A Year of Giving Through LCIF

Dear Lion, Every year at this time, I send my personal greetings to you, the members of my Lions family. This year is no different, except I want to take the extra time to reflect on what we have accomplished together through our Foundation. Thanks to your donations and your service, we have met needs all over the world and made a great impact in many people's lives. Together, we met the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's challenge grant to raise US$10 million for measles. Through this major accomplishment, we helped vaccinate 157 million children against measles in 2012. Lions also provided disaster relief worldwide following typhoons, flooding, tornadoes, wildfires and other disasters this year. One recent example is Superstorm Sandy in the United States. Many Lions gave generously, and even Lions who were affected by the storm were out serving their communities the next day. In addition to disaster relief, Lions and LCIF have been continuing to fight preventable blindness. When I was in Thailand for the 10 year celebration of Sight for Kids with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, I was able to see the impact that a simple vision screening can have in a child's life. It is easy to see why organizations like Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb, The Carter Center and more partner with us in our efforts to save sight. Our Foundation has also supported youth in many ways during this year. The Lions Quest program is continually growing to help provide children with positive life skills. The U.S. State Department is helping the program expand in Africa, while the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is working with Lions Quest curriculum in Central Asia and Southeastern Europe. I am amazed at all the different kinds of service that we are able to provide together. Though I have been Chairperson of our Foundation for just six months, it is easy to see all the good that we have accomplished this past year, and every year since the Foundation was created. All of our accomplishments are because of your generous donations. I invite you to see the impact your donations have made by viewing this video. As this year ends, I look forward to a new year full of service and caring. Though we always pray for no disaster and diseases in this world, they still happen. Please continue your support to LCIF so that we can strive for a better world to live in with no disaster and diseases in the coming future. Sincerely, Wing-Kun Tam Chairperson, Lions Clubs International Foundation District 132 Macedonia (FYROM) Implements Lions Quest In December, District 132 Macedonia (FYROM) is hosting the country's first Lions Quest teacher training workshop. This project will help create and foster the spirit of community service and social responsibility. In the pilot year, 250 students will be taught social and emotional learning, including anti-bullying, substance abuse prevention and how to interact with others in a positive way. District 132 Macedonia (FYROM) is the 78th country to begin a Lions Quest program. Lions Quest curriculum has been translated into 36 languages. Watch Relief Efforts Following Superstorm Sandy When Superstorm Sandy hit the United States, Lions immediately went to work. In this video, watch how Lions supported each other and their local communities during a time of need. Note: This message has been sent to all Lions clubs members.

25th Annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest

Lions Clubs International Peace Poster Contest

The theme for the 2013 contest is “Imagine Peace”.  In the past we have sponsored contests at Elkins Pointe Middle School,  Crabapple Middle School, The Cottage School and Queen of Angels Catholic School. Posters will be judged at the beginning of November. This contest is for boys and girls ages 11 – 13 years old. The winners of the 2013 contest will each received a $100 check and will be honored at a dinner meeting. One poster from each contest will advance to the District 18-A Contest. Contest rules can be viewed at Peace Poster Rules and Guidelines page.

Mabank student moves up in poster contest

Original Article

Posted by : Monitor Admin | On : December 27, 2012

Category:Clubs, People

Courtesy Photo
Mabank Intermediate School sixth grader Lauren Davidson wins the local Lions Club poster contest “Imagine Peace.” Davidson now advances to the multi-district competition for a chance to win the international grand prize of $5,000 and a trip for two to Lions Day with the United Nations.

