It’s hard to believe that it’s September already.  The kids are back in school and there’s (finally) a hint of fall crispness in the air.  It’s like a new beginning at the last third of the year.  I love the fall with the beautiful colors as the trees give up their leaves and prepare for the winter.  Neither the air conditioning nor the heater need to be running!  And it marks the start of the football season, too.

August was a busy month for us, just like every other month of the year.  Thanks to all the Lions who helped with our projects at the Montgomery County Fair.  Lions Gary Rogers & Charlie Hertel play our leading men for ice cream dipping and they really “scooped” the job up!  Lions Joy & Mary Frances set up a great looking display featuring Damascus Lions in action at the membership & information table.  Lion Gary’s role at the district level made sure the space was all spiffed up and ready to go ~ and it sure did look great this year.  Lion Charlie lined up plenty of help for our dipping day and there’s just not enough space here to list all the club members & Leos who contributed to the fun, but you are all appreciated for your help.  I hope you each got an ice cream pin to remember the special day.  If you did not and you would like one, please see Lion Gary.  He had the pins made in commemoration of our 30^th year of ice cream bliss and they are $3 each.  Our second act at the fair starred that snazzy couple, Lions Rusty & Dee Reichmeider, at the Mobile Health Unit (eye bus) on Thursday.  They lined up helpers to do vision and hearing screenings to any interested fair goers.  They were joined by members of the Potomac Lions Club for part of the afternoon and had a great day of service and fellowship.  Thanks again to all who helped and especially the leaders for coordinating these two important projects.

The American Red Cross classically runs low on blood supplies during the summer.  It’s been that way forever.  I’ve been a blood donor since I was 18 ~ never mind how long that is ~ and every year the blood supply falls dangerously low as people go about their lives with travel and other activities during the summer months and donations drop.  Our resident bloodhound, Lion Charlie Hertel, got a call from the Red Cross on Aug. 20^th to do an extra blood drive on Aug. 27^th.  They told him that they expected to collect 300 units of blood.  We have some of the best blood drives around, but on a really great day, we generally collect just a little over 100 units.  Now they’ve changed some of their procedures and they want everyone to have an appointment prior to the drive.  In all honesty, we’ve had some reservations about such a policy.  Nevertheless, always willing to help and do what he can, Lion Charlie secured the activity building for the 27^th and the Red Cross said they’d take care of the rest.  By Wednesday, the drive was loaded with appointments and they were considered “full” and would not be taking any walk-ins. Now granted, they said they’d give a Redskin ticket to all donors, and I’m not sure if that was the draw or what, but when I walked into the building at 10:30 I could not believe my eyes.  The room was packed with donors and collection chairs and interview booths.  Good thing there weren’t any flies in the room because I’m pretty sure I just stood there with my mouth agape.  “Holy Cow!” was the limit of my vocabulary.  It was easily 3 times the set up of our normal blood drive.  Lions Joy and Mary Frances gave away popcorn and membership information.  I haven’t heard the final collection number, but I have little doubt that they reached their goal of 300 units.  They put out the call on Facebook and the drive was full before the information ever hit the Gazette on Wednesday.  I personally have not jumped on the Facebook bandwagon, and again, whether it was the free Redskin ticket or the Facebook exposure, I couldn’t tell you, but that was one “happening” blood drive.  After I get this article submitted, I’ll create a Facebook page for the club.  If this is the kind of result it gets, we want some of it!!  We will still be having our “regular” blood drive on Monday the 20^th of September.  Thanks to all the Lions who helped this event take place, get the room set up, and provide a Lions presence.  And especially to Lion Charlie who went the extra mile ~ where there’s never a traffic jam.

This month is chock-full of activity, too.  We return to Wesley Grove UMC for our meetings tonight.  This weekend is the Damascus Community Fair and if you are available on Thursday evening, let Lion Tess know you can help check in fair entries.  Any time you can contribute will be appreciated.  Even an hour is a great help.  We will have the popcorn machine running and giving out free popcorn to all takers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so see Lion Mary Frances to sign up for a time slot in the booth.  Again, even just a little time is a great help.  Ideally we should have 2 people in the booth at all times.  If everyone put in an hour sometime over the weekend, then the booth would be fully staffed for the full event and

no one would be burdened, so please, do what you can.

The meeting of the Board of Directors will be on Tuesday, Sept. 14^th at Gladhill Bros. Tractors.  We thank Lion Tess for her generosity in offering the club a free meeting location.  These are open meetings and all club members are welcome.  If you have an idea for an activity for the club, a fundraising idea or just want to understand the “inner mechanism” better, feel free to join us.

