

Patti Hill’s Theme/Program

President Hill’s programs and initiatives will focus on four key priorities for Lions International that are critical to our mission of service.

1. Creating a greener, cleaner environment

2. Sharing our stories with the world

3. Reaching our full potential as Lions and leaders

4. Supporting our global foundation, LCIF

Changing the World

Changing the world is a journey. There is no middle and no end. There is only a beginning—and it starts with us. It happens through the many small choices and acts of kindness we make every day. Together, the sum of our efforts makes the world a better place, one life, one relationship and one community at a time.

President Hill’s programs and initiatives will focus on four key priorities for Lions International that are critical to our mission of service.

1 - Create a greener, cleaner environment

Protecting and improving our environment is a fantastic way to engage with our communities. By helping to protect and restore our natural resources, we can change the world. Let’s act boldly and let us act now.

2 - Share your story with the world

Developing great marketing skills can help you tell the world who you are and what you do. Social media and local media, and online and offline marketing give you new ways to tell your stories. Shine a light on your club and invite your community to be a part of the change as Lions and Leos.

3 - Reach your service potential

People want to be a part of something that matters. So set service goals that

push your capacity and create opportunities for even more impact with new members. Find ways to ensure your club is inclusive and welcoming to all.

4 - Empower even greater good

Our foundation empowers us to do so much more than we can do alone. LCIF enables us to think big and undertake projects that can truly change the world. So, support LCIF, and let LCIF support you.

BETHE CHANGE…….Believe in Yourself

Tochangethe world, wefirst must believechangeis possible.

Here aresomekey stepsthat canhelp you facethe challenges ahead.

Bebrave.

In the causes you tackle and in the work that you do, don’t shy away from something that may seem too difficult. You’re up to the task and other Lions are here to support you. So, take that bold first step.

Invest in thefuture.

We all have a reason to invest in the future, and young people may be uniquely positioned to help us create change. We are better able to deal with the issues facing our communities when they are at the table with us. Let’s invite the next generation of global leaders to serve with us as Lions. Collaborate.

We do our best work as a team. Work with community leaders, other service organizations, and each other to address the biggest problems facing your communities. Collaboration makes change happen faster. Leadthe way.

Lions and Leos lead by example. We show the world what is possible when people care about their communities and when kindness is the goal. Lead the way, and others will join you.

Recognition Programs

The Club Excellence Award is a great program, and we need to continue encouraging program involvement by our clubs. If your club would like to consider trying to get the Club Excellence Award, please reach out to your Zone Chairperson.

To qualify for the Club Excellence Award, clubs must meet specific requirements in four categories:

Membership Service

Leadership & Organizational Excellence Marketing.

More information is located on the LCI Website:

https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resourcecenter/club-excellence-awards

Membership

As I am writing this newsletter article, our District for the year is a plus 86 members. For the month of March 2024, District 1-A added 15 new members and dropped 18 members (one to death) for a net decrease in membership of three. Let’s continue working to improve our membership numbers for the remainder of the lion’s year.

New Clubs

Over the last five years, our district has averaged two new clubs per year and lost an average of one club A goal of three clubs is possible. We have one newly chartered club and now have two more club applications submitted to international and are in the chartering process. But we are not going to stop, there might be a possibility of adding new clubs and/or rebuilding some others.

GMA for Clubs

Ready to move your club in a dynamic new direction using the Global Membership Approach? Then start planning for your success with the Global Membership Approach. This process can help you attract new members, overcome challenges, and develop new goals and strategies.

The process is built on four steps designed to not only grow your club, but also to inspire new ideas, engage your members and improve retention and empower current and potential club leaders. You can start by taking the Global Membership Approach Course as well as the SWOT Analysis Course available in Lions Learning Center.

More information is available from the GAT Team and your Zone Chairpersons!

Service

This year’s goal is to increase the number of clubs reporting service in MyLion or the new software once available to 75% of our clubs. We are currently reporting service by 44% of our clubs, an increase of 8 percent over last month. Two reasons this is so important to Lions: Reporting it in MyLion allows our international organization to create more accurate reports to share with our global partners that generously donate to LCIF funding and allow us to serve more people in need. When those partners do not see everything, we do, it might limit the amount of money LCI can get from other partners.

The second part of reporting service is making sure we share it on social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, web pages and sharing our service projects with others in our communities hopefully will inspire others to join in our service endeavors.

