Meetings 2014

OFFICIAL MINUTES OF REGULAR CLUB & BOARD MEETINGS

June 3, 2015

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: None

Song – Lion Debra Laughlin – “God Bless America”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Jim Gander

Invocation- given by Lion Nancy Watters

ATTENDANCE 0 Guests 21 Members 57 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:32 pm: Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Program: None

Reports:

Charter Night/Eye Screenings/Children’s Books – Lion Nancy Watters

· RSVPs have been sent out. Send money to Lion Nancy

· Still collecting books but only wants new books because we have so many.

· Met with Headstart VB advisory council. They are looking forward to working with us again in the fall.

· Sept 1^st school screenings will start again.

· Central Library Screening – Monday, June 22^nd from 11-1:30.

Lion Jim Healy

· Lion Ed is very anxious to be at charter night and hopes his recovery will allow him to do so. It will be a last minute decision.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion John Watters

· 2^nd Thursday of every month from 10-12. Next is June 11th

· If you want a ride to the center, show up at the Best Buy parking lot at 9:30

· On Sat, June 13^th the EGRC will have a clean-up day. Any help would be appreciated. Some work will be inside but most of it will be outdoors doing things like cutting the grass. Hours from 10-12.

RAM – Lion John Watters

· RAM will be July 17-19. If you haven’t already signed up, it’s too late but you can look to make arrangements for the following year.

· RAM Virginia is now set up and will run RAM events in the future. RAMs will now occur in different regions of Virginia.

· Lion Linda is still collecting new underwear and children’s cloths to distribute at RAM.

Fundraisers/Brooms – Lion Jack Wagner

· Broom sale will be Friday and Saturday June 5^th and 6^th.

· 9:30 to 5:30 each day in the normal spot in BJ’s parking lot (near the gas station)

· Need to get rid of ironing board covers (qty 7)

· Scrubbie pads sell for $2.00

· Heavy duty (Patio) brooms sell for $16 (qty 24)

· Light duty brooms (they didn’t sell us the VA #4s) sell for $11. (qty 60)

· The boxes are marked with the prices

· Get rid of toy brooms - $7

· Whisk brooks - $7

· Lion Jack will have plenty of signage

· We have 6 push brooms but only 4 handles

· We have plenty of flags ($23 – without the pole)

· Lion Roger has the canopy but needs someone to pick it up Friday and get it the sale. Lion John said he’d get it there.

Visionwalk – Lion Debra Laughlin

· 96K was raised. 858 walkers participated

· 24-A had 77 lions and raised 14K

· 24-D had 58 lions and raised $2,800

· Next year we are going to challenge Richmond as well

Scholarships – Lion Bob Perrine

· Lion Bob gave a brief overview of changes to the grading which put more weight on financial need, i.e., 15% based on Extra Curricular, 15% on Community Service, 35% on Finical Need, 20% on an Essay, and 15% on a Reference. For the Princess Anne award this year, of the three applications received, Peter Nguyen and Amanda Ponack tied and were voted co-winners. Lion Bob suggested we award $1000 to each student. Lion Dick made the suggestion a motion which was second by Lion John.

o Lion Stan reported that the scholarship fund (approx 54K) produces around $1,300 in income each year. We currently budget 2K in scholarships per year and use the club funds to pay the difference.

o The principle balance of account has grown due to the rise in the stock market

o Lion Roger suggested we don’t make this a precedent but look at it on a case by case basis.

o Motion passed with 20 yays and 1 nay.

· Lion Stan said he would withdrawal $1,000 in principle from the scholarship fund to pay for the additional scholarship.We will be presenting a check to Peter Nguyen (going to George Mason University) and Amanda Ponack (going to JMU) for half the amount (the other half after completion of the first semester) at our dinner/meeting July 15th.

Secretary’s Report:

· Last district meeting is Wednesday, June 10^th at Smithfield Center. We have 10 going.

· Lion Martin Joseph announced he plans to resign from the club.

· Lion of the Year. Last meeting’s voting resulted in a tie. After the e-mail votes were counted, we still had a tie. 3 Lions were at the meeting who had not yet cast votes. Lion Rich collected their votes and the tie has finally been broken and the winner will be announced at Charter Night.

