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The Lions’ Corner Voice of the Greater Falls Run Lions Club Lion Jim Smithfield, Editor |
The Greater Falls Run Lions Club
July 2008. Volume 1, Issue 1
A Message from our new president:
GFRLC’s new president, King Lion Dan Owens,
has determined that each month he will provide a prepared statement for our
Club’s new Newsletter. This month opening remarks are:
Fellow Lions I am proud to again have the opportunity to serve as your president.
First, I want to thank Lions Peggy Chance, Wilma Murphy, Harriette Chandler and all of the others who worked so very hard to make our installation dinner and program such a success. I sincerely hope that you each enjoyed the entertainment, food and fellowship as much as Mary and I did…
To embark on the New Year, we have assembled a great team of some experienced and some new Lions to lead the effort. As I outlined in my theme message, we will attempt to get everyone involved so that we can accomplish more great things and have fun doing them.
The GFRLC Newsletter is a new attempt to provide communication of our club events and Board decisions all in one place. We assign to each member the responsibility to read this information and to stay informed. Our regular meetings will no longer include many of the reports that are associated with past board meetings. As always, we invite and encourage everyone to attend board meetings and the minutes will be included in each newsletter.
As indicated in the schedule below, we will devote the first meeting in July to organization and the second meeting will be board business only.
In the coming year I look forward to working with each of you to make my term a success …
“Reflections from the previous month”
June 3 Board of Directors Meeting: The meeting was called to order at 11:00 a.m., Board member attendees included – King Lion Art Gabler, Lions Jim Purton, Wilma Murphy, Dan Owens, Mary Owens, Jim Smithfield, Mike Condon, Dick Shearer, Jackie Carter and Ken Schmitz. Also present were GFRLC members Lions Harriette Chandler, Steve Levinsohn, Earl Henry, Gretchen Condon and Helen Harlow.
The reading of Minutes from the May 20, 2008 Board meeting was waived and approved as written. The clubs Financial report was given by Lion Dick Shearer: He reported that the Activities Account @ $10,938.33; Admin. Account @ $3,886.05 and the Emergency Relief account @ $2,360. Lion Dick then presented an analysis of the activity account for the year to date.
Lion Gretchen Condon reported on the general status on tornado relief – she has talked to Donna Kraus of Stafford County who said there were not a lot of issues pending, primarily only debris related issues remain. Lion Gretchen had one needy family that has a tree leaning toward house that needs financial assistance to remove it; another family with asthmatic child that needs temporary lodging. Lion Gretchen will get more information before any action is taken. Lion Gretchen then mentioned we are not getting many requests for eyeglasses and suggested having Lion Jim Smithfield schedule the Sight and Hearing Van at Hartwood Elementary; she will check with school nurse for feasibility of this project.
Lion Dan Owens said final plans for the Induction Ceremony & Dinner will be made on Wednesday and presented to the Club at the regular meeting next Tuesday. Lion Jim Purton provided information on emergency Weather Radios – stating that there are two models proposed for sale. Information on shipping costs will be obtained by Lion Dick Shearer – a decision will then be made by board vote as to how many to initially purchase and how much to charge. Lion Art Gabler raised the issue of Lions and Berea Auxiliary being affiliated – it was determined that they are two separate entities and should remain as such even though the Lions Club would offer assistance to the fire department if needed. Lion Jim Smithfield reported that the Sight and Hearing Van is scheduled to be at the Berea Open House on June 21 and so far he had only two volunteers – several more are needed – each volunteer will have access to a “cheat sheet” that Lion Peggy Verdine has prepared to assist our volunteer testers.
Lion Jim Smithfield mentioned that he had one additional receipt for the GFRLC Scrapbook that he would like approval for reimbursement – unanimous approval was given. Lion Jim then noted that the Scrapbook would be on display at Induction Night. Lion Dick Shearer reported that Lion Bob Rosenthal made $545.00 for the Club through the GFRLC Book Sale held on May 31. Lion Dick then mentioned that a letter had been received from the U-Store It storage facility stating that beginning July 1st, we would be charged $74.00 a month versus our current zero cost – Lion Art requested that since Lion Jim Smithfield initially setup the account several years ago, would he go there and speak with them? If it is in fact true, then Lion Jim said he’ll ask Lion Will Zapf if he is willing to allow the Club to use part of his garage for storing our books and computers currently in U-Store It..
Lion Art reminded incoming officers of Leadership Training on June 8 at Briar Woods in Ashburn. Lion Jim Purton reminded all present of the Bland Foundation Concert being held June 17 in Alexandria. Lion Steve Levinsohn suggested we have a calendar of events – president-elect Lion Dan stated he is working with Lion Jim Smithfield to have Lion Jim produce a Greater Falls Run Newsletter which would include such a calendar along with other worthy issues.
