Initiation changes on the way
Lion Membership Chairman Buck Stogsdill announced that we will return to a formal candle-lit initiation ceremony to welcome in new members. Initiation at club meetings will be done quarterly, but a new member can join at any time and participate in club activities before formal initiation.
“One new member asked me, ‘Is that all there is to it?’” commented Lion President Bob Gilmore, referring to the streamlined initiation ceremony. The hope is to renew the grace and formality to the initiation rites.
There was discussion about the location of the Lion Bob Johnson-built candle display. If you know where it is, please contact Lion Gene Niednagel, who will be filling in as Membership Chairman while Lion Buck undergoes chemotherapy.
BC Lions historian to present January program
Historian Bill Percifield will speak at the January 19 dinner meeting on the history of Lions in Brown County. For a written history of the Lions Club, see your March through June 2008 newsletters.
Mr. Bill
Percifield
Playhouse ends extended season
Thanks to Lion Jerry Simo’s efforts, the Playhouse concession earned an additional $983 for charitable projects with the extended season of the Brown County Playhouse. The Little Nashville Express band, after losing its venue with the fire at the Opry, played a few extra shows at the Playhouse, meaning our concession stand made some extra money. Attendance at the shows were not what the producers wanted, so only a few of the extra dates actually happened, but the addition to our charitable fund will help.
Lion Jerry thanks everyone who worked these shows, and thanks those who volunteered, even when there wasn’t room for them to work.
Eyeglass collection rolls along
Lion Gary Havely reports that in December, we collected 57 pairs of eyeglasses for recycling to third-world countries. He passed along four cell phones to Turning Point for recycling as well.
Street sweepers hang it up for the winter
Lion John Davis reports that half a foot of snow makes sweeping up cigarette butts in Nashville difficult, so Pride ABC2 is done for the season. He thanks all who participated and looks forward to a clean 2010 season in the spring.
Dining out Cards still on sale
Lion Dining Out Chairman Larry Weir points out that your Dining Out cards will have seven months of value, even though sales are dwindling. Through 2009, Lion Larry reports that $7,028 income had been brought in, and expenses are down almost $1,000 from last year, so it will be a good year for Dining Out cards.
Lion Larry points out that only about 10% of stamps actually get used, which makes the card still a value, even if only 3 or 4 stamps get used. He encourages everyone to take your card out today and use one of your stamps to get the most savings from your card.
Lion Larry says the toughest part of the project is getting the cards sold. He and his committee will be re-evaluating our marketing strategy for next year.
Chairmanship for the project for next year is open. Lion Larry promises to work closely with anyone willing to take it over.
Fruit sale squeezes out inventory
If you saw last week’s Democrat, you probably saw the before and after photos of Lion Earl Eversol and his crew at the fruit sale in early December. Thanks to good pre-sale efforts and careful ordering, almost all of the inventory was sold during the three day sale. In the past, the club had to “eat” some left-over fruit, but this year that didn’t happen.
Lion Earl says that pre-orders were up 25% this year, which helped increase the bottom line, which is projected to net the club over $2,000 for charitable projects.
Health Dept. hosting H1N1 clinic January 12
The Brown County Health Department will be offering H1N1 flu shots to anyone at a clinic at the Department in the County Annex Building on January 12 from 4-7 p.m.
Adopt a River future uncertain
The Brown County Democrat reported that the Brown County CVB has been given a grant to clean Salt Creek from Gatesville to the SR 46 bridge at CVS, suggesting that maybe we’re not going to be responsible for Adopt-a-River in downtown Nashville anymore. The project, which needs a chairman, has not been enthusiastically supported by the club and may be scrapped, anyway.
Some chairmanships still vacant
- Fireworks
- Spring Pancake Breakfast
- Adopt-a-River
Build your own project to build our BCCF scholarship funds
Lion Finance Chairman Dave Miller is still looking for someone to develop a project to raise money earmarked for our Community Foundation funds. Lion Dave and his committee hope to boost the funds in our endowments so we can pay at least one scholarship each year from the Foundation distributions. This will free up our annual charitable funds for other grants.
Anyone who has a vision for a new Lion project should consider leading the club in a project to raise money for these endowments.
See our updated website
Lion Webmaster Michael Gunn, with photos from Lion Larry Weir, has updated our website. Lion Larry pledges to provide more new content, so make sure you check out the site regularly to see the new and exciting things Lions in our community are up to.
The website and e-mail edition of the Lion newsletter often has more information than the print edition of the newsletter. Currently, a little more than half of our members receive their newsletter over e-mail. If you are interested in getting your newsletter via e-mail, please contact Lion Secretary Jan Harker.
The print edition of the Brown County Lions Newsletter has been printed and mailed by Lion Spouse Marian Altop for almost two years now. Thanks to Marian for doing a Lion project, even though she is not a member!
Spring breakfast considered
In the past, the Lions have hosted two breakfast fundraisers. The past year saw the demise of the spring event due to the lack of a chairman. Despite good profits from the fall breakfast, the spring event meal has only netted $600 in past years, but some of the leftover supplies were saved, which increased the bottom line of the fall event.
Are our breakfasts solely a money-making venture, or is it also a service to our community, to let neighbors see each other after a long winter? If the answer is both, a new chairman should step forward and chair the rebirth of the 2011 spring pancake breakfast!
Union electricians to light up Bill Monroe’s in July
Lion Jerry Simo is negotiating an agreement to provide shuttle bus drivers for the IBEW camp which descends on the Bill Monroe campground July 11- July 17, 2010. Over 1,000 people will attend the event, some of whom will stay in the campground, while others will stay in hotels outside the grounds. If an agreement can be reached, we will provide 105 hours of drivers for a shuttle bus to ferry people from Nashville to Bean Blossom.
Lion Jerry plans for our profit to go to the scholarship funds in the Community Foundation.
From the desk of Lion President Bob
Our Webmaster, Lion Michael Gunn, has done an outstanding job getting the Lions web site up to date. If you get a chance, log on to see pictures of the Christmas Dinner.
We need someone to assume the general chairman of the Fourth of July and the chairman of the Dining Out Cards.
The fruit sale is over. A great job was done by Lions Vickie Gilmore and Earl Eversol. Preliminary reports say we had a great turnout. We expect a final report to be ready by the dinner meeting.