Special to The Monitor
MABANK–Mabank Intermediate School sixth grader Lauren Davidson has taken her first step to becoming an internationally recognized artist by winning a local competition sponsored by the Mabank Cedar Creek Lions Club.
Davidson’s poster was among more than 30 entries locally and more than 375,000 entries submitted worldwide in the 25th annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest.
Lions Clubs International sponsors the contest to emphasize the importance of world peace to young people everywhere.
Her poster illustrated the contest theme “Imagine Peace” by showing an angel holding a cross in one hand and releasing doves from the other hand as her arms open up over the seas and mountains.
“I can’t imagine peace without God in it,” Davidson said. The poster was selected by Lion Club members for its originality, artistic merit and portrayal of the contest theme.”
Mabank Cedar Creek Lions Club president, Edna Beltz said she was impressed by the expression and creativity of the students at Mabank Intermediate School who entered the contest through Mrs. Borden’s art classes.
“It is obvious that these young people have strong ideas about what peace means to them and they are all very creative. I’m so proud that we were able to provide them with the opportunity to share their visions,” Beltz said.
Davidson’s poster will advance to face stiff competition through the district. Competition in multiple districts and international rounds are needed to be declared the international grand prize winner.
One grand prize winner and 23 merit award winners will be selected. The grand prize includes a cash award of $5,000, plus a trip for the winner and two family members to the awards ceremony at Lions Day with the United Nations. The 23 merit award winners will each receive a certificate and a cash award of $500.
“Our club is cheering for Lauren as her poster advances in the competition, and we hope that her vision will ultimately be shared with others around the world,” Beltz said. Past international grand prize and merit award winners can be viewed at www.lions-clubs.org.
Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.3 million members in 45,00 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographic areas.
In addition to its efforts toward conquering blindness, the organization has made a strong commitment to community service, promoting peace and helping youth throughout the world.

Relax, Christmas is over!

Leos Club Visits Orphanage to Celebrate Christmas

The pictures below are from a Malaysia Leos Club Blog:  

Visit to Orphanage

On 18 Dec , Leo Club of SMK USJ 4 visited a orphanage in Kepong to celebrate Christmas with them!

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON CHRISTMAS EVE 1941

I spend this anniversary and festival far from my country, far from my family, yet I cannot 

truthfully say that I feel far from home. Whether it be the ties of blood on my mother’s side, 

or the friendships I have developed here over many years of active life, or the commanding

sentiment of comradeship in the common cause of great peoples who speak the same 

language, who kneel at the same altars and, to a very large extent, pursue the same ideals, 

I cannot feel myself a stranger here in the centre and at the summit of the United States. I 

feel a sense of unity and fraternal association which, added to the kindliness of your 

welcome, convinces me that I have a right to sit at your fireside and share your Christmas 

joys.


This is a strange Christmas Eve. Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle, and, 

with the most terrible weapons which science can devise, the nations advance upon each 

other. Ill would it be for us this Christmastide if we were not sure that no greed for the land 

or wealth of any other people, no vulgar ambition, no morbid lust for material gain at the 

expense of others, had led us to the field. Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring 

over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the 

tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous 

heart.


Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, 

and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then, for one 

night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly-lighted 

island of happiness and peace.


Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas 

delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we 

turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our 

sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied 

their right to live in a free and decent world.


And so, in God’s mercy, a happy Christmas to you all.


-Winston Churchill

'Night Flights' raises about $14,000 for charity

Original Article

Local helicopter firm, Flying Lions team up

Posted: December 24, 2012 - 12:05am

People wait in line at the Juneau International Airport for a $30 helicopter ride over the Mendenhall Valley on Friday evening. The "Christmas Light Night Flights" event raised a record-setting $14,000 for charity.

By EMILY RUSSO MILLER

JUNEAU EMPIRE

Coastal Helicopters and the Mendenhall Flying Lions Club raised a record-setting figure during Friday’s ‘Christmas Light Night Flights’ fundraiser.

Neil Atkinson, the project organizer for the Lions Club, says about 470 people turned out for the $30 helicopter rides over the Mendenhall Valley, which raised about $14,100.

“It was an awesome turnout,” Atkinson said.

Three helicopters chartered a total of 81 flights to and from the airport from about 4:30 p.m. to a little after 9 p.m. Passengers could see the glimmer of the glacier and the Christmas lights on the houses below during the roughly 10-minute flight.

Pilot Dustin Carroll said they would have kept flying later into the night, but they wanted to be neighborly and not disturb residents at night. It was the first year they had to turn people away who were waiting at the airport, but “we got most people that came through,” Carroll said.

Half the proceeds from the event go to the helicopter company, which donates all the money to the Children’s Tumor Foundation, a nonprofit which seeks treatments and cures for Neurofibromatosis.

The other half of the proceeds goes to the Lions Club for their Sight Projects Fund. The club provides vision screening for children and students in Southeast Alaska to detect pediatric eye disorders.

Last year, the event raised somewhere between $9,200 to $9,5000.

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