Another Year Come and Gone

The Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions is a small club by most standards.  We have 22 members but broken down, 4 members live out of town/state and 3 members are inactive which leave 15 active members.  Of those active members, 8 members work and 7 members are retired.

So what can a club of 15 active members do in a year's time?  Let me show you:

July:

• We had a 4th of July booth at the parade staging area where we offered hot coffee and pastries to participants while they waited for the parade to start.  We made $364.  
• Picked up trash on the road that takes you to the Mendenhall Glacier.
  

August: 

• Assisted Helping Hands prepare for a fundraiser.  
• Donated $100 to the Center for the Blind.
• Our meeting place closed (The Broiler) and we had to relocate.

September:

• We had our second litter pick up in September.
• Vision Screening efforts took place at Glacier Baptist  Academy, Floyd Dryden Middle School, Riverbend Elementary, and Angoon Schools.
  

October: 

• Celebrated 50 years of Lionism and Serving our Community with Lion Bruce Wing.  
• Participated in the Recycle for Sight Community Drive where we asked the community to donate their used eyeglasses; 245 pair of eyeglasses were donated.  
• Donated $5,000 to Family Promise.
• Collected and shipped 1,460 pair of eyeglasses to the Aurora Borealis Recycle Center at the North Pole.
• Vision screening efforts took place at:  Gustavus, Headstart, Gastineau Elementary, Early Learning Fair for Babies and Infants, Harborview Elementary, Montessori, and Wrangell schools.
  

November:  

• Annual Barbecue at McGivneys where we raised $3,060 for the Alaska Diabetes Association.  
• Donated $250 to the Bethel Winterhouse after the fire.
• Braved the weather to honor and remember the sailors of the USS Juneau at the USS Juneau Remembrance Ceremony.
• Participated in the Radio Center Annual Food Drive.  Collected food, went to jail, unloaded the buses, and stocked food at the Food Bank.
• Vision screening efforts took place in Sitka.  
• Delivered 20 pair of men’s wool socks, 12 pair women’s, and 4 nice ski gloves to Front Street Clinic for the homesless.  
• Donated $500 to Ronald McDonald House
• Donated $500 to Camp K, a camp for children with Type 1 Diabetes.  

December:

• Donated $500 to Shop With A Cop
• Had a Christmas social where members brought toys to give to the needy.  
• Delivered collected toys to St. Vincents.
• Inducted three new members.
• Donated $300 to St. Vincents
• Donated $300 to the AWARE Center 
• Rang the Salvation Army Bell
• Donated $500 to Salvation Army
• Annual Light Flights fundraiser.  Raised $10,795.  Coastal Helicopter pilots and staff donate their time for this event as well as fuel is donated.  Coastal donated $5,397 to the Children's Tumor Foundation and $5,397 went into Lions projects.

January:

• Served lunch at the Glory Hole, a homeless shelter. 
  

February:

• USS Juneau Social at Buoy Deck for Military and Veterans
• USS Juneau Reception for Legislators and other dignitaries
• USS Juneau Reception open to the public
• Vision Screening Efforts:  Legislative Affairs Health Fair
• Provided New Member Orientation to three new members and their sponsor.  
• Inducted a new member, Lion Bob Nielsen
  

March:  

• Vision Screening Efforts:  Gold Medal, Raven Home School, Faith Community Church.
• Donated $250 to Shepherd of the Valley Church food pantry
• Donated $176 to Leader Dog
• Donated $3,100 to Alaska Diabetes Association

April:

• Litter Pick Up
• Vision Screening Efforts:  Juneau Community Church, Cordova schools, Anchorage Kids Day, Early Learning Fair, Skagway Child Find, Skagway Health Fair
• Had a Social
• Hosted 2nd Vice District Governor Jeannine Morse's club visit
• Donated $100 to the Newtok Water Project 
• Donated $250 to the Harborview Extended Summer Program 
• Delivered donated sport-cut fish to the local food banks and pantries.  This is fish that was caught, processed, but never picked up. 