LCIF

Our District has been generous to LCIF, and I am sure we will continue to do

so. Now more than ever, the need for funding is necessary and will likely continue to increase.

This year’s goal is to increase individual donations to LCIF by 25% and Club donations by 20%. So far this year we have donated $30K of out $48k goal.

Stay safe, I am looking forward to seeing everyone during 2024.

Yours in Service,

Tom Elsey

1-A District Governor

GMA /GMT Coordinator: PID Dan O’Reilly

March 1, 2024

February Completed 33 consecutive months of positive membership for our District. Our District membership remains strong at a plus 86 as of March 31st . We are top in MD-1 in terms of growth and fourth in CA-1.

We have 34 of our clubs adding members, This is up 50% from this time last year. 20 of those clubs have a plus in membership. We ask that you continue strengthen your clubs, enabling more hands to help serve those in need in your community. Replace your loss members with fresh energetic members who want to help your communities and continue to grow. Let’s allexcepttheMission1.5Challenge .

We just completed our third GMA series seminars, Building Club Success. Thank you to the Lions who came out to help their clubs grow and in turn strengthen our District.

NewClub Development &ClubRebuilding

We are in talks with 3 areas of our District to open new clubs. One, the Chicago Edgebrook Lions should be Chartered soon. We have started the application for the Chicago Metropolitan Lions. Please look for the invitations for their Charter Nights to welcome them both to District 1-A.

As always, please contact out team if you have a group or area that you believe would continue to move our District forward in positive membership growth and more service to area underserved.

JoinmeandexceptthechallengeofMission1.5

MISSION1.5

• A growing membership is vital to our clubs, our service and our communities. Because the more we grow, the more we can give.

• That’s why we’re launching MISSION 1.5.

• MISSION 1.5 is our drive to reach 1.5 million members by 2027, so we can better meet the growing needs of our communities and serve more people than ever before.

• It will require the commitment of every Lion to reach our MISSION 1.5 goal.

• We need to grow our clubs. And start new ones.

• So I ask you to invite a new member. And ask the Lions in your club to invite a new member.

• Help your club and district leaders implement their plans to grow.

• Our communities are depending on us, so we need to make a real commitment to growing our membership. MISSION

GST Coordinator: Lion MaryanneO’Reilly

April 2024

I would like to thank all the Lions and friends who participated in the Stuffed Love service project at our recent convention. Over 20 Lions and friends gathered in the Atrium of the hotel to create Stuffed Love Hearts # ThatLittleBitofHope to those who need it most. Mark and Laura Ann Dynia from Stuff Love came to our convention to share their story and show us how to create the little stuffed hearts. The room was filled with conversation and laughter as busy participants traced and cut out hearts, a few Lions hand sewed and stuffed the hearts. After the hearts are made a tag is attached to each heart pillow. Each tag reads Stuffed Love was created to spread kindness, one hand-stitch at a time. Stuffed Love is that little bit of hope when your back is against a wall. Our mission is to provide comfort and support to all, while raising awareness of Congenital Heart Defects and other illness and syndromes.

This service project was a great way to start our Saturday morning. A special thank you to Zone SW 5A Chairperson Lion Amanda Cardin. At her recent Zone meeting, Lion Amanda held a raffle and generously donated the proceeds of over $100 to Stuffed Love. The Stickney – Forest View Lions club made generous donation of $100. I would also like to thank Bellwood Lion Constance Delain, who was a sewing rock star, sewing and stuffing more than 6 hearts during our project. Lion Constance and Lion Rosemary Kafka took hearts home to continue sewing and stuffing them. Thank you to everyone for their support of this project.

A special thank you to all of the clubs for sharing their service display boards at our convention. The service ideas are inspiring. Please continue to enter all your service activities in MYLION. As we are enter into the last quarter of our Lion year, please enter into MYLION all the service your club has provided this Lion’s year.

Do you have an Environment service project planned? The Brookfield Zoo is hosting a recycling event Party for the Planet on Saturday, April 20 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, and an Earth Day Fun Run on Sunday, April 21 at 8:00 AM. The Cook County Forest Preserve will celebrate Earth Day with a couple events on Saturday, April 20. Busse Lake Boating Center clean up 9:00 am – 11:00 am (grove 25, E Higgins Rd/Rte 72, east of i290/Hwy 53). Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center a variety of activities 9800 Willow Springs Rd. Willow Springs 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. For more information fpdcc.com.