The weekend of Sept. 15-18 is our fall White Cane collection. Lion Wayne Marr coordinates this event.  White Cane funds support our vision projects.  We help provide eye exams and glasses for those in our community that are having financial difficulty from children to the elderly.  Your 2 hour shift collecting donations makes it possible for us to help many people throughout the year.  Lion Wayne has met the challenge of securing locations for us to collect and needs your help in manning all the locations and times.  Do what you can to help.

Our second meeting on the 21^st is prospective member night.  Prospective member night works best when we bring people.  You know someone that you like enough to invite to this meeting.  Give them an opportunity to see what Lions are and what we do.  Extend and invitation to them and bring them to the meeting.  They just might accept your offer.  Call Lion Joy and let her know who you are bringing.  Plus, we need to make sure we have enough food to feed them well.  Guests at prospective member night do not pay for their meal ~ another incentive ~ you can invite them to a free dinner AND a chance to check out our great club.

Before you know it, it will be October, and the month starts out fast with our Charter Night celebration, Basket Bingo, and Pancake Breakfast all at the beginning of the month. Please get your reservations in for our 64^th Charter Night ASAP.  Lion Mary Frances will be looking for Bingo helpers for October 8^th.  If pancakes are your thing, see Lions Joy and Sue to help serve a yummy breakfast on the 16^th.  Talk up basket bingo with your friends and neighbors and start selling tickets now for both the bingo and pancakes.  Bingo supports our scholarship program and is an important fundraising event for our club.  And the more pancake tickets we sell, the more funds we have available to make a difference in our community.

I hope I haven’t left anything out.  We are such an active club and I do try to keep on top of everything that’s going on.  I have a couple of “housekeeping” items to hit here.  Please check your home and cell phones and change my phone number to 240.380.9405.  I have changed cell phones and I forget to check the old one on a regular basis.  If you don’t hear back from me, don’t hesitate to call the house and leave a message.  Trust me, you won’t be a bother.  I’ll send an email message when I have our Facebook page set up.  Don’t forget to ask a friend to come to prospective member night on the 21^st.

Yours in Service,

King Lion Marcia

Please click the image below to view all photos from this event – opens in a new browser window.

Installation of New Officers – June 15, 2010

The Damascus Lions have elected to take 30 families again this year. However, the Board gave the approval of serving up to 5 more if we need to.  Faith Connections, Inc. formerly known as DELIA, will receive the approved family names from Montgomery County and are expecting approximately 300 compared to 250 last year.  So we have pressure from both ends – the need is greater yet we expect the fund availability will be less.  We will all strive to be prudent in our purchasing of clothing and foods and ask that you as Lions, who so unselfishly buy gifts for the children, do the same.   Kohl’s has agreed to give us 20% our purchases on our shopping spree.

Should you have any questions or would like to volunteer in some way, please contact Lion Mary Frances.

HOLIDAY BASKET 2009 TIME LINE

Thanksgiving Deliveries:

Nov. 3 - Sign up sheets available at dinner meeting for sorting and Delivery Teams for Thanksgiving

Nov. 19 - 3pm Pickup Food from Rocky Hill Middle School

Nov. 20 – 2pm Pickup Food from Damascus High School

Nov. 20 – 1pm Sort food and pack boxes at Damascus Motors

Nov. 21 – 8am Deliver Thanksgiving Baskets from Damascus Motors to recipients

Christmas Deliveries:

Nov. 17 – Children’s names will be distributed for Lions to purchase a toy/gift for a child.

Dec. 1 – Sign up sheets for duties and Delivery Teams for Christmas delivery

Dec. 2 - Shopping Spree to purchase clothing for children

Dec. 15 – Lions bring wrapped gifts that they purchased to the Holiday Party

Dec. 16 – 12 Noon   Pickup Food from John T. Baker Middle School

Dec. 16 – 2 pm Pickup Food from NRC

Dec. 16 - 2pm Move food to Damascus UM Church

Dec. 16 – 8pm sort the food at Damascus UM Church

Dec. 17 - Noon to 5pm – Pack and wrap at Damascus UM Church

Dec. 18 - Noon to 5 pm Pack at Damascus UM Church

Dec. 19 - 8am Deliver Christmas Food and Gifts from Damascus UM Church to recipients

Upon receiving this Lions Tale, we will be in the midst of the busy month of September.

