Zone Dinner Sept 24, 2013

George & I attended the Zone Dinner at Hawks Prairie Restaurant on September 24th.  We arrived around 6 PM and stayed until about 8:45.  

Donna announced that District 6 will be having a special project this year.  A Lions Cookbook.  We all have been asked to submit recipes with pictures and Lion stories.  The cookbooks will be put up on Amazon in both the Kindle (ebook) edition and a print on demand edition.  (Unless someone has a better idea.)  

The president from each club was sent homework to complete for the Zone C6 District Governor Advisory Meeting.  Someone from each Lion club in District 6 got up and spoke about their club - using their homework to guide their speech.  

George's Homework:

Zone C6 - District Governor Advisory (Zone) Meeting Assignment

For our 1^st meeting on 9/24/2013, I would like each club to provide the following information:

Our Current Membership is: 26    Our Membership Growth Goal is: +2

LCI needs my club because:  (this can be how you touch your community, why we are serving, how we affect our neighborhood etc.)  

Because we care about our community.  We are very involved with our local civic groups and attend as many other club meetings as we possibly can.

We are excited about:  

Bringing our community together by interacting with all aspects of the community and its non-profit organizations – supporting each other with good communication.

The one thing we would change if we could:

We are changing the attitudes of the community towards Lions by being an active part of the local community and supporting our community needs and events.

One thing you would like from your Zone Chair:

Lower dues and possibly offer scholarships available - to new members covering the first year’s dues –as they see if they fit into our Lions Clubs.

We are in a perpetual state of change and we need to accept the change to continue to grow as a relevant organization.  Thanks for all you do!

George's SPEECH:

I was given 3 minutes to speak.  Instead of speaking about “what we do” I thought I’d speak about “how we do things.”  I read a quote from Albert Einstein at last night’s meeting – which kind of sums up our direction.

“We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”—The same can be said for the way we do things.

We have to change the way we’re doing things - and the Rainier Lions are succeeding.  We have been trying a new approach to our community over the past three years.  It’s the Rainier Lions not the Lions of Rainier- The difference is who comes first.  Our community comes first. 

For us the approach of putting the community first is starting to pay dividends. At the last two Lions meetings we have had eight prospective new members attend.  Last night four were not invited - they just showed up - wanting more information about what we do and they expressed an interest in making our community a better place to live.

We attend a lot of meetings around town including sports events – meet with the superintendent of schools – attend city council meetings, Senior Center, Food Bank, Booster Club events, Historical Society, Cub & Boy Scouts, people who work at city hall, church leaders, businesses - and we have a good relationship with the area newspaper.

We try to share as much information as we can about what’s going on while wearing our Lions name tag, jacket or ball cap. 

We were unable to start a Leo’s club but are having success in starting a youth group called Rainier ROCS in cooperation with Rainier Community Cares. (Together) ROCS stands for Rainier Organization of Caring Students.  It’s not LEOS, but its kids working together in community service.

We feel that doing the same thing the same way is setting a course down the one way road of attrition.  If you’re coasting – you’re going downhill.

We recently partnered with and gave a few small fund raisers over to Cub & Boy Scouts, Senior Center, the Food Bank and Rainier Community Gardens to help give them exposure and some needed money to aide their groups.  We have built a solid relationship with them, knowing we support their efforts, as well as our own.

It has taken three years of persistence and rejection to get to where us we are today – always with a smile on our faces.  I feel our club is helping build a strong future for ourselves and our community.   

Building a strong community requires effort, persistence and commitment. 

Yes, we have lost some of our old members, but we have gained - new members with new approaches, ideas and commitment for community.  Who knows where we’ll wind-up.  All I know for sure is that we are moving ahead and gathering momentum.