Photo of the Week: Lions in India “Engaging Our Youth” with Festive Dance Competition
During August, clubs in 51 countries and geographic territories participated in our “Engaging Our Youth” Global Service Action Campaign. During the campaign, our members provided 160,000 service hours and served nearly 650,000 people worldwide. We received a photo of one of these projects from the Washim Lions Club via our Submit a Photo page.
In this photo, local students participate in a festive inter-school dance competition hosted by the club on August 15, 2011. The dance competition featured more than 700 student performers and attracted 5,000 spectators.
If your club participated in the “Engaging Our Youth” campaign, please leave a comment to let us know about your project.
Story of the Week: Local Park Looks Lovely Thanks to Lions in Washington
Our clubs are always looking for ways to improve their communities. Globally, we’re planting millions of trees to improve the environment, reduce erosion and provide habitats for wildlife. In Washington, the newly formed Normandy Park Lions Club cleared ivy from a local park as its first project.
The ivy was overgrown and started to absorb the soil’s nutrients, preventing resources from reaching the surrounding trees and other plants. Eight members of the club, along with members of the Burien Lions Club, spent more than six hours clearing the ivy and brush from Marine View Park.
In this video, you’ll see Lions in action cleaning up the park – and ending the afternoon with a mountain of ivy ready for composting.
Take Part in Our Commemorative Coin Campaign to Help Raise Millions for LCIF
How much is a Lions’ silver dollar worth? About $8 million. That’s how much we hope to raise for LCIF if the U.S. Congress passes a commemorative coin bill honoring the centennial of Lions in 2017.
Getting Congressional approval is not automatic. Congress passes only two commemorative coin bills each year. But many Lions including past international presidents, past international directors and other members are lobbying their congressional representatives to pass the bi-partisan legislation. If approved, the U.S. Mint will produce as many as 400,000 coins. After the U.S. Mint recovers its cost, a $10 surcharge for every coin sold will go to LCIF and its programs for the visually impaired, the disabled, youths and victims of natural disasters.
Lion and Senator Jerry Moran
The commemorative coin idea originated with two members of the Sandy Spring Lions Club in Maryland. Brother Meredith Pattie, a past district governor, and Alan Ballard were at a luncheon for Melvin Jones Fellows when they began to brainstorm ways to support LCIF.
“Our first idea was a coin for the 50th anniversary of the death of Melvin Jones [in 1961]. But we realized we were too late for that,” says Pattie. They eventually formed a nine-person Lions’ committee from District 22 C that includes Past International Director Joseph Gaffigan.
Co-sponsors of the Lions Clubs International Century of Service Commemorative Coin Act, H.R. 2139, are Rep. Peter Roskam, whose district in Illinois includes Oak Brook and LCI headquarters, and Rep. Larry Kissell, from North Carolina who is a Lion. Another Lion, Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas, introduced the bill, S. 1299, in that chamber. The bill needs 290 co-sponsors in the U. S. House and 67 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate to pass.
We ask all Lions to write or call their representatives to urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 2139. Our Web site offers tips on contacting lawmakers and includes a regularly updated tally of number of co-sponsors.
Working together, we can reach amazing goals. When I challenged Lions to plant one million trees this year, I believed we could achieve
it together. In India, I saw that anything is possible when you believe. There, Lions worked with other organizations, including the government, schools and a police academy, to plant a reported 3.4 million trees.
Lions also partnered with local youth to help nurture these young trees for a year, which is important for growing the children’s volunteering spirit as well as the trees. Through this project, Lions have taught countless young people in southern India about ecology and how they can make a difference using their two hands.
I believe that this is just one example of how Lions are improving their communities by planting trees.
Projects that help youth and local schools are popular with many of our clubs. We received this week’s photo via our Submit a Photo page.
The Binangonan Lions Club recently completed a project to help students in need. This photo shows club members getting ready to give school supplies to first graders in Jalajala, Rizal.
Lions Clubs International Blog: Lions Reach Out 