MEETING SCHEDULE
June, 2010
June 1 - Board of Directors Meeting - 7:30PM, Boy Scout Room (Town Hall)
June 2 - Student Affairs Meeting - 7PM, Cranbury Station; Dinner: Sliced London Broil
Program: Wayne Wittman
will speak to us on a topic TBA and the
Club will present the Student Awards to the "winning" students.
June 16 - Installation of Officers - Spouse Night - 7PM, Cranbury Station Restaurant; Dinner: Beef Stroganoff
Program: Installation of Officers in lieu of Speaker.
July, 2010
July 20 - Board of Directors Meeting - Reorganization Meeting - 7:30PM, President Dave Shaffer's House
July 21 - Regular Meeting - 7PM, The Grape Escape; Dinner: Buffet TBD
Program: The Club
Project Wine is ready for bottling and labeling, which will be done at this meeting. Also, Club Treasurer Dean Kohler
will review the 2010-2011 budget and ask for a vote.
August, 2010
August 17 - Board of Directors Meeting - 7:30PM, Boy Scout Room (Town Hall)
August 18 - Regular Meetings - 7PM, Cranbury Station; Dinner: Baby Back Ribs
Program: Dr. Blase Toto was
the chiropractor member of the USA Medical Team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and will speak
to us about the experience.
Congratulations...
Past International President Jimmy Ross presented a few awards to members of the
Cranbury Lions Club at the 89th Annual New Jersey Lions Convention
at the Doubletree Hotel on May 15th. President John Kobland was
awarded the International President Certificate of Appreciation, and PDG Bob
Virgadamo was awarded the International President's Award & Medal; District
Governor Jim Dougherty also presented
Governor's Appreciation Certificates to both PDG Bob and President John.
Congratulations Lions John and Bob!
Things To Know
We'd like to remind all members to PLEASE, share the Jargon with your Spouse,
so that our events may be better scheduled on your personal or family calendars
for better attendance and participation. Please Note that Spouses are not only invited
to attend all meetings, but to become Members under the Family
Membership Initiative. In any event, Spouses are wholly encouraged to attend
our quarterly "Spouse Night" meetings. Our next Spouse Night is the
Installation of Officers and presentation of Awards at the meeting on June 16.
We ask all members to make a point of attending the Installation Dinner meeting to support those members who
have volunteered to lead the Club on behalf of all the membership. We would
also like to remind everyone that Longevity Chevrons will be presented to
everyone who has had a 5-year (incremental) anniversary within the last 4 years
(see below). Please attend to support these Lions who have given 10, 15, 20...55
years of service to the community as members of the Cranbury Lions Club!
The Habitat for Humanity house is
now in the construction phase; the house is in Hightstown and volunteers are
needed for everything - little to big - from getting coffee to installing
windows. Interested volunteers should contact Lion Dave Shaffer to become part of our
construction team. Our next Team weekend will be on June 27; a sign-up sheet
will circulate at the June meetings.
We sold 736 tickets for our Super 50/50 Spring Raffle! We would like to
thank all the members who helped to sell these tickets, especially those Lions
who sold tickets on the street during the parade, or were part of the "Mahlon
Brigade". Special thanks go to our perennial "top sellers", Lion Don Herr who
sold 106 tickets and Lion Mahlon Thompson, who, individually and with a crew,
sold 261 tickets! Sadly, not all of our members participated in this all
important fundraiser, and it would seem appropriate to send out a reminder that
as members of the Cranbury Lions Club, we have all promised to help the Club raise funds for charitable
purposes, that this is one of our most important fundraising events, and one of
the few where everyone is expected to
participate. The drawing was held on Memorial Day and the winners of the Super
50/50 Spring Raffle were: Phyllis Hatala (1st); Lions Dave Shaffer (2nd); and, Kanwar (3rd).
Finally, the thanks of the Board and Membership go to Lion Henry Behnke for all
the work he puts into making our Spring Raffle happen!
