What a great year it was dipping ice cream at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Tuesday,  August 17, 2010.  The Damascus Lions Club, along with the Damascus High School Leos, the Baker MS and Rocky Hill MS Leos, and all the partners–in–service did an outstanding job. Tuesday was senior day at the fair and Damascus sold $8,020.57 worth of ice cream. 

Thank you to Lion Doug and Lion Gerta from Laytonsville who ran the ice cream parlor during the week in the pm shift and to our very own lion Gary Rogers for his am shift work, in running the parlor all week.  

 Also I would like to thank all the Lions who went to the dairy barn on Saturday mornings before the fair started and made the building look so nice. Thank you to the Lions Barry (Barbara & Tony) for stocking all the ice cream into the bins with me on Wednesday before the fair started. 

I would like thank my wife, Lion Tammy, for giving instructions to all the young Leo volunteers all day behind the counter and for help run the ice cream parlor.  And I would like to thank my family who are always involved in our club activities. I would also like to thank the Leo advisers and all their efforts bringing the kids to the ice cream parlor.  Without them this would not have been the great success that it was. Our Damascus Lions Club members turned out in great show of support this year and I would like to thank all of them. It is so nice to just have people stop in and visit for the day, it means a lot!!! 

I did some calculations and we had over 75 people come in and work in the ice cream booth that day. There were 450 man hours spent running the ice cream parlor. Our lions club will bring in $1,667.00 for our single day at the fair. What a great job we all did. Thank you for your continued support.

What started out as a rainy morning turned out to be a pleasant afternoon. But by the time the rain cleared the car show had been cancelled & half of the flea market vendors decided not to come out. We did collect our money because it was a rain or shine event that was prepaid. So we ended up with 41 spaces sold for $820.00 plus a $20 member donation.

The club also had a flea market space and due to the “HIGH PRESSURE SALES PERSONS” at our space we were able to walk away with $401.50 off of our donated goodies from our Lions. Lion Gary Rogers had brought out the Lion Pins donated by Lion Margaret Duvall from Lion Rodney’s collection. Some of these were also sold to bring in a nice sum of money for the club, not included in the above amount of money.

Worker Lions include Jerry Mallack, Bernie Duplan, Su Huang, Joy Schwab, Warren Schwab, Mary Frances Gosnell, Midge Tench, Marcia Holpuch, Gary Rogers, Chris Fletcher, Wayne Marr and Tess Gladhill.

Thanks to all who helped to make this a great success again.

Monies collected are used to support programs and services for people who are blind or visually impaired as well as for sight conservation.

History of the White Cane

In 1921, James Biggs, a photographer from Bristol, England became blind following an accident. Because he was feeling uncomfortable with the amount of traffic around his home, he painted his walking stick white to be more easily visible.

In the United States, the introduction of the White Cane is attributed to Lion George A. Bonham (Peoria Lions Club). In 1930, he observed a man who was blind attempting to cross the street with a black cane that was barely visible to motorists against the dark pavement. The Lion offered to paint the cane white to make it more visible. By 1931, the Peoria Lions Club approved the project and white canes were made and distributed. The Peoria City Council adopted an ordinance giving the bearers the right-of-way to cross the street. The news of the club’s activity spread to other Lions Clubs, and the white cane became known by the blind and sighted alike as a means of identifying the safe mobility needs of the visually impaired. In 1931, Lions Clubs International began a program promoting the use of White Canes for people who are blind.

Also in 1931, in France, Guilly d’Herbemont recognized the danger of blind people in traffic and launched a national “white stick movement” for blind people. She donated 5,000 white canes to people in Paris.

While the White Cane is commonly accepted as a “symbol of blindness”, various countries have different rules concerning what constitutes a “cane for the blind.” In the United Kingdom, for example, the White Cane is recognized as being used by visually impaired persons; if the cane has two red bands added, it indicates that the user is deaf-blind. In some areas, the cane is yellow.

In the United States, laws vary from state to state, but in all cases, those carrying white canes are afforded the right of way when crossing a road and when in a public place.

(This information is from the Lions Club International Website)

Download the Basket and Pottery Bingo Flyer - Oct 2010

Mark your calendars for Friday, October 8, 2010!  That is when the Damascus Lions will sponsor their annual Basket Bingo to benefit the V. Ray Simpson Scholarship Fund.   DOWNLOAD INFORMATION FLYER

Damascus Volunteer Fire Department Activities Center
10211 Lewis Drive
Damascus, Md

Doors open at 5:30 pm – Games begin at 7:00 pm

Food by the DVFD will be available to purchase.

Tickets are $20.00 in advance and $25 at the door – this includes 20 games and 4 specials. 

Bring a pair of used eyeglasses or hearing aids for the Lions to recycle and receive a FREE game and a chance to win a Retired Small Boardwalk Basket filled with Mary Kay products donated by King Lion Marcia Holpuch.

Filled Baskets – Raffles – Door Prizes

Tables will be reserved – Advance Reservations Recommended.

For reservations call Shirley Barnard 301-829-2474 or Lion Mary Frances Gosnell  301-829-1002

  ****DOWNLOAD INFORMATION FLYER****

Download the Pancake Breakfast Information Flyer

The Damascus Lions Fall Pancake, Sausage & Scrambled Egg Breakfast will be held on:

Saturday, October 16, 2010, from 7 am to 11 am
at the
Damascus United Methodist Church Dining Room.

