PAST INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR GARY FRY

A Message from Past International Director GARY FRY
New International President Sid Scruggs III is stressing SERVICE this year. There are many new awards that clubs and individuals can receive for simply increasing our dedication to WE Serve. The reason we belong to this great association is to provide service. By providing more service we can recruit more people to join us in our efforts. How can you increase your personal service this coming year and how can you encourage your club and club members to do the same?

The end of year membership numbers have just been released and were the best in years. Thanks to all who have so diligently worked to recruit new members and keep the ones we have. There is still a need for more new clubs and any help out there would be greatly appreciated.

Looking for a way to make your club even more viable? The new "Club Excellence Process" recently released by Lions Clubs International offers many ways to strengthen clubs. So far eleven workshops have been held and clubs involved are working on developing excellence for their club. The program calls for clubs to brainstorm together with other clubs to make changes in how we do things. If you are interested in finding out more, please let me know. We are in the process of setting dates for workshops for 2010-2011. Plan to attend when the workshop is in your area.

Is your spouse or significant other a Lion? Do you get satisfaction in being a member of the world's largest service organization? Sometimes in our search for new member candidates we fail to see those most dear to us. Additional family members living at the same address and members of the same club get special dues considerations. Give your significant other a chance to serve with you.

It only takes five people to start a Branch Club. If you have ever been turned down while recruiting a potential member because your meeting time was not convenient, here is an answer.

Make to come to Mid Winter January 14-16, 2011 and meet 2nd Vice President Wayne Madden. He is a very outstanding Lion and will bring many new ideas to our International Leadership Team.

There is still plenty of time to add more clubs this year. Do you know of an area? Let the State Office know. Can we add at least five more new club before July 1, 2011?

In order to insure that the Iowa KidSight Program continues in the years to come, a committee is establishing and endowment fund to help with future funding needs. Every year the program continues to grow with over 30,000 children now being screened annually. With 35,000 children entering Kindergarten each year, we still have a ways to go to reach our goal of every child being screened prior to starting to school.

This past year was a banner year for Iowa KidSight vision screenings. However we are faced with a critical issue of funding for the future. The Iowa Legislature may well not fund the $100,000 that they have in the past few years. The program has outgrown the capabilities of the Iowa Lions Foundation to pick up this additional amount.If this funding does not become available there is a very good chance the program will not continue. Is this program available in your community? Have you become trained to be part of a screening team? If you have you know how valuable a program this is. Please contact your legislator and urge them to continue funding the Iowa KidSight program.

If you need more information about the Iowa KidSight program contact KidSight@uiowa.edu. or the State Office at iowalions@aol.com. To date over 200,000 children screened since "Iowa KidSight" began. Think of the children that today see better than they might have before being screened. Over 7,000 children have been referred to Eye Care Professionals here in Iowa during the time of this Lion program. The next time someone asks you "What do Lions do?", please share this information. There were almost 1000 screenings at the 2009 Iowa State Fair which gives us a great start on increasing the number of screenings in 2009-2010. If you would be interested in helping with the screenings please let Lori Short in Iowa City know.

CAN YOU HELP US? As we speak of helping Lionism grow in Iowa, there are many ways. Each Club or District has a story to tell and together we have many stories to relate about people we have helped. Our motto is "WE SERVE" and together we can make a big difference in our communities and throughout the world. Could you forward some of your stories of how your Lions Club has made a difference during its history? We will be putting together promotional materials for helping to recruit new members and testimonials from clubs and people we have served will be a big part of those materials.


Thanks for all you do for your clubs, communities, multiple districts , Lions Clubs International and the less fortunate of the world.

You may contact GARY FRY via email at frygj35@msn.com