“Celebrate Service”

Lion Maryanne

GST

✓ New and exciting replacement program of the Lions Share Pin Program

✓ New design of the Leo Share Supporter Pin

✓ Design of each program pin will change annually, with incoming IP

✓ Qualifying donation amounts are the same as the Lions Share Pin Program and Leo Share Supporter Program, outlined above

✓ All-at-once qualifying donations must equal each pin level. To receive the entire set, minimum donation of $350 is needed.

✓ Thesebeautifulpinsmustberequestedattimeofdonationorthereafter. They will not be automatically fulfilled.

✓ Applicable forms (MJF Application, Single Donor Form, Multiple Donor Form)arecurrentlybeingupdatedtoreflectthenewProgramnameand levels

I’m available if you would like me to come talk at one of your club or zone meetingsabout Lions ClubInternational Foundation.

NewMembers in CALUMET CITY Lions Club: 2

DWAYNE E EVANS ED.D

BRIANJRUCINSKI

NewMembers in CHICAGO BAYANIHAN-SAMPAGUITA Lions Club: 1

GERALDINEGADEN

NewMembers in CHICAGO HEALTHCARE ALLIANCE Lions Club:2

AKAKILUHAHI

CHARYLSINGSON

NewMembers in CHICAGO MABUHAY CENTENNIAL Lions Club: 1

MELODYDIZON MRS.

NewMembers in CHICAGO WINDY CITY Lions Club: 1

HOLLY PATRICK

NewMembers in LA GRANGE HIGHLANDS Lions Club:1

BRIANEINLOTH

NewMembers in PALOS Lions Club: 4

TIMALLISON

GINA KNARCISO

CHRISTOPHER W POST

GABRIELLE LPOST

NewMembers in RIVERGROVELions Club: 1

KATHRYNNSOLESKY

NewMembers in STICKNEYFORESTVIEW Lions Club: 1

KIMBERLEY GOOD

NewMembers in WILLOW SPRINGS Lions Club:1

HOWARDDLAUKIN

Total NewMembers in theMonthof EBRUARY: 15

MD1 DistrictConventions(as

1-A March22-24,2024

of9/30/23)

Westin ChicagoNorthwest, Itasca IL

1-BKApril 12-14

HolidayInn,Bolingbrook,IL

1-CNOctober 27 – 28,2023

St.JacobCommunity/ActivityCenter, St.Jacob,Il.

1-CS April13Sparta Lions Club,Sparta IL

1-DMarch22-23

Radison Hotel RockfordIL

1-FMarch8-9,2024

Embassy Suites,Deerfield,IL

1-GApril 19-20,2024

Best Western Premier,Alton, IL

1-HApril12-13,2024

HolidayInn RockIslandIL

1-JApril 5-6,2024

HolidayInn CarolStreamIL

1-MNovember 3-4, 2023, Holiday Inn,Champaign IL

Below is a link to our Spring Events Mailer that recently went out.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SPRING EVENTS MAILER

Here is some quick information included in the link above:

• The Mobile Unit: RegistrationisOpen!TheMobileUnitruns from

March1sttoOctober31st.Pleasereadtheinformationenclosed tosetupasuccessfulscreeningevent.

• Camp Lions: RegistrationopensFebruarysoon! Treat Night RegistrationisopenNOW.Registertobringtreatsonline.

• Sight and Sound Sweepstakes: FirstEarlyBirdDrawingis March 6th. Pleasehelpusreachourgoalof8,500bookssold.

• Bingo Bonanza event to Support Camp Lions. Thiseventwillbe hostedbytheSt.JacobLionsClubon Friday, March 15th. Doors openat5pm.Pleaseconsidersponsoringthisevent.

• Diabetes Awareness begins in March. Pleaseseetheenclosed order form.Diabeticretinopathy,themostcommonformofdiabeticeye disease,istheleadingcauseofblindnessinadultsage20–74.

Thank you, and please share this information with your fellow lions!

Lions of Illinois Foundation

700 N Peace RD Ste B DeKalb, IL 60115

LIFoffice@lifnd.org

(815) 756-5633

Fax: (815) 748-9087

Stuffed Love Project at District 1A Convention held last month

District 1A Convention, March 2024 at Westin Hotel, Itasca