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

Induction of 2015-2016 Officers

It seems like just yesterday when I was posting our induction for this year at a social at Lion Neil Atkinson's home.  And, now, here we are again.

District Governor Elect Lion Mike Brown was in town this past weekend to meet members and share his plans for the coming year, and this was a great opportunity to have him induct our incoming officers for 2015-2016.  He agreed!

Left to right, front row:  DG Elect Lion Mike Brown (from Kodiak), Lion Mukhya Khah (incoming Secretary), Lion Nancy Norton (incoming Membership Chair), Lion Donna Hurley (Vice President), Lion Bob Hurley (incoming 2 Year Director).  Back row:  Lion Mike Norton (President), Lion Tom Dawson (Tailtwister), and Lion Allen (Treasurer).  Not shown is our Immediate Past President Lion Mike Allison.

We have a GREAT group of officers for the 2015-2016 year!

We Serve!
Lion Nancy Norton
LIONS#100

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

Ride Them Bicycles!

The Mendenhall Flying Lions partnered with Shepherd of the Valley Church yesterday for their annual Bicycle Safety Rodeo and fun fair.

This year we decided to partner with them, rather than doing our own, and had a great time doing so!
The goal at this event is bicycle safety.  Unclaimed bicycles are retrieved from the Juneau Police Department and repaired; children could bring their own bicycles and have them tuned up.  If a child didn't have a helmet, he could get one here.

Outside was a course for bikers to ride through and practice their concentration, control, and stability.  Some kids went through this course dozens of times and we even got an "this is awesome!"  They started out at the "crosswalk" learning what to do when they came upon one, learning to watch for crazy pedestrians texting and not paying attention themselves, and then maneuvered down a path that got narrower and narrower.  That took them into a circle where they practiced balance and control, and then came into the home stretch, weaving in and out of construction cones.

Inside was hot dogs and games for the kids to play.

JPD also showed up and shared their Cop on Bike riding techniques with the kids!

All in all, it was a fun afternoon!  #LIONS100

We Serve!
Lion Nancy Norton

Heavy Equipment Day

Recently the Mendenhall Flying Lions partnered with Juneau Downtown Rotary to bring some BIG fun to local children. Heavy Equipment Day took place on Sunday, May 3, at Grant's Plaza/Western Auto.

What exactly IS Heavy Equipment Day?

It's when you  get all kinds of big, heavy construction equipment and emergency vehicles together in one place and let children climb on, around, and into them!

This was a fun event for all ages, even Lions!

Families could buy three rides for $5.00.  And what child wouldn't want to ride in a dump truck, cement truck, or some other "big rig"?

There was also "static" equipment that they could view only.

They had a toddler area where there was a little truck that was just big enough to sit in.  They had hand-digging devices and plenty of dirt to play in.

And it was sunny!  

Lion Neil Atkinson said, "We're just providing man power, being there to make sure there's safety, putting everything up, helping the Rotary set things up, and making sure that kids get safely back and forth to the rides. It's benefiting the community. We're not really doing this as a benefit. The small charge we're having for the rides is just going to pay towards putting on the project. This is a community service from both clubs."

In the end, about $2,000 was raised with an estimated 400 participants which was approximately 1,200 rides!

A HUGE thanks to Grants Plaza, Tyler Rental, the National Guard, Bob's Cats who all donated or loaned equipment for this event.  #LIONS100

We Serve!
Lion Nancy

LIONS Magazine: Lions Pack

There's a lot of resources out there to get information we need to be great Lions but what I like about the LIONS Magazine is the articles on what other clubs around the world are doing to serve their communities.

In this month's issue of the magazine, you will find a short article submitted by a member of the Mendenhall Flying Lions (Juneau) about one of their projects.  Click here, or flip to page 18 of the May issue to read Caring for Kids in Transition in Alaska.  This article is about our Lions Pack project where we provided items of necessity to children in the foster care system.  

We're also happy to report that the Ketchikan Lions Club took on this project as well and are helping foster care children in their town.

We Serve!

Lion Nancy Norton

32 Years Ago....

Thirty-two years ago, one of our Lion members took the plunge....  He helped charter our club, the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions (MFLC).  Ever since he has been making a difference in the lives of many.  

 

Lion Neil Atkinson was born Columbus, Kansas but moved to Juneau in 1972.   He has held every position in the club and has chaired numerous committees.  He has held the following positions and received many distinguished awards at the District level as well:  

First served as club president 1995-96 
MFLC Lion of the Year 1987, 1988, 1989 
First served as Zone 7 Chair 1993-1995 
Region 2 Chair 1995-1996 
District Governor 49A 1997-1998
49A Secretary of the Year 2000-2001
MD 49 Council Chair 2001-2002

Lion Neil has attended International Conventions in Philadelphia; Birmingham, England; Denver; Indianapolis, and Osaka, Japan; and USA/Canada Lions Forums in Syracuse, Forth Worth, Reno, Milwaukee (2 times), Portland, and Anchorage.  

Lion Neil first heard of Lions in 1959 when his brothers and him "won" money for clothes from the Columbus Lions Club for school following their dad's death from diabetes.  As a paperboy, the Lions treated all paperboys to a Christmas dinner and a gift.  In 1967, Neil represented the Lions Club in the Lions band at their State Convention.  Lion Neil says, "my service here is to pay back a little of what that club did for me and my family."  

Lion Neil is always bringing new service ideas and projects to the club.  At present, he's spearheading Heavy Equipment Day in partnership with Rotary.  This will be our first joint venture.  He's also making arrangements for us to assist Swampy Acres (Juneau's "farm") in their Family Farm Day where we will help park attendees and help with the petting stations.  Course, you know Lion Neil for the annual Barbecue and Auction that benefited the American Diabetes Association where we have raised over $150,000 over the years.  And my favorite Lion Neil project -- our annual Light Flights that benefited the Children's Tumor Foundation and other projects.  

Lion Neil will take a break soon and head up the Taku River where he hides out for the summer.  A much deserved break.  We look forward to many more years of new service ideas and projects from Lion Neil!  

Thanks, Lion Neil, for all you've done over the years in our community, making it a better place to live.  

We Serve!

Lion Nancy Norton