District 1A Governor Joni McMillan's Monthly e-Newsletter by Dr. Austin Prabhu

Message from Governor Joni McMilan: Fellow Lions & Leos of District 1A:

Hello Lions!

My Dear Lions, What a crazy time this is for all of us. I am praying that your families are all healthy and safe. I know that it is a difficult time for many of us. We all want to be out there doing what we do best, Serving those in need, but due to the STAY AT HOME restrictions, we are all homebound.

There are ways, however, that we can help, if feasible. You can make a donations (supplies or monetary) to your local Food Pantry, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, or you can give blood if you are healthy enough. As we know, all of our hospitals are in need of many items, such as: surgical masks, N95 masks, sterile nasophary ngeal specimen collection swabs, disinfectant wipes, cloth masks,

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isolation or surgical gowns, non-latex gloves, bunny suits, disposable face shields, reusable half-mask respirators and filter cartridges, goggles an nondisposable face shields. I have received many phone calls regarding elections, both for the Club and the District. CLUB ELECTION OF OFFICERS (Email or US Mail – can NOT do it over the phone) EMAIL: Your Election Chairman will need to email every member with a ballot made from your club’s nomination form that should have been presented to your club at your last couple of meetings. The Election Chairman will need to give them a date that the ballot needs to be returned. Once ballots are received, the Election Chairman must print each one out and give to the Club Secretary to be kept for the Club’s records. Once ballots are counted, the Election Chairman will need to email all members with the results. Once results are in, the Club Secretary will need to complete the PU101 form for LCI.

US MAIL: Your Election Chairman will need mail every member a ballot made from your club’s nomination form that should have been presented to your club at your last couple of meetings. The Election Chairman will need to give them a date that the ballot needs to be returned. Once ballots are received, the Election Chairman will need to contact all members the results. The Election Chairman will need to give to the Club Secretary all the ballots to be kept for the Club’s records. The Club Secretary will need to complete the PU101 form for LCI. DISTRICT ELECTIONS: An Official Call for Election of Officers was emailed to all Club Presidents and Secretaries on March 7, 2019 (copy of notice is in this newsletter). As of right now, the election will be held on May 9, 2020 at the William Tell Holiday Inn, Countryside, IL from 11:15 am – 12:25 pm. All delegation forms must be sent to Lion Robin Kirar (if you already sent them prior to the Convention dates, you do not need to resend).

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For those clubs who still have outstanding District and/or International dues, all dues must be RECEIVED on or before April 24th in order to vote. NO EXCEPTIONS!!

events through the month of May due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If this date changes due to a Stay At Home order from Governor Pritzker, we will let you know.

We hope to see the Mobile Screening Units serving our communities again by June 1st.

It was a very sad day for me when we had to cancel our convention. Hope fully we can all get together to “Boogie Down” sometime in the near future. It won’t be the convention, but maybe just a big party….just thinking aloud and hoping! Stay healthy and safe my friends. Miss all of you. -Governor Joni McMillan ---------------------------------------------------

Best regards and stay healthy. Lions of Illinois Foundation

Greetings Lions,

2254 Oakland Drive

The LIF President and Programs Committee have made the decision to extend the halt of all Mobile Screening Unit

Sycamore IL 60178 815-756-5633 x231 Fax: 815-748-9087

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Dear Lion, The Board of Directors has voted to cancel the 2020 Lions International Convention due to concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19). This means that the next International Convention will be held in 2021 in Montreal, Canada. After evaluating a variety of different options including moving the convention to a different venue or postponing the convention to a later date, the Board of Directors voted to cancel the 2020 convention. This decision was made with the health and safety of our Lions, staff and vendors in mind. Canceling the International Convention for 2020 impacts international officer continuity and candidate elections. After review of the International Constitution and By-Laws, this impact is outlined below: Executive officers and international directors will continue in their respective positions until the 2021 convention in Montreal. All candidate elections for these positions shall comply with the provisions of the International Constitution and By-Laws for election at the convention in Montreal.

An international director from the areas of Africa and Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Islands of the South Pacific is permitted only in evennumbered years. As a result, no director from Africa or Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Islands of the South Pacific would be eligible for election until the 2022 convention. Barring any district election complaints, district governors, first vice district governors and second vice district governors elected during a convention of their respective districts will be accepted by Lions International. The International Board of Directors intends to authorize commencement of the DG terms beginning July 1, 2020. We are disappointed that we will not be able to move forward with this international event, but we are optimistic that with each new day there is hope, and as Lions we will continue to find new ways to put our kindness in action while safely serving our communities. Regards, Dr. Jung-Yul Choi, International President

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Lions, In reference to the Grand Cash Raffle that is held at the end of the District 1-A Convention, we will still run that. The winning tickets will be picked ar the Cabinet meeting on May 9, provided that's not postponed. We will do a live Facebook feed for all to watch the drawing. If meeting gets postponed, we will choose another date. Governor Joni McMillian Governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Newsletter 7

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Greetings Lions Friends and Family, Please know that your Foundation Office Staff has been working all week to set-up your Foundation Office for remote access in anticipation for this mandatory “ Shelter in Place” action. All departments are up and running through our remote server and you may contact each department via the e-mails listed on our website. www.lionsofillinois.org

Lions to contact Dianne Ortega with your anticipated preorder for the roll candy as well as the sugar free suckers. Also in October we are planning a bus trip to Leader Dog, more details will be e-mailed to your district secretary for this event scheduled for October 23rd to October 25th.

I am staying in close contact with each department via our “go to meeting” web application.

Please also note that the LIF office will still be able to receive mail and we will have our special Sight and Sound Sweepstakes Early Bird drawing scheduled in April as soon as we are able.

We will continue to work on our upcoming events such as our 1st annual Lion Mario J. Gumino Memorial golf classic scheduled for August 1st

I will be posting more updates as they become available. Please go to our Camp Lions Facebook Page for updates on Camp Lions Summer Camps 2020.

Our 3rd annual Roar-in Car Show scheduled for September 12th

Please Stay Safe and know that I and the Foundation staff are thinking of you our extended Lions families.

Our second annual Knights Quest Gala-presenting the 1920’s, which will be held on Friday September 25th at the Westin Chicago Northwest in Itasca Let’s not forget Candy Day October 9th and 10th, Candy has been ordered and we encourage all

Thank You for all that you do. Lion Trish Fisher Executive Director Lions of Illinois Foundation 2254 Oakland Drive Sycamore, IL 60178

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District 1-A Lions, I hope you are all safe and healthy. We sure living in strange times. Who would of thought we would be in a pandemic? Many of us home bound and looking for something to do besides cleaning closets, basements etc I have been in touch with a group that makes mats for the homeless out of plastic grocery bags. It takes 465 bags to make a mat. They have hand

made wooden looms to make theses mats.. I am asking all District 1-A Lions to check their homes and start collecting grocery bags. And when it is safe to meet we will collect these bags and pass them on to this organization. So please check your homes and start saving these plastic grocery bags. Please stay safe and healthy and pray this ends sooner than later. Lion Gail Anton, SVDG/GLT