Birthdays: None present

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – $25- Aziz; $20 – Nancy; $10 – Jim 2

Meeting then adjourned at 7:41 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø June 5/6 (Fri/Sat) – Broom Sale (BJ’s on VB Blvd)

Ø June 11^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø June 22^nd (Mon) – Central Library Screening

Ø June 30^th (Tues) – Charter Night

Ø July 17-19 – RAM (Wise County)

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The Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, Virginia, held a special Board Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn, on June 3, 2015, following the Regular Meeting. The meeting was called to order at 7:50 p.m. by President Lion Aziz Selahi who acted as chairman, with the following board members and regular members in attendance:

Lion Richard Roberts, Secretary

Lion Debra Laughlin, 3^rd VP

Lion Roger Snell

Lion Nancy Watters, 2^nd VP

Lion John Watters

Lion Vickie Kennedy, Treasurer

Lion Irene Conlin, 1^st VP

Lion Steve Rosnov

Lion Stan Furman, TailTwister

Lion Jeri Furman

Lion Marvin Clemmons

Lion Dick Kressig

Minutes of Business Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:50 p.m. by Lion President Aziz Selahi.

1. Establishing a budget was discussed. The majority of line items for next year’s budget will be derived from this year’s incomes and expenses. No action taken.

2. We discussed setting up next year’s committees. A sign- up sheet will be distributed to the club to ask for volunteers. The role of sight chair was explained in detail by Lion John. This is a big and important job and we need to identify a Lion to take this role ASAP. Lion Rich will send Lion Irene a list of this year’s committees.

3. The club gets a good deal from Dr. Nathan Bond who provides the club with exams and glasses for $70. Daniel Farrara (former club member) just bought the Pearl Vision in the Lynnhaven Mall and offered the club free exams and glasses. We need to confirm whether this deal is indefinite.

4. We need to form a finance committee to audit or books before July 1^st. This is a requirement for the club’s state achievement award.

5. Lion Irene will develop the goals of the club for the upcoming Lion Year.

6. Lion Ray Ashe’s son passed away. Several club members intend to send him sympathy cards.

7. Lion Stan is working on out 50^th Charter night which will be held in April. He is designing a new pin and will have a PID as speaker.

8. We talked about Life Members. Our club currently has two, Lion Dallas and Lion Ray. We may have more Lions who meet the requirements. Lion Rich will investigate.

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm

Respectfully submitted:

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

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May 20, 2015

The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on May 20, 2015, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: None

Song – Lion Marvin Clemmons – “America the Beautiful”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Jeri Furman

Invocation- given by Lion Rich Roberts

ATTENDANCE

0 Guests 18 Members 48 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:34 pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Program: None

Reports:

Eye Screenings/Children’s Books – Lion Nancy Watters Impersonator Lion Rich

· Central Library Screening – Monday, June 22^nd.

Charter Night – Lion Nancy Watters Impersonator Lion Rich

· Broad Bay CC will charge us $42/person again this year.

· Initiations will be sent out on June 1^st with an RSVP date of June 15^th

· As in years past, the club will cover the cost of each member. The member will be charges $20 for their first guest and will be charged the full $42 for any additional guest.

· Lion Marvin asked if there will be something other than prime rib on the menu. There will also be stuffed flounder, a vegetarian pasta dish, and assorted side dishes.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion John Watters Impersonator Lion Rich

· 2^nd Thursday of every month from 10-12. Next is June 11th

· If you want a ride to the center, show up at the Best Buy parking lot at 9:30

· Due to the efforts of Lion Aziz, 393 glasses and 2 hearing aids were turned in.

· 4 Lions worked this month, Lions Jim 1, Jim 2, Aziz, and John.

S&H Van – Lion Rich Roberts

· Lion Rich called the ALC but they didn’t want us to come because they were doing testing and then all the students will be gone for the summer.

· They want us to come in the fall.

· Will follow up in August.

· Lion Rich asked if we wanted to take the van to the Central Library the same day we are doing the screening but we decided there wouldn’t be enough traffic on a Monday to be worthwhile.