No further business – meeting adjourned at 12:22
Lion Wilma Murphy
Secretary, GFRLC
June 19, 2008 Board of Directors Meeting:
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. Board Members present included; King Lion Art Gabler, Lions Peggy Chance, Jim Smithfield, Dan Owens, Ken Schmitz, Jackie Carter, Dick Shearer, Barbara McShea and Steven Levinsohn. Also present was Lion Gretchen Condon.
Reading of the June 3, 2008, Board Meeting was waived and approved as written. Financial report was given by Lion Dick Shearer: Noting that the Activities Account: was $11,986.57; Administrative Account: $4,020.69; Emergency Relief Account: $2,360.00.
Discussion on presenting a proposed 2008-2009 Budget was held and determined that it was premature to present at this time because it should be presented by the incoming 2008 - 2009 Board of Directors.
After review of the proposed 2007 - 2008 giving presented by Lion Dick, Lion Dan Owens discussed his concern about the distribution of $1000 for a Melvin Jones Fellowship award. It was decided that better use of the funds would be to increase the recommended $400 to $700 for the Food Bank and to distribute $400 to the Rappahannock Big Brothers/Big Sisters Mentoring Program. Lion Peggy Chance brought up the fact that Hope House had lost a $60,000 grant and would need to find ways to replace the lost funding. It was moved and passed that we would increase the amount to them from $200 to $500. Lion Steven Levinsohn pointed out that the two expenditures of $70.10 each to Leader Dogs and LPCCI had been money that had been donated by Lion Dan Chance and his father Bill collected as tips from members in appreciation for their playing music at Charter Night and should not reduce the $500 to be given to each and should be treated as separate and as additional monies to be given. It was also determined that we would keep $300 in reserve as working capital and a $4000 reserve kept for Christmas Ornaments and $1000.00 for weather radios. It was also decided that we would eliminate the $300 for school supplies as it was not expended. All other proposed giving was approved as presented.
Lion Peggy Chance reported that we had 43 confirmed reservations for the Installation and Awards Dinner on June 24, 2008 and that she and Lion Harriette Chandler were taking care of the table decorations.
Lion Dick Shearer reported that we had sold 94 of the 300 Model Weather Radios and 27 of the 100 Models on Friday and 21 of the 300 and 5 of the 100 on Saturday. We have orders for 61 of the 300 Model.
Lion Art Gabler reminded the Board of the June 21st Berea Fire Station Open House and that the Sight and Hearing Van would be there at 9:00 a.m.
Lion Gretchen Condon reported that the county has taken care of the tree removal for one of the tornado victims. Another victim is still in need of a dehumidifier and a sofa. The Board authorized an expenditure of up to $1000.00 from the Emergency Relief fund to assist this victim.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
Lion Peggy Chance, 2nd VP
Acting Secretary
(In the absence of Lion Wilma Murphy)
Weather Radios: The Greater Falls Run Lions Club (GFRLC) greatly appreciates the incredible overall reaction given by Falls Run residents in support of the sale of Weather Radios. This function was the brain child of Lions Dick Shearer and Past-president Jim Purton. Lions Dick and Jim moved ahead, writing orders, selling radios and then selling more radios…well done guys! Other Lions have assisted in the process, i.e., Lions Elaine Scmitz, Earl Henry and Steve Levinsohn programmed each radio to the purchasers chosen monitoring area at the time of the purchaser pickup. As of press time for the GFRLC’s Newsletter a total of 115 Weather Band 300’s and 33 Weather Band 100’s have been delivered, with another 310 of the 300 Series and 100 of the 100 Series on order. hese figures do not reflect additional orders placed at the Berea Fire Station.
Storage Unit Cost: Lion Jim Smithfield spoke directly to the District Manager of the U-Store It facility concerning their raising our rate from zero to $74.00 a month. She verified that U-Store It will no longer provide zero storage cost to any organization. The manager, in fact, further stated that the GFRLC could have until the end of June to remove all of our storage items, i.e., if we chose not to renew our contract at the new $74.00 monthly fee. After contacting Lion Will Zapf, Lion Jim reports that Lion Will graciously volunteered his garage for the future storage of those items which we stored in the U-Store It unit. We have removed all items from the U-Store It unit…
Calendar of Upcoming Scheduled Events: During the month of July 2008 the following events are planned;
July 8 General Membership Meeting: To be held at Perkins Restaurant, with the call to order at 12 noon. Our program will be an organizational meeting for the new Lions year, with a discussion of past practices, procedural changes and goal setting for the new year. Please try to pay your first dues assessment of $32.00 for single members and $22.25 for each family member at this meeting or as soon thereafter as possible. The club must make our dues payment for all members NLT the end of July.