Lest we forget August, my Thanks and appreciation goes to –

• Lion Charlie Hertel for coordinating the Ice Cream Dipping at the Montgomery County Fair and thanks to all the Lions, Partners-in-Service, Leos, Family and Friends for assisting with our day.
• Lions Rusty and Dee Reichmeider for coordinating the Mobile Health Unit on Thursday of the Montgomery County Fair and all the Lions who assisted with this effort.
• Lion Gary Rogers for being a Co-manager of the Ice Cream Parlor at the Montgomery County Fair for the entire week along with Lions Gerda and Doug Sherwood of the Laytonsville Lions Club.

District Governor Bill Thomas has adopted the theme of TEAM – “Together Everyone Achieves More”.

And again, it follows the theme of the International President – “Move to Grow”

So Fellow Lions – We MOVE to create new opportunities and we get those results by TEAM!

Moving Together is the ambiance of getting good results. And that is what will make us successful; doing what we do together.

September is a very busy Lions month, so moving together will make it happen.

As you read this Lions Tale, we will have already participated in the Damascus Community Fair.

Also, we will have been a part of the Hospice Caring, Inc., Wings of Caring, 20^th Anniversary Celebration with a butterfly release. Our Board of Directors voted to have butterflies released in memory of Lions Albert Warfield, Mark Sain, Walter Shipley, Maurice Purdum and George Conner.

And then -

Lion Wayne Marr will have us geared up to do White Cane starting on the 16^th.

Lion Charlie Hertel will have distributed the call list for the Blood Drive donors and preparing for a great drive.

And Lion Jerry Mallack will be coordinating the Promotional Display at the Damascus Heritage Day located at the Izaak Walton League. She solicits your help.

As September turns its “leaves”, it will be time for Basket Bingo on October 2 – need lots of support in many ways.

And then our Charter Celebration on Oct. 6.  Make your reservations now!

Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Lion George and Partner-in-Service Viola Hibbard upon the lost of Viola’s mother.

Looking forward to continue working with each of you in our many efforts to reach out to our community.

The Keys are playing Kinston that evening.  We will have our Damascus Lions name on the tickets and we will be announced as being in attendance.
 You need to provide your own transportation.  The food court offers hot dogs, hamburgers, sausage, pizza, chicken and fries.

So bring your family and your friends.  The Keys will know that the Damascus Lions are there.
Looking forward to a fun night at the ball game!

Early last month, Nick left Keesler AFB and is now located in Wichita Falls, TX at Sheppard AFB and in his last cycle of classes.  This course will run all the way to July 9th and focuses on the specific systems on the aircraft he will be working on.

His address until then is:
Amn Nicholas E Holpuch
0484
527 I Ave. Box A0246
Sheppard AFB, TX 76311-9999

Not long after he left Keesler, I received a hand-signed letter of appreciation from the Base Commander, Lt. Col. William Hamant recognizing Nick’s volunteer time in their tutoring program.  Once he got established at Sheppard, he did not find a similar program but he has instead devoted his time to staffing the phones on Friday & Saturday nights for the Airmen Against Drunk Driving program.  He receives calls from airmen who need a ride back to base from town and contacts drivers for the program to pick them up.  The hours are a bit late – 10:30 pm to 2:30 am – but he drew a second shift class schedule, so he’s now grown accustomed to being up late anyway.  His classes don’t finish until 11:30 pm all week long, so he’s been able to stay awake on the phones.

Also last month, he got his orders for his first duty station.  He will be going to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan!  Kadena is the hub of airpower in the Pacific arena.  He was the only airman in his class to get an international assignment.  He’s looking forward to going to Japan.  His other desired location was Germany, but there will be time for that later.  His assignment is for 3 years there and he will get 30 days leave per year.

But first he has to get through this class down in Texas.  He says it’s hot there and there’s nothing to do.  He did have a buddy take him out for a ride last weekend.  He phoned home briefly with this revelation… “Cars don’t rust in Texas!”  He had come upon a trio of 68 Cougars all looking quite interesting.  Wish he had sent a photo.

He has no restrictions on mail he can receive now, so feel free to send him a card or letter or whatever.

–The entry below was originally published on March 2, 2009–

Nick graduated from Basic Military Training (BMT) on Friday, Jan. 2nd in the first class to complete the newly revamped Air Force training program (“boot camp” to us civilians). The new program is an 8 week program instead of the former 6 weeks. He was in a graduating class of 726 Airmen and was one of 24 Honor Graduates. It was easy to see the confidence he gained during training and the respect he was paid by his classmates. In addition to attaining Honor Graduate, he also received a ribbon for Marksmanship with an M-16. His unit was part of the field band for his class, so he was even able to play a tuba. Charlie & I attended the graduation ceremonies at Lackland AFB in San Antonio and it was wonderful to see him again. We even got him to chew his food by the end of our visit.

