Springfield Southeast Lions Club
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 Come join us for lunch Tuesday 12:00  Noon. 3260 E. Battlefield Price Cutter  Restaurant. You  will be Welcomed!

                   

Follow the Roar of Lions One of the many advantages of being a Lion is that a lot of the groundwork for doing good has already been laid. Have a soft spot in your heart for youth? You can get your club involved in Lions Quest, Leos or the Peace Poster contest. Interested in improving the lives of people in other nations? There is our UNICEF School in a Box program. Are you moved by the suffering of people in natural disasters? You can join our ALERT program to minimize the effects of calamities or contribute to LCIF when large-scale disasters hit. These Lions' programs should be a priority for your club, in fact. Let's not lose foot soldiers to other people's armies. Unfortunately, in some cases, we Lions tend to gravitate to the programs of other organizations. We help then out. We give them our resources. Partnerships are great. We want them and need them. But let's not give away the store. Let's often take the lead role in improving our communities. Let's put Lions programs first and front and center. Let's partner with one another. I can think of no better partner for Lions than other Lions. Sometimes we're too eager to give so much credit and support for non-Lions causes, and we don't connect with Lions across town, across the country and around the world. We have this network in place. We need to take advantage of it. At the same time let's also support our established Lions partners. Again, as a Lion we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We have very effective partnerships in place to enhance our community service. We work with great groups like Special Olympics on our Opening Eyes program. We build homes with Habitat for Humanity. We hold off river blindness through our partnership with the Carter Center. We have programs in place that can further a club's service and can take it to the next level. You don't have to do it alone. You don't always need to blaze new trails. Some of the heavy lifting has already been done. Take your ener­gies and passions and join them with these programs and partners we have and you'll be amazed at what your club can help accomplish. We can perform the many miracles of service we do because the Lions that came before us as well as those who do service alongside us now gave us traditions of service that we need to continue to honor. Albert F. Brandel. President     The International Association of Lions Clubs

                  

                   
  Challenging Times Call for Prudent Change

Lions in India perform service by combining ancient healing practices 'With the most modern technology. The Mumbai Su Jok Lions Club promotes relief from pain and disease through   Su Jok therapy, which involves stimulation of the hands and feet. Lions have made videos on this self-help treatment method that can be found on You Tube, Yahoo video and other popular video sharing Web sites. The videos raise awareness of Lions and also foster donations and lead to new members.

Give credit for these Lions in India for being innovative, progressive and entrepreneurial. It's highly unlikely your club is prepared to create a video on Su Jok or even a video on any other topic. But there is no reason your club cannot be similarly innovative, progressive and entrepreneurial.

Lions, we are faced with challenging times. Membership is a concern. We need to attract more members. We need to appeal to younger people. We need to reach out to women. We remain the greatest service organization in the world. But it is true that there is strength in numbers. We can do more with more members.

Change does not come easily for any large organization. This is especially true for one with a history as long and as successful .as Lions Clubs International. But change should not be feared. We will stay true to our funda­mental ideals while creatively adapting to a world in transition.

The experience of the Mumbai Su Jok Lions Club is instructive. They part­nered with the Ministry of Defense to conduct classes on Su Jok; the plan is to train more than 100,000 cadets. The Lions used their standing in the communi­ty to wisely reach out to another important community member. They leveraged their skills and social ties.

Every club has talents and connections it can leverage. The idea is to engage others, to be pro-active, to link to people and groups that further our service aims as well as help spur membership growth. Please don't dwell on how you currently do things. Dream about new ways to provide service, hold meetings and build membership. Tap into your club's talents and its creativity. Other clubs have done it successfully and your club can do it, too. The only thing holding us back from growth is ourselves. Let's build on the past to create a great future for Lions in your community and worldwide.

Sincerely,
Lion Mahendra  Amarasuriya Past
President The International Association of Lions Club.