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THE LIONS TALE
Muskegon Northside Lions Charities Inc.
April 2010 Vol. xxxi issue 10
Editors Note: The following newsletter was late and therefore the following President’s references to upcoming events may not be relevant as they may have already taken place. Please accept my apologies for not getting this out on time.
Lion Dennis B.
President’s Column:
Fellow Northside Lions,
The time for leadership change is fast approaching, we have had our club elections and the new Board will be taking over the first meeting in July. We have only four meetings left for this Lion's year and one of the biggest is coming on May 4th, our annual Melvin Jones Fellowship Night. Lion Rich Carlson is chairing this spouse night at Johnson Hall and the cost will be the same as our regular meal expense. VP Behling will be having the call committee reach each and every one of you to make this a very well attended event. This is the night that we as a club honor our own with new presentations to worthy Lions who continue to work hard for both our club and our community as well as give further recognition to those who already proudly wear the MJF pin with progressive pins. Please make every effort to share this evening with your fellow club members, we want you there.
We are entering the busy part of the year when our fund raising kicks into gear as well as the opportunity for service projects so we will be counting on all of you to take part in the many events we participate in. This is why we want to maintain a larger membership as it not only gives us the advantage of more friendships but more hands when it comes to the work the club enters into. I have many opportunities to see the struggles smaller clubs have when it comes to working on projects, if only 50% of our club turns out to work that still means we have about 40 Lions to work while clubs of 20 or less will only get 8-10 or even with 100% it will only be half of what we can do. Membership in any service organization is first and foremost about service to the community and second about friendship. Northside has always been about both of these, as President I do wonder sometimes about those that do not attend meetings at least on an occasional basis to renew
and refresh friendships and also wonder why our project chairs have the occasional open slot on the sign-up sheets when we have so many members. The club(community) only asks for a few hours a month to complete these projects, when it comes to fund raising it is the price we as a group have to pay to have funds available for the services we provide. No club will ever have 100% of the membership wanting to work a certain project but we do need each of you to give what time you can or are willing to give to our combined efforts for our community.
Since we are talking about the giving of time and energy this would be the appropriate time to talk about some of the items we as the Board have been facing and in all probability will be dealing with much more in the near future. We have many financial problems in this country which will not be getting better soon so we will be sure to receive many local face to face requests for services both community and individually that we have to prepare ourselves to either meet or deny. This is not a comfortable situation to be in, we have seen the beginnings as the request for eye care has outstripped the ability of our county Lions clubs to deliver. Our club has not been over run with these requests but the clubs south of the river have and we may well be asked to help stem the tide by giving them some financial assistance. We as a club went outside our stated parameters to help the Red Cross last month and while this cost the club nothing but time and energy it
still was a request which was new to us. The Board will be needing your individual input as we work through these coming months as we will have to change and gear up to the new challenges which all communities will be facing. How we react to these challenges will determine how we will look as a club in the near future.
I appreciate all of you that have come forward with good ideas both new and improved, I think because of these ideas we are starting to make some headway with the Causeway project in what we feel we can do to make it better and to those who are working behind the scene to bring forth some exciting ideas for both our club and the community. I continue to cherish my membership is this very good Lions Club(we can always be better though) and I very much enjoy coming to the meetings to meet and greet each of you. Make us all happier, join us for dinner on the 4th of May, bring your spouse and share the evening with all of us. See you there.
See you at the meetings,
President Dennis
Please keep the following Lions and their spouses in your thoughts and prayers:
Lions Bill and Jan Entsminger, Lion Tracy Knight, Lion Mark and Anne Hoekenga. Also, all those members we haven’t seen in a while. Let’s pray for their participation in our meetings and/or at our projects. They’re missed!
Until I was 13, I thought my name was SHUT UP. -Joe Namath
I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon.
Then it’s time for my nap. -Bob Hope
We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work
its way through Congress. -Will Rogers
My luck is so bad if I bought a cemetery people would stop dying. -Rodney Dangerfield
Reminder:
MD11 Convention on beautiful Mackinac Island on May 21st and 22nd .