In addition to being the first group to complete the new 8 week training program, his class was also the first to experience the new field training program known by the fitting acronym, “BEAST.” Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training is a week-long experience meant to be a full-scale simulation of the sights, sounds, smells and challenges of a deployment both physically and emotionally. It takes place off-base at a remote 80 acre annex location. The 700 trainees are split into 4 zones, each consisting of 3 groups functioning as units. Nick was assigned a Zone Leadership role.

Given his background and previous leadership training in both scouts and as drum major at DHS, he had his zone encampment fully set up and functioning, beginning their field exercises by the end of the first day. The other 3 zones were not as successful. Consequently, Nick was called into the Command tent on Tuesday afternoon to be quizzed on the success of his zone. By the end of the week, he had been asked for a report and analysis of the field experience as well as his critique of the manuals and training materials provided. He submitted his 30 page report the following Monday. His comments ranged from errors in the manual to recommendations regarding hydration and a lot of information to assist with the scheduling of the activities that need to be completed and how to make sure everyone knows where they need to be and when. At graduation, we were aware that his report was still sitting on his MTI’s desk. (there’s a point to this… you have to keep reading) “Boot Camp” officially ended at midnight on Jan. 4th. At 12:01 am on the 5, they were out of the dorms and on the sidewalk. By 1 am he was loaded in a bus to Biloxi, Mississippi where his first technical training school is located at Keesler AFB. This first school is basic electronics but is required no matter what you may (think) you already know. He finishes this school this week and will be transferring to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX on Wednesday for his advanced electronics course where he will learn the specifics about the navigation and communication systems of the B-2 bomber, his ship of choice. He attained Top Grad honors at this school and kept himself busy by volunteering as a student tutor. As a bonus, he had all 4 wisdom teeth removed on the 23rd of January.

The military is a “people mill” and every week there are new airmen arriving from Lackland (where all BMT is conducted). This week, one of his buddies from boot camp was talking with a newly arrived airman, sharing their experiences at BMT. Amazingly, Nick’s name came up in the conversation – and it was brought up by the new airman as he was telling about his BEAST week. The Air Force has reprinted the field training manual used for BEAST week… and Nick’s name appears on the cover!! Nick would love to see a copy of this, as he never got any type of feedback from his report last seen at graduation collecting dust on a desk. His comments have made a difference for every airman going through training.

He assures me that mail is still very special and much appreciated. It’s also no longer limited to paper only. I sent him a cheesecake his first week and last week he got caramel brownies, so anything you want to send him is fine. He will be located at Sheppard until early July. He has requested German, Japan and Tampa as his top choices for his first duty assignment. He probably won’t know where he’ll be going until late June. I will distribute his new address as soon as I have it.

 ”Luck ‘O’ the Irish” In-house Auction

[Download the form as a WORD document or  PDF file.]

 
Each year, club members are asked to donate goods or services and we hold an “In-House Auction” to raise funds to cover these administrative costs. This keeps our club dues more reasonable!! Your participation in the auction is VERY important to the club.

All members are encouraged to make a donation. Here’s your chance to be creative without having to wear a costume! Some examples of past donated items include: homemade baked goods, computer lessons, gift certificates, turkey dinner tickets, dinner out for two or more, airport shuttles, homemade birdhouse, use of rototiller, snow blowing service, firewood, use of trucks, beach house or condo, airplane ride, antiques, collectibles, athletic event tickets, telephone installation, auto detailing, yard work, lottery tickets, and a great evening with friends and a gourmet meal. This is also a marvelous time to unload that holiday present you just weren’t quite so excited to receive. Items can be new or used condition.

Even if you will be out of town we can still sell your item for the benefit of the club. CASH DONATIONS ARE ALSO ACCEPTED!!!

Here’s our schedule:

Feb. 17 Mtg. – Donation Form passed out. If you already know what you’ll donate turn in form.

Mar. 3 Mtg. – Last chance to bring your offer in writing to a meeting.

Mar. 17 Mtg. – (Auction Night) bring the goods to be sold. SPOUSE NIGHT.

(Last minute items will be sold but won’t appear in printed handout at Auction, but please try to get your information to us so we can prepare a list of items to be sold.)

Submit this form to Marcia Holpuch 301-312-9415, or Jack Peters 301-253-2589 at March 3 meeting. Final deadline by phone or mail is March 14^th to allow time to compile the auction listing. This form will be available on the website for download. Items may also be emailed to Marcia at holpuch@verizon.net.

Download the form as a WORD document or download the form as a PDF file.