April, 2016

Governors

Monthly

Newsletter,

District 1A,

Lions Clubs

International

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DISTRICT 1A LIONS

‘COWBOY-UP’ED

CONVENTION!

GOVERNOR RALPH ZARADA SPEAKS:

The convention is in the history books and another milestone has been reached in my leadership year. We are one year closer to our centennial celebration in Chicago. The new

leadership has been elected and we know who will be leading the district in the 2016-2017 year. Congratulations to DGE Ernie Lapid and VDGE Lions Pat Duda and Howard Swacker.

Thanks to all of the Lions who came to convention and made it a fun and exciting event. To all the Lions who took the time to set up and host a hospitality suite. Thank you. To the convention committee for putting together an outstanding convention. Thank you. And thanks to our International Director Rod Wright for attending and sharing his vision of Lionism. He added another dimension of fun to the convention.

We still have three months left in this current year and as clubs we still have time to meet membership and other goals before the year is finished. Usually at the end of the year the energy level drops. We have worked hard all year doing our part for Lionism. We see that the warm weather months are coming and we may be slowing down our efforts to grow our clubs and make the district stronger.

As we move into the final months, I would ask that you keep on engaging more Lions into service by working on increasing your membership. Every time we add a member we are able to change the lives of 50 more people in our communities. That being said, I hope that

Your Club will make plans to invite a new member and increase your numbers and achieve the goal of a +1 growth in membership

Your club is reporting all the services project that you have accomplished

While engaging new members we do everything we can to reduce the member drops within our clubs so that we support the service efforts within our communities.

All of us together can help reach our centennial goals of bringing dignity and harmony to humanity through service, caring, and celebrating the fruits of our endeavors at club gatherings.

In the month of April we have the following District events and Conventions.

April 8 thru 10 District 1J Convention

April 11th GLT Meeting

April 15-17 District 1BK

April 20th Region 6 Meeting Lansing CC

April 27th Region 5 Meeting Venue to be determined

Here are Lion Clubs social and fundraising events that I would like to mention. These are events that I am aware of. I apologize in advance if your event is not listed.

April 16th Mexica Spring Dance Porreta’s on North Central Ave

April 17th Lyons Lions Polka Party VFW Brookfield, IL

April 23rd Jefferson Park Lions Colletti’s on Elston Avenue

Chicago Filipino American Lions “Dancing With the Lions” Hilton Northbrook

Just a reminder that there is still time to get your club’s governor visit scheduled.

A final shout out to the Book Project committee of Lions Judy Toft, Sigrid Polanek and Lourdes Mon for their efforts in surpassing our goal of 10,000 books by the end of the District 1A convention. The final tally of books was 12,800 books.

Ralph Zarada

Governor District 1A

Editorial:

What a Convention in 1A!

District 1A Lions who attended this year’s convention are still suffering with Convention Fever. They came, enjoyed, danced,

shouted, screamed and consumed all kind of food which was freely available in hospitality rooms and those varieties of drinks.

It is all about having fun in District 1A; even our International Guest ID Rod Wright jumped out of the dais and involved lions on the floor for to his tail dance around the room! Who would have thought this could have happened when people are on tuxedos and banquet dresses. Convention ended with a great show of Lions100 signs – all attendees holding these signs in supporting our Centennial Convention to be held in our backyard and our convention chair CC Steve Anton shouting from the podium - ROAR.

Hats off to Convention Committee – our conventions are getting better and better year by year. Lions from our neighboring districts who attend our convention are asking only one question – “How you guys are doing this?”

We, lions in District 1A should be very proud what we do in our district – fund and fun raising events, walk & run races, kids sight program started by our own 501-C3 organization – VOICES, our support to Lions of Illinois Foundation and Lions Clubs International Foundation, etc., etc. We should encourage more members in our clubs to join us and make our forthcoming Centennial Year filled with such joyous moments to be remembered in our Birth Land of Lionism.

I loaded more than 2,300 photographs on facebook, placed some video clips of convention highlights. How many of you saw these and copied to your club members? Spread the word to your family members, friends and especially to your club members who are the main arteries of your club to keep it alive in your communities. See some of the highlights in this newsletter of our convention.

-PDG Austin D’Souza

Governor’s Newsletter Editor

VOICES AND “KIDS SIGHT”:

Month after month, the V.O.I.C.E.S. Committee writes an article in the Governors Newsletter, informing the Lions of the big things to come from our committee. We are very pleased to announce that the V.O.I.C.E.S. Committee along with the some dedicated Lions from the Lansing Lions Club held our very first Kids Sight Eye Screening on March 9th.

We arrived at the school at 8:15 a.m. and the School Principal, School Nurse and the School Secretary warmly welcomed us. After setting up the room and a short explanation of the testing process and what we had hoped to accomplish that day, we were ready to begin testing the children by 9:00 a.m.

The testing started off by screening one child in the room at a time but you can imagine how intimidating that must be to a child who is six years old or younger. What I failed to mention is this, the children we were testing that morning, were special needs children who are autistic. The student and their Aide, would come in we would sit them in a chair and make them as comfortable as possible. At times we would need to take several exposures to achieve a result, sometimes with success and sometimes not. No fault of the child and certainly not for a lack of effort but sometimes with autistic children, you don’t want to scare them or frighten them.