For Tickets, to Volunteer or for more information – contact:
Lion Joy Schwab 301-253-3294 or
Lion Sue Suddath 301-253-3434

.

The Damascus Lions Club will serve ice cream on Tuesday, August 17th.  Don’t forget to stop by and see us!

The Damascus Lions Club will host a  Flea Market at the Fireman’s Activities Grounds during Celebrate Damascus Days on Saturday, July 10, 2010.  
Please note the new location at the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department Activities Grounds at 10210 Lewis Drive, Damascus, MD.

Download the Flea Market Application Form to reserve your space. (PDF)

Download the Damascus Days Brochure (PDF)

Special Recognitions:

• Three Over-$100-in-One-Shift Club Recognitions go to:
  • Ø Barbara Barry at CVS on Thursday evening; she solicited $101.20.
  • Ø Bill Mahylis at Safeway on Thursday evening; he pulled in $103.31.
  • Ø Warren and Joy Schwab at Safeway on Friday evening; they collected $105.95.

The Bert Lahr Special Award for Most Courageous Lion goes to three first-timer Lions: Cheryl Wyatt, Carol Cook, and Alice Denell. It is refreshing to have new Lions take part in White Cane. And they all did a great job.

• Thanks for your courage!

Here are the Damascus Lions who gave unselfishly of their time for one or more storefront collection shifts (multiple shifts in parentheses): B. Barry, Burlas(2), Cook, Davidson, Davis, Denell, Durairaj, Gladhill, Gosnell, C. Hertel, Hibbard(2), M. Holpuch, Jackson, Mahylis, Mallack, Peters, Rogers, J. Schwab, W. Schwab, Snapp, Ch. Stone, Suddath, Tench, Thornett, Washington, Wyatt. Special thanks go to our reliable Managers of the Day: Bill Mahylis, Ken Phillips, and Del Mayhew… and to our meticulous Money Counters: Del Mayhew, George Hibbard, and Tom Jackson. And guess who else helped with the counting … Tom Van Vliet!

 Do you have any special stories about unusual occurrences during White Cane Week? Please provide them to me and I’ll see that they get published.

For the first time, we worked both entrances of the new Safeway. It worked out great. However, doing this added eight new shifts to our shift list. Since we had three fewer Lions participating than last fall, this caused us to have about eight empty shifts! We need more Lions to participate in White Cane. That is the only thing holding us back from increasing our receipts very substantially. Mark your calendars for the Fall White Cane fundraiser: September 22-25, 2010.
When patronizing the Damascus establishments which support White Cane (CVS, Safeway, Tom & Ray’s, & Red Rooster), please express your gratitude to the management for allowing White Cane Lions to do our work there. Without their assistance, there would be no Damascus White Cane. Thanks.

More information to follow…

The Lions’ Big Band Dance was held on April 17, 2010.  The Damascus Lions once again provided the community with a great night of the Big Band sounds!  This was another successful event for the Damascus Lions in service to the community.

We had a good turnout for only our second year at the American Legion Hall. The weather was most cooperative in providing excellent temperatures for eating, socializing, and of course, dancing. The food was superb and the crowd was dynamic.

In much anticipated form, Mr. Roland Cumberland, the band director at 91 years of age, brought us a marvelous performance. The band was magnificent! And the singers, as always were at their best!  Everyone had a great evening as the time flew by!! It was the kind of night that makes you unable to wait until next year.

Our success was the result of hard work by many Damascus Lions who deserve a warm round of applause for serving the community at the Big Band event of 2010.

Special thanks go out to…

-       Roland Cumberland and the Swing Set Trio

-       Paul Black of Tom & Rays

-       Sam of the American Legion

-       Lion Mike Thornett for writing and depositing the checks, and managing receipts

-       Lion Cindee Rogers for managing the Damascus Lion’s Club Web site

-       King Lion Mary Frances for writing the Frederick News Post Article

-       King Lion Mary Frances Gosnell, Lion Jerry Warfield, and Lion George Hibbard for their donations

-       Dale and Jewel Oliff for their donation

-       For helping with set-up: Mary Frances Gosnell, Charlie Hertel, Tammy Hertel, Jennifer Warfield, Bill Mahylis, Tom Jackson, Warren Schwab, Marcia Holpuch, Carol Stone, and Charlie Stone.

-       For reservations and registrations: Carol Stone, Mary Frances Gosnell, and Charlie Stone.

-       For helping serve drinks at the bar: Barbara Barry, Heather Geehreng, Steve Geehreng, Jennifer Warfield, Carol Cook, and Kenneth Cook

-       For operating the 50/50: Alice Denell.

-       For helping with Lions tear-down and Legion set-up: Charlie Holpuch, Marcia Holpuch, Jennifer Warfield, Charlie Hertel, Tammy Hertel, Carol Cook, Kenneth Cook, Alice Denell, Carol Stone, Charles Stone; and Legionnaire Sam.

(Below are a few photos from before and during the Big Band Event)

Picnic 6-3-08