Forms and more info are available on line at www.lionsofmi.com.
International:
The 2010 International Convention is in … AUSTRALIA!
Check out your LION magazine for all the details. Dates are June 28th to July 2nd, 2010.
LCIF:
It isn’t over yet folks! LCIF is still working hard helping the folks in Haiti. Lots of work still to be done and they still need our help in the form of donations.
USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum:
The Forum will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this year September 23rd to the 25th, 2010.
Leadership Changing
On April 20th the following nominees were elected to serve for the year 2010 – 2011.
Congratulations to our new leadership that will step up to the plate and serve starting July 2010.
Fellow Lions,
There has been some question as to who will comprise the club Board of Directors for 2010-2011. They are as follows:
President - Paul Hoppa
1st Vice President - Deborah Roest
2nd Vice President - James Behling
3rd Vice President - Dennis Bates
Immediate Past President - Dennis Cobler
Secretary - Michael O'Lonergan
Treasurer - James Wolffis
Tail Twister - Richard Carlson
Lion Tamer - Phillip Margules
Directors (2 Years) - Dennis Loughrige & Edward Weessies
Directors (1 Year) - Kathleen Cobler, Frank Krol, Barbara Pellerin, Dave Olson, Frank DiPiazza
Membership Committee - Ronald Hansen (Director); James Larsen & Cheryl Schneider
Projects Update:
On April 30th and May 1st Lion Deb Roest led a devoted group of our fellow Lions on our annual White Cane fund raiser. Lion Deb and her crew raised a whopping $2900.00. Way to go all the hard working members that stepped up and “served”. Thanks for a job well done!
NORTHSIDE’S ACTIVITY CALENDAR:
May 15th, Club officer’s training will be at 9:00 AM Room 120 at Grand Valley State University in the Manitou Hall.
Armed Forces Day
Eyeglasses at Lion Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM – breakfast at 7:30 at the Getty St. Grill.
May 18th, Regular meeting at Johnson Hall at 7:00 PM. Board meeting follows.
Program will be presented by Mr. Rob White head chef of the Baker College Culinary Arts Program.
May 22nd, Eyeglasses at Lion Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM – breakfast at 7:30 at the Getty St. Grill.
May 22nd and 23rd MD 11 Convention on beautiful Mackinac Island
May 29th, Eyeglasses at Lion Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM – breakfast at 7:30 at the Getty St. Grill.
May 31st, Memorial Day - Displaying the flags on Seaway Drive and the Causeway
June 1st, Regular meeting at Johnson Hall at 7:00 PM, come early to socialize.
Our Program will be presented by Jenny Sielert with “Paws with a Cause”.
June 5th, First Pancake Breakfast for the season for Pheasants Forever at the Muskegon County Fairgrounds. See article below.
Also, Eyeglasses at Lion Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM- breakfast at 7:30 at the Getty St. Grill or the Lions Pancake Trailer at the Fairgrounds.
June 12th, Eyeglasses at Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM. Meet at the Getty St. Grill at 7:30 AM for breakfast and then to Frank’s by 9:00 AM.
June 14th, FLAG DAY……
June 15th, SPOUSES NIGHT, and Installation of the Club Leadership for 2010 – 2011. Bring your spouse and join in on the festivities and the good ole’ Northside comraderie for a rousing good time. Social hour starts at 6:30 PM and the meeting and dinner will start at 7:00 PM.
June 19th, Eyglasses at Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM – breakfast at 7:30 at the Getty St. Grill.
June 20th, Father’s Day……….
June 21st, THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!!!!
June 26th, Eyglasses at Frank’s on Apple Ave. 9:00 AM – breakfast at 7:30 at the Getty St. Grill.
Plenty of things to get involved in as well as some really interesting programs coming up. Be sure to attend the meetings, you never know when someone will come up with a project that may really mean something to you that you would love to work on. At the same time don’t hesitate to suggest a program or project that you think would be a good thing for the club to get involved in or with. This is your club so let your leadership know what you want to do and they’ll do their best to make it happen.