We tested forty-three children that day and we were very excited as the first couple of students passed the test. Then came that moment that we knew would come, we had our first referral. At that moment, all of the efforts, all of the planning, all of the discussion and all of the fundraising, finally paid off, when that little five letter word appeared on the screen, REFER. We knew then that all of the Lions in our District, all of those non-

Lions who have made a contribution to V.O.I.C.E.S., had made a difference in a little ones life and the lives of those who love them. That moment made everything worthwhile. I just wish that all of you could have been there at that moment.

All right, the first one is in the books and we have a couple of dates already set in the coming months. If you would like to set up a screening in your area, just contact Lion Jeff White at isellum@sbcglobal.net and he can help you start the process.

Our job has only just begun. We have so much to learn and so much to do.

Lion Steve Anton, CC

V.O.I.C.E.S., President

Attend MD1 Convention and meet them in person!

Fellow Lions: This past weekend, we had our 48th District 1A Convention. As always, we had an outstanding convention attended by over 500 Lions. Congratulations to

Council Chairman Steve Anton and his committee for a fine job. We appreciate all the

time and hard work that was put in by each and every one of you to run this most successful convention. Below are the results of the election of officers and the Three Resolutions that were passed at the convention. We congratulate all of the newly elected officers and look forward to seeing them in action next Lions year 2016-2017 as we begin the Centennial Year of Lionism. Until then, let us rally behind District 1A Governor Ralph Zarada and First Lady Sue and help them to finish their year as a huge success. We all know that we can do it as only District 1A can.

2016 – 2017 Officers

GOVERNOR – Lion Ernie Lapid from the Chicago Philippine Lions Club

1st Vice District Governor – Lion Patricia Duda from the Chicago Mexica Lions Club

2nd Vice District Governor – Lion Howard Swacker from the Thornton Lions Club

Lions of Illinois Foundation Trustee 2016-2018 – Lion Frank Kirar from the Oak Lawn Lions

New V.O.I.C.E.S. Directors - Lion Myrna Cordero from the Chicago Fil USA Lions Club

Lion Brenda Gutierrez from the Chicago Mexica Lions Club

Lion Allan Hanson from the Jefferson Park Lions Club

Below are the Resolutions that were also passed at the Convention. RESOLUTION #1: LIONS VIEW MAGAZINE: Section Three: Finance, District Budget of the District 1A Policy Manual be revised to remove the $1.00 collected per member for the online Lions View Magazine. The above described revisions to the District 1-A Policy Manual will become effective at the close of the 2016 District 1-A Convention, subject to the approval of the certified delegates at the 2016 District 1A Convention. RESOLUTION #2: DISTRICT DUES: Section Three: Finance, District Budget of the District 1-A Policy Manual be revised to increase the dues collected per member by $1.00 (from the online Lions View Magazine subscription A-06) and be allocated to the District Dues A-03 budget line item. The District dues of the membership will increase to $5.00. The above described revisions to the District 1-A Policy Manual will become effective at the close of the 2016 District 1-A Convention, subject to the approval of the certified delegates at the 2016 District 1-A Convention. RESOLUTION #3: DELIQUENT DUES Section Two of Article VI of the District 1-A Constitution, entitled District Convention be

amended, effective at the close of the 2016 District 1-A Convention, by inserting the phrases in the last sentence of Section 2 as shown in bold and deleting the phrase shown in strikethrough below: “Delinquent dues must be paid and good standing acquired at least 15 days prior to the close of credential certification may be paid and good standing acquired at any time prior to the close of credential certification;as such closing time shall be established by the rules of the respective convention. Lion Brenda Block Cabinet Secretary District 1-A

GOVERNOR ELECT ERNIE LAPID’S CABINET ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cabinet Secretary 2016-2017: Lion Brenda Block, Calumet City Lions Club

Cabinet Treasurer 2016-2017:

Lion Art Delay, Chicago Maharlika Lions Club

District Chaplain 2016-2017:

Lion Joan McMillan, Chicago

Mount Greenwood Lions Club

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR AWARD: Lion Ted Steiskal, Bellwood

International Director Rod Wright, Governor

Ralph Zarada and Lion Ted Steiskal

LION OF THE YEAR AWARD:

Lion Andy Liamaga, Chicago FIL-USA Lions Club

Leo Kim McEvilly, Richards High School Leo Club, Oak Lawn

LIONESS OF THE YEAR AWARD:

LEO OF THE YEAR AWARD:

Lioness Karen Triezenberg, Willowsprings Lioness Club

2014-2015 LCIF AWARDS FOR DISTRICT 1A:

PDG Wes Salsbury, District 1A LCIF Coordinator

and IPDG Terry D’Souza for being the TOP FIVE

DISTCTS IN CONSTITUTIONAL AREA 1 (USA,

Canada & Pacific Islands)

The Forest Kala Sampath Lions Club 2 Awards

from LCIF for the Year 2014-2015: 1. Top 5 Club

in Constitutional Area 1 Exemplary Total Giving

2. Top 5 Club in Constitutional Area 1 Exemplary

Per Member Giving

Best Convention Theme Costume Contest:

I Place: PDG Austin D’Souza, II Place: PCC Dennis and Joan McMillan, III Place: Larry Zucker

OF

District 1A Governor’s Monthly e-Magazine Edited & Published by PDG Austin D’Souza for Lions, Lionesses and Leos of District 1A. e-Mail Address: govaustin@gmail.com

Mail your articles, pictures and news items to above e-mail address.