Fundraisers/Brooms – Lion Jack Wagner

· Broom sale will be Friday and Saturday June 5^th and 6^th.

· 9:30 to 5:30 each day in the normal spot in BJ’s parking lot (near the gas station)

· Lion Rich will send out a sign-up sheet.

Scholarships – Lion Bob Perrine

· The club gives two scholarships each year. One to PAHS and one to ALC.

· The ALC graduation was at the VB Convention Center. The Mayor shows up to this.

· We’re one of two organizations who give scholarships to ALC students. The other group gives $300 so our $1,000 makes a big splash each year.

· Last year the Mayor came over and shook Lion Bob’s hand and thanked us for what we do.

· The PAHS award ceremony is a little different because we’re just a drop in the bucket. Many organizations give and they collect over a million dollars in scholarships.

· This year we gave our ALC scholarship to Erin Schneider, who is attending TCC in the fall and was a very worth candidate.

State Convention - CC Stan Furman

· 350 Lions registered.

· From Thalia, Lions Marvin, Jeri, Vickie, and Stan attended.

· The constitutional amendment to split the state treasurer and secretary into 2 positions was defeated.

· No constitutional amendments were passed.

· The election for District 24-D was held with 46 delegates present. Lion Ray (DG), Lion Tucker (1VDG), and Lion Beth (2VDG) all received 46 yays. This was the first time none of the nominees received any nay votes.

· Lion Vickie reported on the state bland contest. Neither of the 24-D candidates placed in the top 3 of their category. Both winners were from 24-A. The instrumental winner, a piano player, earned a perfect score which is almost unheard of.

Lion Shelia

· Lion Shelia is one the board for the Race for Breath. She is volunteering to be on the board of the walk to honor the 10 year anniversary of her husband’s death.

· She is hoping the club will support the Race for Breath with a $100 donation.

· Lion Rich suggested, since these funds would be allocated in the next budget cycle, to bring this up at the budget meeting so we can allocate a line item for it in the next budget.

Secretary’s Report:

· DG Pam suffered a debilitating stroke. She was not able to make the State Convention. Lion Stan recently spoke to her. She is just getting back home and is recovering but her speech is slurred and she has restrictions in her movements. We all wish her a speedy and full recovery.

· Since Lion Rich was slacking and did not have a new member kit at the last meeting, Lion Rich presented Lion Jim 2 with his member certificate and Lion Jim 1 with his sponsor certificate. Since Lion Jim 2 joined during the centennial celebration, he got a special certificate and pin.

· Lion Rich still doesn’t have hats. They are on order.

· Lion Rich gave Lion Jim 2 a Thalia vest; however, a women’s small did not fit Lion Jim very well. It was funny though. The vest fit Lion Shelia well though and he happily appropriated it.

· Lion Steve earned a membership key for sponsoring 5 lions. In true Lion Steve fashion, he doesn’t know how he got this.

· LMSHU board meeting is Thursday, May 21^st at Angelo’s in Newport News (J Clyde Blvd)

· We discussed redistricting. 24-D is at a net 17 loss for the year. The minimum to be a district is 1200 members and 35 clubs. We have 56 clubs and 1400+ members. 2 districts in the multiple are well below the threshold to be a district. We are not sure how this will affect 24-D at this time but we should continue to focus on recruitment.

· Lion Rich went to the Zone meeting last week. Not much info was put out. Lion Pat made Lion Rich demonstrate how we do birthdays in our club so that others could emulate us.

· Dues are coming up. Another year, another $100.

· Last district meeting is Wednesday, June 10^th at Smithfield Center. Lion Rich will distribute the flyer. Please let Lion Rich know if you plan to attend.

· The district wants to give a Melvin Jones to DG Pam for her service. To date, not many clubs have donated. Lion Stan made a motion to give $100 towards this. Lion Marvin seconded. Passed unanimously.