The Memorial Day Parade was once again the high point
of nearly everyone in Cranbury, as residents and their families and friends
lined the streets to see the spectacular, produced by Lion Dave Cook and
his co-chair, Lion Andre Mento, together with their crew of volunteers. The
Post-Parade Ceremony, emceed
by PDG Bob, began with President John's well spoken and poignant opening speech,
followed by short remarks by Congressman Rush Holt, Assemblyperson Linda
Greenstein, and a keynote speech by Cranbury Mayor David Stout. Thanks go, as
usual, to Jerry Yochelson and the Scout Band, Cheryl
Schroeder Blackburn for her rendition of the National Anthem, Boy Scout Bugler
Zack Conley and the Scout Color Guard: Wally Allikas, David Valente, Isabella
Steir, and Rutha Shivate. The $100 Prize for best float went to The Little Squirts
of East Windsor, and the winners of the Best Decorated Bike and Trike Contest
were: Nicola Victoria Pagano (1st), Ashley Zimmer (2nd), and
Ryan Zimmer (3rd).
The Drug Free Fair, sponsored by
Lions Quest, took place on May 8 at the Cranbury School,
and a laurel and hardy handshake goes to Lion Alex Johnson and his crew of
volunteers for working the game booth and distributing prizes to the children.
It is not too late to sign up to play in the Club's 12th Annual Golf
Outing will be on Monday, June 7, 2010 at
Peddie Golf Course. Registration and Lunch will begin at 11AM; Shotgun Scramble
at Noon; Open Bar Cocktails from 4:30PM to 6:30PM; Awards Dinner from 6PM - 7PM.
Individual Golfers are $140; Foursomes are $500. Fees include 18 holes, carts,
grounds fees, BBQ Lunch, snacks, beverages, door prizes, and Awards. There will
be a 50/50 in addition to other prizes. If you don't play, you can still attend
the awards dinner and take part in the prize raffles; a sign-up sheet will be
at the June 2 meeting.
The 11th Annual Trenton Thunder Super 50/50 will be
held Saturday, June 12, 2010; the Thunder will be playing the Binghamton Mets
which usually insures a packed house and better sales. This is truly a fun
night: sell tickets, collect donations, watch a ball game...build camaraderie.
And, we can bring friends (and potential
Lions) to help us sell tickets, just so long as they're over 18. Ticket sellers
get in the stadium for free and the Club will provide each volunteer with a hot
dog and beverage. A sign-up sheet will circulate at June 2 meeting, or contact
PDG Bob, directly.
In an effort to thank Members for their continued years of service to the Club and
the community, the Board of Directors has voted to bring back Longevity Award Chevrons for our
Members with ten or more years. According to LCI rules, Longevity Awards are
given starting with ten years of continuous service and we will be giving these
Chevrons and other awards to our members at the Installation Dinner in June.
Since the awards have not been given for the past few years, we are awarding
the chevrons (or other awards) to all members who have had a "5-year
anniversary", within the last 4 years. By way of example, a 15 year member may
get an award this year for his/her anniversary 4 years ago, and will be
eligible for a 20-year award next year. The Board of Directors are requesting
the presence of ALL these members to the Installation Dinner, but particularly
ask that Members who don't usually make meeting to attend - especially our more Elder Members - to
meet and greet newer Members. Longevity Awards shall only be given to members
in good standing, but, in alphabetical order by year, have been ordered for:
10 Year Lions: Bartoletti, Behnke, Carroll, Cook, Hasselbach, Jost, Kaiser, Reilly,
Shaffer, Stannard, Stout, Virgadamo;
15-Year Lions: Caldwell, Homoky, Jackson, Keller, Marlowe, Reinhardt;
20-Year Lions: Frank Brennan III, Hankin;
25-Year Award: Herr;
30-Year Lions: Alan Danser, Demarco, George Smith, White;
35-Year Lions: Lawson, Mahlon Thompson;
40-Year Lions: Monty Hagerty, Swanagan;
45-Year Lions: Gilbert, Stults;
50-Year Lions: Eller, West;
55-Year Lion: Bub Danser (NOTE: the Club honored Judson Hagerty,
last year on the occasion of his 65th anniversary)
Our new LEO Club advisors, Lions Tim Demarest and Fay
Kobland, have been doing all they can to get the word out
about the start of a new LEO Club
in our community. Posters or other advertising medium will be placed in Teddy's
and Cranbury Pizza; articles are being run in the Cranbury Press. The Board of
Directors asks that members - especially members with school age children -
offer their assistance on this LEO Club project. We will keep your informed of
the progress.