July 22 The regularly scheduled second General Meeting for the months of July and August are canceled until the month of September…
Aug. 12 General Membership Meeting: To be held at Perkins Restaurant, with call to order at 12 noon. The program will be determined and announced…
The Months Birthdays: At this time I do not have complete access to this information! However, in future months this will be a regular feature of our newsletter…
June 10 Membership Meeting Highlights: Guest speakers were: John Ennis, Battalion Chief and Mark Stone, Public Relations Officer of the Stafford County Fire and Rescue. Mr. Ennis gave an overview of the most frequent accidents typical to older adults; injuries from falls, fires due to improper discharge of smoking materials, cooking fires, overdoses of prescription medication,
heating and cooling equipment and extension cords. Additionally he spoke on ways to prevent accidents; falls – secure or remove carpets and rugs, keep clutter out of walk areas,
train pets to not be underfoot, smoking materials – always use ashtrays, thoroughly extinguish, never throw out windows, properly dispose of any burning embers from fireplaces or stoves; cooking fires – don’t leave kitchen, have fire extinguisher nearby; overdose of medication – use pill containers with days & times; electric heaters or fans – don’t use these unless it is absolutely necessary – use the existing system in your home. Additional tips: have smoke detectors in bedrooms, hallways and general living areas – detectors should be electric with a battery back-up and we should change batteries semi-annually. To obtain additional information there are two websites provided: vaemergency.com (threats and preparations) and readyvirginia.gov (preparedness, tool kit info). Non-emergency number to reach fire and rescue, 658-4440.
Berea Fire Station Grand Opening: Saturday June 21 the GFRLC came out in full force to support the Berea Station. Lion Jim Smithfield had the Sight and Hearing Van setup, offering Vision Testing, Hearing Testing, Blood Pressure monitoring and Glaucoma Testing. We processed 36 persons through the unit for testing. Auxiliary members (made-up of mostly GFR Lions served donated food which they had gathered from business’s throughout the surrounding area. Lion Dick Shearer took orders all day for Weather Radios. Although unable to actually sell the radios Lion Dick demoed the radios and wrote-up many orders.
A helping hand to those in need: In the future this column will highlight the efforts of our club through our Outreach Chairperson, i.e., Gretchen Condon and through the Board of Directors to provide aid to those in need throughout our community…
GFRLC Supported Programs: The GFRLC provides various types of support through the following important services:
Eyeglasses and Hearing Aids – A GFRLC collection box is located at the Center to the left of the coffee service. Reconditioned glasses and hearing aids are donated to the needy.
Computer printer cartridges – Your donated printer cartridges are refilled, reconditioned and given to the needy. Place your old cartridges in a plastic bag beside the eyeglass box at the Center.
Computers and computer equipment – All donated computers and related equipment are reconditioned, loaded with new software specifically for the sight impaired. After reconditioning, they are donated to those sight impaired individuals in need. To arrange for pickup contact Bill Smith @ 899-7615
Aluminum cans – Collected cans are recycled and money raised from the sale is donated to The Habitat for Humanity. A collection box is located by the exercise room at the Center or for pickup call Dick Shearer @ 372-3399.
Cell Phones – Reconditioned used or discontinued cell phones are given to battered woman for use in crisis situations. To donate a used cell phone contact Peggy Chance @ 368-3981.
GFRLC Vehicle Donation – New IRS tax laws do not allow donors to deduct the Blue Book value. Only what their vehicle sells for! Fairfax Lions Club has a facility that cleans, repairs and sells acceptable vehicles. This process allows donors to receive credit for the full “Sale Price” as a tax deduction. Consider donating your old vehicle for a full price tax deduction, for details; call Earl Henry @ 368-2127.
SFTW (Stamps for the Wounded) – The GFRLC is collecting ordinary postage stamps to be provided to hospitalized U.S. service men and women. The hours spent by these individuals in removing stamps from backgrounds and in making lamp shades, cover designs, etc., are a proven and meaningful therapy. Through a number of VA hospitals and convalescent centers, our U.S. service men and women can benefit by your donations of cut out stamps. To donate stamps call Helen Harlow @ 373-4890.
Used Book Sales – Although our sale of used books is not in direct support to any single organization, all money collected goes towards the support of those in need. There is a book drop box located next to the collection box for aluminum cans at the Center. For additional information on donating your used books call Bob Rosenthal @ 310-4868.