· Lion Rich held the vote for Lion of the Year. The results will be announced at Charter Night

Birthdays: Done on 5/6/15

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – $21 – Lion Marvin , $11 – Lion Mike

Meeting then adjourned at 7:46 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø May 21^st (Thurs) – LMSHU Bd Meeting (Angelo’s in Newport News)

Ø May 27^th (Wed) - Children’s Eye Screening (Norfolk Boys and Girls Club)

Ø June 5/6 (Fri/Sat) – Broom Sale (BJ’s on VB Blvd)

Ø June 11^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø June 22^nd (Mon) – Central Library Screening

Ø June 30^th (Tues) – Charter Night

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May 6, 2015

The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Apr 15, 2015, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Lion Pat Jones, Lion Nancy Cranford, Lion Homer from Oceanside (w/ 2 prospective members for their club), Jim Gander (Jim Healy’s Neighbor)

Song – Lion Rich Roberts – “Grand Ole Flag” (to honor our friend Lion Ed)

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Steve Rosnov

Invocation- given by Lion Nancy Watters

ATTENDANCE 6 Guests 18 Members 50 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:34 pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Program: Lion Irene Conlin – Braille Literacy in America

The National Federation of the Blind work to make the blind equal in all aspects of life with those who have their vision. The definition of legally blind is 20/200 as defined by the Census Bureau. The terms “visually-impaired”, “low-vision”, and “vision-loss” do not have formal definitions. Braille is a system of 6 raised or flat dots. People who learn Braille complete more years of school than those who do not learn Braille and education level and income level are directly correlated. The public schools minimally teach Braille if they do at all. In VA, teachers of the blind are not required to be certified to teach Braille. Braille literacy in America is declining. Only 10% of blind children are currently learning Braille. Books on tape are not a substitute for learning Braille because listening to material and reading material are different experiences which affect the mind and learning in different ways. The unemployment rate for the blind who know Braille is in the 40’s compared to in the 70’s for those who do not know Braille.

The Club President adjourned this meeting at 7:35pm to conduct a special board meeting. Please refer to the board meeting notes.

Meeting reconvened at 7:37pm

Reports:

Eye Screenings/Children’s Books – Lion Nancy Watters

· We will do an eye screening at the Central Library on May 27^th.

· Lion Marvin picked up a bunch of books which the Town Center Blind Lions had stored and we will distribute them at eye screenings.

· Lion Nancy still has approximately 1000 books to give away

· We should be able to get books from Macy’s book program again this year. Last year we received 701 books.

Charter Night – Lion Nancy Watters

· Broad Bay CC will charge us $42/person again this year.

· Lion Roger printed out invites which will be mailed out soon.

· As in years past, the club will cover the cost of each member. The member will be charges $20 for their first guest and will be charged the full $42 for any additional guest.

· Lion Nancy read of the impressive menu which was headlined by prime rib and stuffed flounder.

· The date was announced to be Tuesday June 12^th but we may need to reschedule this because Lion Aziz will be out of town on that day. More to follow on this item.

RAM Collection – Lion Linda Eggleston

· Lion Linda asked the club if we want to collect clothes again to take to RAM as we did last year. The club wanted to do this again.

· All donations need to be in by the 1^st of June.

· New underwear is the greatest need.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie

· District contest held on May 1^st.

· 6 contestants represented the district.

· Our vocalist (Meredith) won and will advance to the state competition.

· A 7^th grade pianist (Judy) from the Warwick Lions Club won the instrumentalist competition.

· The contestants advancing to state will at a minimum be awarded with a $1000 music scholarship.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion John Watters

· 2^nd Thursday of every month from 10-12

· If you want a ride to the center, show up at the Best Buy parking lot at 9:30

S&H Van – Lion Rich Roberts

· Lion Rich asked the club if we want to take the van to the Central Library on a weekend of coordinate to take the van to the Adult Learning Center. The club wanted to do ALC.

· Lion Rich has the info for Lion Ed’s contact at the ALC so Lion Rich will set this up and schedule the van for later in the month.

· When the date is set, Lion Rich will email the club and send out a sign-up sheet.

Lion Jeri Furman

· Lion Ed came home today and is doing well.

Fundraisers/Brooms – Lion Jack Wagner

· Lion Jack placed a small order ($600) and the new inventory is at Paul’s Garage.

