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.
CLUB Jefferson Park Mexica Windy City LaGrange Highlands Lansing
# Sponsored 1 1 1 1 2
Orland Park
4
Riverside Townside
2
South Holland TOTAL JAN MEMBERS
1 +13
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. New Member’s Name Sponsor's Name Gina M. Grizzaffi Lynn Oliva Rosa Viramontes Brenda Gutierrez Natasha Salley Emily Burnett Michael McNicholas Thomas Carlson William A. Martin Humberto Rivera Santos Rivera Humberto Rivera Marie S. Driscoll Timothy McCarthy Krista M. Lieser Timothy McCarthy Jan V. Prieti-McCarthy Timothy McCarthy Andrew J. Mekstan Jim Smith Frank Gangware Llewellyn Lou Theine Kathryn Marchetti Jonathan Marchetti Richard Thornton Donald Grimwood
-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, Wes1agov@gmail.com 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 jftltd@gmail.com 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 lionmikesmig@aol.com Vendor Room Chairman – PCST Dawn Grogan dgrogan498@aol.com Kim Murphy kmurphy76_@att.net
Convention Ad Book Chairman – ZC Myrna Cordero mymam61@yahoo.com PCST Andy Liamaga
flipbanker@aol.com Lion Janice Wiggins janicewiggins@comcast.net Gift Basket Auction Chairman – Lion Jerri Abrahamsen jabrahamsen@acoem.org ZC Sandy Nedza
snedza@dmmerch.com Lion Linda Nilsson
lnilsson47@hotmail.com If you have any questions about the convention please call the convention hotline number at 708548-8256 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.
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.
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
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 georg36@comcast.net 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 jftltd@gmail.com 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 myrnarn61@gmail.com 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.
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
Thank you, The District 1-A Convention Committee (Captain Marvel) Governor’s Newsletter Edited & Published by Lion Austin D’Souza, PDG – govaustin@gmail.com