Fellow Lions: Just a reminder about the Club Officer Training Session on May 15th in the Manitou Hall, Room 120, on the campus of Grand Valley State University. There will be training (with breaks) from 9:00 a.m. until noon with classes for Presidents/Vice Presidents, Secretary/Treasurers, and the Directors (with special emphasis on the Membership portion). We will hold training later for the Zone/Region Chairs, if needed, as I believe most of them are repeating. This should be a fun morning with the training coming direct from LCI leadership division files and the trainers are well-versed in the nuances of the positions they will instruct.
Even if you have been a club officer for several terms, you can pass on your knowledge and experience to those that are just becoming an officer, maybe for the first time. You veterans have a lot to offer! We can all learn something if we avail ourselves of the opportunities given to us.
 
 
       
Left to Right:
Lion Paul Hoppa – MC and Progressive MJ recipient, Lion Nathan Myles –Lions Foundation - Oakbrook, Lion Rich Carlson- Progressive MJ recipient, Lion TOM HOFFMAN – MJ RECIPIENT, Lion BARB PELLERIN – MJ RECIPIENT, with Lions Windy Bradfield, Dr. Dennis Cobler, John Emrich and Ed Weessies who are also recipients of Progressive Melvin Jones honors.
May 4th was our 5th(or 6th) annual Melvin Jones Fellow Appreciation Dinner. We honored Lions Tom Hoffman and Barb Pellerin with Fellowships that were voted on by the current Melvin Jones Fellows of our club. We also had 6 Lions receive further recognition by their efforts with Progressive Melvin Jones Fellowships. They were Lions Windy Bradfield, Rich Carlson, Dennis Cobler, PJ Hoppa, John Emrich and Ed Weessies. Our speaker, Nathan Miles was from the Lions Foundation in Oak Brook, Illinois where he serves as Director of Fund Development. He showed us a new PR movie which will be released at our upcoming International Convention in Sydney,
Australia in July. We had a good turnout of 70 Lions and spouses, always room for more. Special thanks goes to Lion Carlson for his chairmanship of this event and to Lion PJ who did his usual excellent job of being our emcee.
The MJF recognition from our club, as stated above, comes from our club donations to the Foundation. Each MJF requires the club donate $1,000.00 in the honoree's name and these funds have been allocated from our Campaign SightFirst II donations (We recently finished our 5 year $50,000.00 pledge). The other ways that our members have received further recognition has been by donations from other clubs or individuals given in their name. This would include personal efforts made by a Lion for that club or individual, or in lieu of gifts for speaking engagements, asking for a donation to the Foundation in your name. The final way is to donate the money yourself. This to some Lions appears to be buying recognition for yourself, however, this is the farthest thing from the truth in most cases, it is very similar to your personal donations to your church or your other favorite charities. Many Lions recognize the tremendous impact the Foundation makes with the money donated to them, every dollar we donate goes into service somewhere in the world (Michigan included!), the expenses of the daily operations come from
interest earned, never from donations. This is but one reason our Foundation continues to be rated the #1 NGO in the world!!!! All the Progressive MJF are Lions who either have experienced the work of the Foundation or have it in their hearts to make a financial decision to have someone else spend some of their personal money in perhaps a much better way than we might spend it ourselves.
Thanks again to all who attended this annual event, congrats to the new MJFs, remember that the two major reasons for belonging to a service club is first and foremost, "Service" and then "Friendship". Northside has had these two most important factors for over 30 years and we will continue to be a good club as long as we stay true to our calling.
President Dennis
As you can see if you weren’t there you missed a great time.
Everyone had a good time visiting and renewing old friendships and catching up on things.
At the same time we were privileged to be able to honor those in our
midst that are always there to step up to the plate and go the extra mile.
Congratulations to one and all and we’ll see you again next year!
Well, I guess that’s it for another month folks. This is getting closer to what I’m trying to create as far as the look and content of our newsletter. There are several more bits of info that I will be including as I get a source for it. If you have any suggestions or ideas as to what you would like included in or changed in the newsletter please let me know. So ‘til next month ……. God Bless one and all! ……………….Den
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