· He bought Virginia Specials, warehouse brooms, whisk brooms, and push brooms.

· We need to look at increasing the retail price on some of our brooms.

· We will look to hold a broom sale on the 1^st weekend in June.

· Lion Nancy will sell brooms at her church’s blood drive again in August.

Adult Learning Center Scholarship – Lion Rich Roberts

· Lion Rich received the applicant package from Lion Aziz who picked them up.

· There was only one applicant this year.

· Lion Vickie informed the club Lion Bob had already had her cut the scholarship check to the lone applicant.

· Lion Rich was not sure of the status of the PAHS scholarship applications and will touch base with Lion Bob.

Lion John Watters

· Lion John announced to the club that our incoming DG tapped Lion Rich to be his cabinet secretary next Lion year.

CC Stan Furman

· The club collected $1230 worth of LOVF raffle tickets. The cost will be $440, which nets the club a $790 profit.

Lion Roger Snell

· Lion Roger asked is the Lions are doing anything to assist the disaster in Nepal.

· Lion Stan reported that LCI has already sent over $10,000 in aid.

· You can donate to LCI for this effort and apply and monies donated toward a Melvin Jones Fellowship.

Lion Pat Jones (Oceanside)

· Zone meeting on Wednesday, May 12^th at 4:30

· Location is Gus & Georges on VB Blvd

· Will discuss training and items for the State Convention

Lion Nancy Cranford (Oceanside)

· Lion Jeff Blair has to drop out of Lions due to poor health. His prognosis does not sound positive which extremely saddens the many members of our club who know Jeff.

Secretary’s Report:

· State convention is May 14-17^th.

· We will vote for Lion of the Year at the next meeting.

· Lion Rich asked if we had the funds to award a Melvin Jones to club member at charter night as we have in the past. It does not look like we will be able to award one this year.

· LMSHU board meeting is Thursday, May 21^st at Angelo’s in Newport News (J Clyde Blvd)

· Lion Ray wants to know the date we’re having next year’s charter night (50 yrs!) as soon as we have it locked down.

· The club received thank you notes from the school nurses at the elementary schools (Malibu, Thalia, Kings Grant) we donate $200 to each year so they can buy supplies.

New Member Installation – CC Stan Furman

· CC Stan inducted our newest member Jim Gander (sponsor: Lion Jim Healy).

· Lion Jim G. moved here 2 years ago from Cincinnati. He is a respiration therapist who works on the CHKD medical transport team. His wife also works in the medical field. Lion Jim G. is also a member of Medical Mission Trips International and has visited 13 different countries performing medical missions.

Birthdays:

Lion Otis wanted Lion Vickie to sing to him. Lion Nancy wanted Lion John to sing to her. The bidding became fierce. The club also wanted to hear some visitors sing and money started coming in to hear Lion Pat Jones sing. Lion Pat didn’t want to be alone and turned on her fellow club member and paid for Lion Nancy Cranford to sing as well.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – $20 – Lion Otis, $12 – Lion Jack, $7 – Lion Marvin

Meeting then adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø May 13^th (Wed) – Zone G Meeting (Gus and Georges, VB Blvd)

Ø May 14^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø May 14-17 – MD24 State Convention (Tyson’s Corner, VA)

Ø May 21^st (Thurs) – LMSHU Bd Meeting (Angelo’s in Newport News)

Ø May 27^th (Wed) - Children’s Eye Screening (Norfolk Boys and Girls Club)

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May 5, 2015 - The Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, Virginia, held a special Board Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn, on May 5, 2015, following the Regular Meeting. The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by President Lion Aziz Selahi who acted as chairman, with the following board members and regular members in attendance:

Lion Richard Roberts, Secretary

Lion Debra Laughlin, 3^rd VP

Lion Roger Snell

Lion Linda Eggleston

Lion Nancy Watters, 2^nd VP

Lion John Watters

Lion Vickie Kennedy, Treasurer

Lion Irene Conlin, 1^st VP

Lion Steve Rosnov

Lion Jim Healy

Lion Stan Furman, TailTwister

Lion Jeri Furman

Lion Sylvia Wagner

Lion Marvin Clemmons

Lion Sharon Clemmons

Minutes of Business Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by Lion President Aziz Selahi.