May:

• Helped Swampy Acres at their annual Family Farm Day
• Offered a Scholarship of $500 for Elias Antaya
• Had our first annual Meet and Greet, a recruitment effort to get new members.
• Donated $100 for Beep Baseball in Anchorage.
• Delivered more fish fish fish to Shepherd of the Valley, Glory Hole, Helping Hands, and Southeast Alaska Food Bank

June:  

• Set up a table at the Nugget Mall to share what we do
• Assisted Shepherd of the Valley Church with their annual Block Party.  We provide a bicycle obstacle course and talk about bicycle safety.  
• Assist Helping Hands with their weekly food distribution
• Placed flowers at the USS Juneau Memorial to honor the other two USS Juneau ships.  
• Delivered more fish fish fish to Shepherd of the Valley, Glory Hole, Helping Hands, and Southeast Alaska Food Bank.  Total fish and wild game delivered, approximately 1,500 pounds!!!!
• Planted a Crimsom King Maple at the American Legion Post.  Tree was donated by Glacier Gardens.  
• End of year social and induction of new officers.  

Joint Sight Committee (September to present):  Approved 10 applications for financial assistance

for a total of $3,201 

TOTAL DONATIONS for 2015-2016:  $15,627

VISION SCREENING EFFORTS:

            Screened 1,891 children

            Referred 280

            At 20 locations

This is what an active club looks like!  Alone, we can do a little, but with a little help from everyone, we can accomplish great things!  

We Serve!

Lion Nancy Norton

A Little of This and a Little of That

As the Lion year is coming to a close, it's a good time to stop and reflect on the year and to thank your members for all their hard work.

It's a known fact that some Lions have more time to contribute than others.  And that's okay.  But every single Lion needs to be recognized for every little thing they do.  Big or small.

We had our end-of-year party recently.  It was a combination social, award ceremony, and induction of incoming officers.

We ate.  Plenty.

We had a good time.

We laughed.

We ate some more.

Then came the serious part of the evening.... awards and recognition.  Lion Donna presented Lion President Mike Norton with a plaque for his leadership as President from 2013 to 2016 and his service to the community.

Lion Mike Norton, Lion Donna Hurley

Lions were then awarded their 100% Attendance pins.  All members of our club qualified between attending meetings and attending events!

We had several letters (with Chevrons) from International President Yamada recognizing and thanking certain Lions for their years of service:

Lion Bruce Wing:  50 Year Chevron

Lion Ted Quinn:  25 Year Chevron

Donna Hurley:  15 Year Chevron

Lion Sue Bowman, 15 Year Chevron

Congratulations to all!  That's a LOT of service!  

Last, but not least, induction of incoming officers.  We have another great team coming on board!  Great potential to lead, learn, mentor, and work hard.  Our incoming officers are:

Lion Donna Hurley, President

Lion Soapy Lingle, Vice President

Lion Nancy Norton, Secretary

Lion Bob Hurley, Treasurer

Lion Becky Allison, Membership Chair

Lion Tom Dawson, Tailtwister

Lion Susan Albury, 1 Year Director

Lion Mukhya Khalsa, 2 Year Director

Lion Mike Norton, Immediate Past President

Lions Becky Allison (left), Nancy Norton, Donna Hurley, Tom Dawson, Mukhya Khalsa, Soapy Lingle, Bob Hurley (right)

Lion Donna Hurley was a little shocked to hear her name after, "Lion of the Year is...."!  Yes, Lion Donna deserved our Club recognition as Lion of the Year!  

It was a good night, with good friends.

We Serve!
Lion Nancy Norton

Year in Review

As another Lion year comes to a close, it seems a good time to reflect on the past twelve months.

It's true that being a Lion is a commitment of time, time that is precious to each and every one of us.  We all have our personal lives, separate from Lions.  Some of us work, some are retired, some of us are retired but work.  Some have families to raise.  Some have multiple jobs.  Some are involved in multiple volunteer organizations.

My point is, we're all busy.  And now we're asked to do more with Lions.