If you have been thinking of going to the USA/Canada
Lions Leadership Forum, now is the time to get Early Bird pricing, the
hotel of your choice, and cheaper airline fares. The Forum is one of the most
interesting, informative - and yes, exciting! - events during the Lion Year,
and can be enormous benefit to all those who attend. Better yet, the more
members from our Club who attend the Forum, the better, stronger and more
progressive the Club can become. The seminar topics over the course of the two
days (Friday & Saturday) are varied and helpful in such areas as Club or
District positions. The motivational speakers are as good as can be found anywhere,
and will leave you feeling that you can be a better person, as well as a better Lion. The Pin Traders and vendor areas
are always interesting - and you get a chance to see part of Lion Judson
Hagerty's massive pin collection!). This year's Forum is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Home of Harley Davidson, some of the country's best beers, "Laverne &
Shirley", and of course, "The Fonz". And, there will be a Motorcycle raffle
drawing (a very cool, hot orange Harley). Don't miss out on this GREAT event!
Contact PDG Bob Virgadamo for information and Registration, or see the Forum
Newsletter on-line at https://usacanadalionsforum.org/forumnewsletter012010v1a.pdf
and for an updated Seminar List go to https://usacanadalionsforum.org/2010seminarspeakerspreadsheet.pdf.
Check it out!
Let's Get Together As Friends This Summer...
The Cranbury Lions will host PorchFest;
it will be on Friday, July 9, at the home of Lion Andre & Rosemarie Mento.
All Members are being asked to participate, in this "passive" recruiting forum.
The Annual Club Picnic will be
held on Saturday, July 24, at the home of Lion Joe and Suzanne Carroll.
We have also made arrangements for the 11th Annual Trenton
Thunder Baseball Outing on Saturday, August 7, 2010; the Thunder will
be playing the Mets. Tickets are $10 and are available now. Contact PDG Bob.
Membership - Membership - Membership
As we've said so
often, membership is the key to our survival! New members will rejuvenate
existing members and help to keep us ALL young-at-heart, active, and viable!
President John is asking ALL members to assist Membership Chair Jon Goldstein in attracting and bringing in new
members. Some of our members have said that the reason it took so long to
become Lions was that no one asked! Ask
your friends and neighbors if they would like to give a little of their time to
serve and to give back to the community, while having a good time doing it with
new friends. If every one of our 66 members asked just one person to join and only 25% of those people joined this
year, we would increase our membership by 17 people! To get information
about membership options or to obtain membership applications contact
Membership Chair Jon, Secretary Bob, or President John. In any event, we MUST maintain a proactive campaign to
bring in new Members and keep our Lions Club from being Cranbury's "best kept
secret".
...And Attendance...
President John is asking EVERY Cranbury Lion to provide suggestions on how we
might be able to make the meetings more appealing to a broader range of the
membership, in an effort to build a stronger Cranbury Lions Club. Since
attendance is such a problem,
there must be a reason or
reasons; please provide your suggestions to President John directly. We
can't fix it until we know what's broken!
Reminders
The Club requires that all Members wear a Lion
Vest when we are at a fundraiser or Service Project. If you do not have
a vest please contact Club Secretary Bob to obtain one. You may also order a
baseball cap; these items are at "cost" to our members. Vests @$40 (S-M-L) or
$45 (XL, 2X); larger size vests (to 6X) are available as a special order; hats
are $12. Ladies Cut for vests are available, same pricing.
To access the Club Directory on-line, use the case-sensitive pass codes which were
printed herein past issues, or contact Lion Phyllis Johnson for the pass codes.
Do you know of an interesting speaker? You
may be an interesting speaker! Please
advise Program Chair Frank Marlowe with any and all suggestions for speakers
at our meetings.
Any member who learns of the sickness or
death of another member, or in a member's family, or any other similar
incident or emergency, should contact Lions Frank
Marlowe (Chair, H&W) and/or Christine Johnson ("phone
tree"), and/or Bob Virgadamo (e-mail notifications) so that all members may be
notified as soon as possible.
Member Pick-Up - Ed Lawson (5 S. Main)
Lion George Smith has volunteered to be the "permanent" pick up driver for Lion Ed; Lion Frank Marlowe
has volunteered to be the "permanent" back-up driver. Drivers: if you cannot
make your pick-up, please notify President John as soon as possible. Riders:
please notify the assigned driver if you cannot make a meeting.
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