1. Lion Rich received an application for membership and application fees from Jim Gander.. Jim visited us at our last club meeting. Lion Jim Healy is his sponsor.

a. Lion Stan motioned that the club accept Jim’s application for membership. (Second by Lion Marvin)

b. The club approved the motion unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 7:37 pm

Respectfully submitted:

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

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April 15, 2015, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: 1VDG Ray Yannello, Jim Dangly (Jim Healy’s Neighbor)

Song – Lion Irene Conlin – “Mickey Mouse”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Bob Perrine

Invocation- given by Lion Stan Furman

ATTENDANCE - 2 Guests, 16 Members 42 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:34 pm, Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Program: 1^st Vice District Governor – Lion Ray Yannello

Lion Ray gave a brief overview of what is going on around the district and some of his plans for next year. Lion Ray stated that many clubs become complacent. Many clubs have just 2 or 3 lions who drive everything in the club and the club gets in trouble when either those individuals get burned out or move away. Due to this, Lion Ray does not judge a club’s health by the clubs size because some large clubs can get in trouble quick and dwindle if they are in such a situation. Currently there are 1477 lions in the district. Region 1 and Region 3 each has posted single digit membership gains, but Region 2 has lost over 20 Lions and the District is net negative. Lion Ray does not want to add clubs. He wants to strengthen existing clubs and he wants to see more collaboration between clubs. Lion Ray is not going to do an official visit to each club. He is going to focus on visiting the struggling clubs so we probably won’t get an official visit from him next year.

Reports:

Eye Screenings – Lion Rich Roberts

· April 20^th is the date for the Kid’s in the Kitchen project in conjunction with the Junior Woman’s League of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Lion Marvin and Lion Sylvia will be leading the project at Southside Boys and Girls Club on Berkley Avenue in Norfolk from 6-8 pm.

White Cane Recap – Lion Rich Roberts

· $1,444.12 collected, one of our best efforts.

· Lion Marvin had an awesome technique, he stood at the line of carts and would pull a cart out for each person. Lion Rich jumped in on this.

· Lion Rich stressed the importance of looking people in the eye and asking for the donation. It also pays to think quick. A lady replied that she only had checks, so Lion Rich said the we accept checks. She stopped and wrote the club a $20 check.

· With this cash infusion, Lion Vickie is going to pay out are remaining charity donations.

Charter Night – Lion Rich Roberts

· Lion Nancy has confirmed with Broad Bay Country Club that we’ll have the event there as we have in the years past. The date will be TDB.

· We will have prime rib. The rest of the menu will be determined later.

· Cost will be $42/person again. We will look at the admin fund and most likely the club will pay for each Lion and subsidize some portion of the cost for our spouses.

S&H Van – Lion Rich Roberts

· The Adult Learning Center would like the club to bring the van out in May. Lion Ed usually coordinates this, but Lion Rich will take for action to coordinate with ALC and reserve the van.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Rich Roberts

· 2^nd Tuesday of every month

· 3 lions worked 2hrs this month.

Fundraisers/Brooms – Lion Rich Roberts

· Nick at Paul’s Garage called Lion Steve and told him our inventory is depleted.

· Lion Jack is going to place a broom order to replenish our stock

· We will look to hold a broom sale at BJs in May so our activity account is strong going into the next lion year.

Visionwalk – Lion Rich Roberts

· Date is April 26^th at the 17^th street park.

· Our team is “Lions Pride of 24D”

· Ynot is doing “Dining in the Dark” at all 5 of their locations on April 21^st from 11am-11pm.

· So far over 600 walkers have signed up and $61,000 raised (ahead of last year).

Audible Easter Egg Hunt – Lion Irene Conlin

· 7 visually impaired children participated with a total of 12 of their siblings. This is consistent with other years (now that there are more of them so parents have more options).

· $280 was spent. $200 of that was donated by Barrett and Karrie.

· We rely on social services to get the word out and Lion Irene thinks they do a poor job of getting the word out. This may be something we can improve upon.