Every single member in our club is appreciated for their efforts this past year.  Because of each of you, we had a busy and full Lion year.  Take a look:

• Did two litter pick ups along the glacier road.
• Provided vision screening at the Back to School Fair and Fall Early Learning Fair
• Provided vision screening at Raven home school
• Had a social where we inducted Lions Susan, Mukhya, and Hari Dev
• Provided vision screening at Auke Bay Co-op and Valley Baptist Academy preschools
• Provided vision screening at the Alaska Health Fair and HCCMCA
• Traveled to Wrangell, Gustavus, Angoon, and Petersburg to do vision screening
• Recycle for Sight Drive where we collected 192 pair of used eyeglasses
• Shipped 1,872 pair of eyeglasses to the Aurora Borealis Recycle Center
• Had our annual barbecue fundraiser to benefit the American Diabetes Association and made $3,750
• Provided vision screening at Juneau Community Charter School and Riverbend Elementary.  
• Had our Lions Pack community drive where we asked for donations for infants.  
• Had a food drive to benefit Hoonah.
• Participated in the Foster Care Gift Giving event.  
• Had a blast at Light Flights.  This fundraiser brought in $18,000
• Rang the Salvation Army bell
• Provided vision screening at the Legislative Health Fair and tried having a booth at the Nugget Mall for two months in a row where we provided screening
• Provided vision screening at Mendenhall River Elementary and Alaska Health Fair
• Helped the food bank put away three bus loads of donations that Rotary collected
• Helped at Gold Medal Basketball Tournament
• Entertained the District Governor during her visit and the incoming District Governor during his visit
• Helped out at the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Ceremony
• Provided vision screening at the Spring Early Learning Fair.
• Partnered with Rotary at Heavy Equipment Day
• Helped out at Family Farm Day at Swampy Acres
• Helped clean out Lion Bruce's life treasures and did a dump run
• Partnered with Shepherd of the Valley Church with Bicycle Safety Rodeo
• Had a garage sale to benefit our Admin Account.  Made over $1,200.  

A huge "thank you" to each and everyone of you who helped make 2014-2015 a great year of serving not only our community but that of Southeast.  

Yes, it takes a village to take care of our neighbors.  Where there's a need, there's a Lion.  

We Serve!

Lion Nancy Norton

When an Incoming DG Visits

Living in Southeast Alaska can leave one feeling isolated from the rest of the state at times.

And this is true for Lions.  It's more difficult to build a relationship with members from other local clubs because there might not be any nearby.  Attending new charters, fundraising events, and even regular club meetings is difficult to near impossible.

So we travel to conventions and conferences to be a part of the bigger picture, to meet new Lions, to meet up with old friends, to have a connection.

But when a Lion comes to Juneau to see us, it's always an honor and helps bridge that gap a little.
 

We had the privilege of entertaining District Governor Elect Lion Mike Brown this last weekend.  TWO WHOLE DAYS worth of picking his brain, hearing his goals for this coming Lion year, laughing, and feeling a part of the bigger picture.  It was great!

While here, the Mendenhall Flying Lions had a social where members could meet Lion Mike Brown and learn, first hand, what his year is going to be like.  We also took advantage of so many members in one place and had our end-of-year social where Lion President Mike gave out awards.   Below is Lion Allen Butner receiving a much deserved award for all his hard work in changing banking institutes.

End of year awards were presented to members.  All Lions received a Centennial pin for their 100% attendance award, Lion Neil Atkinson received a camouflage hat because he's already received every award imaginable, and Lion Nancy received Lion of the Year award for MFLC.

DG Elect Lion Mike also inducted incoming officers.  As you can tell, we all take our roles very seriously!

It was a great evening of fun!  Thanks to Lion Mike Brown for making it special and to all members who took time out of their busy schedules to join us!

During our down time, we did some sight seeing, met up with a couple members from the Juneau Lions Club, and got a better idea of what our next Lion year is going to be like.  Fun!  

Another successful Lion year almost over!

