President’s Message... by King Lion Bruce

Greetings, I hope this message finds you well and with the cold winter weather beginning to fade. While at this time of the year we are in a bit of a lull, I just wanted to bring you up to date on a few club related items.  No More Dinner Meetings At the December board meeting, and by majority vote, the board voted to eliminate our evening meal and meeting experiment and revert back to the luncheon meeting for the second meeting each month and to return to Harpoon’s for that meeting.  The reason we went to the evening meetings was in an effort to attract new members, who might find it inconvenient to attend luncheon meetings.  While attendance was good for the evening meetings, this appeared to be more the result of spouses attending, rather than making it more attractive for existing members and potential new members—who couldn’t attend mid-day meetings.  No doubt also dooming this experiment was the unevenness of the food and service afforded us at Peaky’s.  Regardless, the majority of the board deemed our experiment to be unsuccessful and it was therefore scrapped. No Member Meetings in January (2^nd meeting), as well as in February and March, 2016 Again for the second year, the second meeting in January, as well as both member meetings in February and March were canceled and summer meetings substituted.  The primary reason for this was in recognition of the fact that so many of our members flee to the south in the winter months.  (In order to make our meetings as interesting as possible, we like to have a program at each, but it became embarrassing to have a speaker when so few were in attendance.) In lieu of these winter meetings, we convened once a month member meetings in the summer, when more of our members were available and for the purpose of ‘jump starting’ the new Lions year, which begins in July.  Schedule of Member Meetings for the Lions New Year, beginning in July  This is very much up to the board, based on the preferences of our membership.  I anticipate that the new board-elect, which will be elected at the second meeting in April, will meet and decide the schedule for the upcoming year.  Please take the time to let board members know your thoughts on this.  This is your club! In the meantime, Schedule of Calendar Events for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends in June may be seen on the Calendar of Events Tab Club Picnic scheduled for Sunday, May 22^nd Please note that a club picnic, to be held at Camp Barnes, has been added to our spring calendar. CPl. Shawn Hatfield, who manages Camp Barnes, has penciled us in for this date.  I have asked Abi Buchler, advisor to the Indian River High School LEO Club, if she thought that the LEO Club members would like to join us for an afternoon of fun.  I have also suggested to both Laura Quillen (past advisor) and to Abi, that if their members wanted to join us, if they would plan the activities for the afternoon—suitable for both LEOs and Lions—it might be fun.  This would also be a nice way of saying “Thank You” to the LEOs for all they have done over the past year. Aluminum Cans Continued to be collected and Recycled Thanks to the efforts of Lions Tom and Linda St.Clair, the aluminum cans accumulating in our collection bins throughout the area are being collected on a regular basis.  While, unfortunately, the price of aluminum is way down, this continues to be an important fundraiser for our club. Meals-on-Wheels Program Continues to Serve Homebound Seniors Thanks to Lion Larry Kovacs and his faithful group of volunteers, our club’s Meals-on-Wheels program is able to, week- in and week-out, offer both nourishment and friendship to homebound seniors.  Each month something over 500 meals and fellowship is offered by this dedicated group of volunteers.    The Slate of Officers for the New Year At the December board meeting the board of directors approved a slate of officers and the board for next year.  This was presented to our members at the January luncheon meeting and will be voted on by at the April 18^th luncheon meeting.  Proposed officers for next year are President—Dick Waughtal, 1^st VP—Linda St.Clair, 2^nd VP—Fran Fran Pretty, 3^rd VP Tom St.Clair, Secretary—Theresa Pitman and Treasurer—Bill Neimiller.  Thank you to each of these Lions for agreeing to serve. Scholarships for IRHS Seniors In late January, Fran Pretty finalized our application process for club scholarships and delivered them to the Indian River High School.  In late April, the Scholarship Committee will review the applications and interview the students and in late May the scholarships will be presented at the school’s annual Awards Night.  If you wish to serve on this committee, please let Fran know. Budget (for next year) Meeting to be held in early May As tradition has it, a meeting will be held in early May for the purpose of proposing our administrative and activity budget for the coming year.  This will be presented to the board at its meeting in May and to the membership at our June 20^th luncheon meeting. Lions MD-22 Convention to be held in Hagerstown, MD May 16-19th This annual event, which attracts Lions from our Multiple District—Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia—is being held this year in Hagerstown, MD.  The primary thing on the schedule for Monday is the charity golf match.  Highlights of Tuesday, May 17^th include the Melvin Jones Luncheon, as well as some interesting seminars and the banquet.  On Wednesday, May 18^th is the Lions Memorial Service, again some interesting seminars and in the evening a hospitality event and on Thursday are the District elections and a luncheon.  For whatever it is worth, Sharon and I plan on attending the convention on Tuesday and Wednesday only.   Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser Saturday, June 4^th Our annual Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser, overseen by Lions Jim Stone and Bob Pretty—and assisted by our ever faithful IRHS LEOs—will be held for the 28^th year at Harpoon Hanna’s on Saturday morning June 6^th.  Tickets and promotional material will be available by the first meeting in May. Four Stars for Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) We should all be very proud of the fact that LCIF again received the highest ranking for a charity… as reported in this month’s Lions Magazine: For the fourth consecutive year, Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator, recently awarded LCIF four stars, the highest ranking a charity can receive. Based in New Jersey, Charity Navigator evaluates the financial health, accountability and transparency of more than 8,000 charities to help donors be better informed about where they give. Only 8 percent of the charities it has rated have received a four-star rating for four consecutive years. "The rating confirms what many Lions already know—LCIF is a great way to make a difference in the lives of people," says LCIF Chairperson Joe Preston of Arizona. "Our foundation is adept at maximizing the value of the donations it receives from Lions." My Best Regards, Bruce Schoonover