Dear Fellow Lions,
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 30th 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. 20th to do an extra blood drive on Aug. 27th. 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 27th 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 20th 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. 14th 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 21st 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 64th Charter Night ASAP. Lion Mary Frances will be looking for Bingo helpers for October 8th. If pancakes are your thing, see Lions Joy and Sue to help serve a yummy breakfast on the 16th. 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 21st.
Yours in Service,
King Lion Marcia