We Serve! 
Lion Nancy Norton
LIONS#100

Awards for 2012-2013

At the end-of-year social last night, some of the fun was the award portion.  Lion President Joey put a lot of thought and consideration into the gifts she selected for each Lion. 

Lion Neil was compared to an elephant... yea, an elephant.... Not because of any physical attributes, but for his memory.  Whenever we need to know something, Lion Neil is the go-to guy.  He has been a member since the Charter of the Club on May 23, 1983, and is the official historian.  Today we're thankful that Neil is our leader and our mentor. 

He received this plush little elephant stuffed animal and a much-deserved Chevron for his 30 years.  Congratulations to Lion Neil!

Lions Chad and Joe hamming it up. 

Lion Allen justly deserved his award for jumping right in and getting involved.  Not only is he personally involved in all the club's activities, but he has his Boy Scout Troop help out whenever there's a need as well.

And anyone looking at this picture below will take a double look, thinking something's just not right.... but not knowing exactly what it is....

But here's the rest of the story!  Our tallest and shortest members of the club! 

Lion Becky got an award for being the outstanding club secretary she is.  What more is there to say?  Her first year was incredible.  It was said that this year things might make more sense.

Lion Joe was President Joey's right-hand man this past year, chairing meetings in her absence, taking the lead whenever she needed it. You need someone you can count on.

Lion Bruce has had more than his share of health challenges over the last few years, but he's never missed a meeting unless he was physically unable.  This is a true Lion.

President Joey was, shall we say, giddy over giving this next award to Lion Mike.  It was for being the Club Treasurer this past year, but what she's really happy about is Lion Mike will be the upcoming President for 2013-2014, and for that, SHE'S thankful!  We look forward to good things from Lion Mike as the incoming President as well as from Lion Joey as one of his worker bees. 

 

Last, but not least, Lion Mike got Lion of the Year award.  Lion Mike's involvement in the club shouldn't be taken lightly.  He has a passion for what he does and why he does it.  His reason for being a Lion is simple:  To help others and give back to the community.  As members know, they can always count on Lion Mike to be there for them on an individual basis or in a group setting.  

And just when we thought all the award giving was done, Incoming President Lion Mike A. had a presentation for Outgoing President Lion Joey for her hard work and involvement in the club this past year.  What better gift to relieve the stress and strain but a gift card for Rejuvenation Spa!  Yep.... this is one gift card that won't go to waste! 

Being a Lion isn't about receiving an award or the public recognition, but it's a feel good moment to know that other's notice the work you've done.

This club has an incredible group of members.  All with their own strengths, abilities, and passion to get the job done.  They all mesh together, each doing what they do best.  Some members may have more time to spend than others, and that's okay. Everyone has their own strengths and when they volunteer their time and effort to put it to use, not only is the club a winner but the community as well. It all balances out, the work gets done, members can feel proud that they had a part in making Juneau a better place.

It's Not Over Until It's Over

Past experience shows that when it gets close to the end of the Lion's Fiscal Year, Clubs tend to gear down....  They're not as busy with projects, activities, or fundraisers.  Recruitment of new members may stop.  Terms are coming to an end and officers might feel their job is done. 

But it's not over until it's over!  There's still work to do, people to help, causes to contribute.  Lions should never put off until tomorrow... what they can do today.  Because tomorrow will bring a whole new set of causes, requests, and people needing our help. 

The Lions Fiscal Year goes from July 1 through June 30 of each year.  New officers come on board July 1.  June is a good time to start cleaning out files and purging information that should be kept with the permanent Club folders in the storage unit. 

Secretary's should remember that they are the keeper of Club information, minutes, and the like and they need to be kept and filed with previous years. 

This is also a good time to start training the new officers, pass the torch, give them all the help you can so they can start off July 1 armed with the knowledge they need to do their job effectively, efficiently, and with ease. 

New Officers:  Don't be afraid to reach out to other officers or senior members for training and help.  If you have a question, ask someone. There's several seasoned members in the Club that will be more than happy to help you get on your feet. 

Good luck!  And remember.... don't be afraid to ask for help!