Secretary’s Report:

· State convention is May 14-17^th. Ask if you need registration forms.

· 24-D Leadership training is on Sat, April 18^th at the Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Chesapeake. The incoming President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Membership Chair are required to attend. Any Lions who interested in the classes are welcome to attend even if they are not assuming those positions. There will also be the worldwide induction for new lions.

Birthdays: None

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 2 drawings: $16 – Lion Rich. Then Lion Rich pulled his own ticket for another $12.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:04 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø April 18^th (Sat) – 24D Leadership Training (Oak Grove United Methodist Church, Chesapeake)

Ø April 20^th (Mon) – Children’s Eye Screening (Norfolk Boys and Girls Club)

Ø April 21^st (Tues) – Dining in the Dark (all Ynot locations)

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

Ø May 1^st (Fri) – District Bland Contest

Ø May 14-17 – MD24 State Convention (Tyson’s Corner, VA)

Ø May 27^th (Wed) - Children’s Eye Screening (Norfolk Boys and Girls Club)

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Apr 1, 2015

The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Apr 1, 2015, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Dr. Amir Hoshang Chegini, Dr. Ehsan Salek, Dr. Noroozi (husband), Dr. Noroozi (wife), Simin Mohit, Fouad Mohit, Arian Selahi, Rahel Fatahi, Qumars Sina

Song – Lion Steve Rosnov – “My Country This of Thee”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Jack Wagner

Invocation- given by Lion John Watters

ATTENDANCE - 9 Guests: 17 Members: 47 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:33 pm: Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Dr. Mojgan Chegini, Pharm.D – “Providing Safe & Effective Drug Therapy”

The most common problems from drug therapy comes from drug interactions, ineffectiveness, adverse affect, and under/over dosage. Drugs may affect some unknown disease or condition. One common such occurrence comes from high blood pressure medications which increase potassium levels. Elevated potassium levels can lead to increased cause of infections and may cause a doctor to prescribe additional meds to deal with conditions caused by the original drugs. Similarly some drugs can cause symptons which resemble other diseases which can lead to people getting misdiagnosed with a condition and receive additional drugs they don’t need. Drugs can also have adverse interactions with other drugs by inhibiting their effects. Some medical herbs and supplements can lead with prescribed drugs, so it is important to disclose everything you are taking to your doctor and pharmacist. You need to be careful with OTC meds when taking prescribed drugs, so you must read labels and consult with the pharmacist. Some drugs can also have adverse affects It is important to increase your personal monitoring (BP, heart rate, etc) when starting a new drug to ensure you are getting the desired benefits and to ensure the dosage is correct or if you need to be switched to another drug. One common problem is poor communication when a patient leaves the hospital setting. Often they stay on drug regimens which where only needed while in the hospital. You should always keep an updated list of all the things you are taking. Lack of patient compliance is another big issue. The common reasons why patients are non-compliant are financial, forgetfulness, and lack of understanding.

Reports

Election of Officers - Lion Rich Roberts

· Lion Rich read the slate of officers which was presented by the nominating committee at the March 18^th meeting. The slate of officers is attached.

· Lion Rich asked if there were any nominations from the floor, but there were none.

· Lion Jack made a motion that nominations be closed and the officers be elected as presented. Lion Marvin seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Lion Nancy Watters

· The club received a letter of thank you for our participation in the “Kids in the Kitchen” screenings.

· 2 more Kids in the Kitchen screenings are coming up. Both are at the Norfolk Boys and Girls Club. One is April 20^th from 6-8pm and the other is May 27^th from 6-8pm. Lion Nancy will not eb able to attend either screening, so if the club can’t support she will find another club to take them on.

· The “Lions at Work” sign is missing. We need to find out who has it because we’d like to display it at the upcoming White Cane.

· We need to fill a few extra slots for the White Cane due to some people having to drop out.

· We will have cards with directions to Paul’s Garage to inform people where to get brooms.

· Lion Nancy plugged the VB Choral. They will be performing on May 15^th.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Our two winners won the region contest and will advance to the district contest

· The district contest will be at Chandler Hall, ODU. May 1^st at 7pm.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion John Watters

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center from 10-noon.

· Meet at Best Buy at 9:30 if you want a ride.

Visionwalk – Lion Rich Roberts

· Date is April 26^th at the 17^th street park.

· April 13^th is Dining in the Dark at Il Giardino Restraunt

· Our team is “Lions Pride of 24D”

Secretary’s Report:

· Journey for sight is April 11^th

· LMSHU reduced their usage rates. $100/day and $1/mile.

· State convention is May 14-17^th. Ask if you need registration forms.

· Williamsburg Host Charter Night is April 21^st.

· $181 in broom money was turned in. $22 in flag money was turned in.

· Charter night was brought up. Lion Nancy is going to coordinate with the Broad Bay Country Club to secure a date in June.

Birthdays: Lion Jack asked Lion Roger to since to him in Proper English. A few club members who only speak American tried to prevent this, but they were easily overwhelmed by those wishing to hear Happy Birthday in a foreign language. As the bidding started to die down, Lion Vickie tossed a few bucks into the pot to hear Lion Otis sing. Due to this, it was rumored that Lion Vickie had to send the night on the couch.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 3 drawings: $20 – Lion Vickie, $12 – Lion Mike, $6 – Lion Jim.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:04 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø April 3^rd/4^th (Fri/Sat) – White Cane (BJs on VB Blvd)

Ø April 9^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø April 11^th (Sat) – Journey for Sight

Ø April 13th (Mon) – Dining in the Dark (Il Giardino, 910 Atlantic Ave, VB)

Ø April 18^th (Sat) – 24D Leadership Training (Oak Grove United Methodist Church, Chesapeake)

Ø April 20^th (Mon) – Children’s Eye Screening (Norfolk Boys and Girls Club)

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

Ø May 1^st (Fri) – District Bland Contest

Ø May 14-17 – MD24 State Convention (Tyson’s Corner, VA)

Ø May 27^th (Wed) - Children’s Eye Screening (Norfolk Boys and Girls Club)

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Mar 18, 2015

The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Mar 18, 2015, by Lion 1VP Irene Conlin at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Karrie & Barrett Lang (former club members). Gina Rose, Josie and Gretsky (Guide dog)

Song – Lion Ed DeLong – “Grand Ole Flag”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Mike Coren

Invocation- given by Lion Jim Healy

ATTENDANCE

4 Human and 1 Dog Guest

19 Members 53 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:32 pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Gina Rose – “Guiding Eyes for the Blind”

Gina was accompanied by fellow puppy-raiser, Josie, and potential future guide dog Gretsky. Guiding Eyes for the Blind is a similar organization to Leader Dog. They breed and train service dogs as well as train individuals on how to use service dogs. In addition to providing dogs to the blind, they also train dogs for people with disabilities other than sight, such as autism. Their breeding colony is in New York and they start training newborn puppies immediately. They try to get the dogs in social situations so they can be prepared for the dense hustle and bustle of New York City. This involves training sessions and classes. Locally, several vets donate their services to care for the dogs in training. When they have people with special needs, they usually require more training with the dogs than someone who is blind. About 50% of the dogs they train make it to be guide dogs. The dogs that don’t make it are bought by ATF to use as contraband sniffers.

Reports

Lion Irene Conlin

· Since Barrett and Karrie where visiting us, Lion Irene presented them each with a plaque of appreciation for the awesome support they came through with last year to help the audible easter egg project.

Lion Nancy Watters

· “Kids in the Kitchen” screening was done at Rosemont ES. Lions Nancy & Sylvia set everything up, but only 10 kids were there to screen. There will be another screening like this in April at Ingleside ES. The specific date is TBD. We use to do this project at Pembroke Mall and it was a huge success, but now they want to do multiple small screens which are not as successful due to the amount of work for the little result.

· We’ll be doing library screenings sometime in June and July.

· Nancy has a friend whose mother-in law recently died. The mother-in law had some dishes which she wanted to get rid of. Lion Nancy figured they were valuable, so she took them and sold them on Ebay for $200. When she went to give the money to her friend, she requested that the money be donated with half going to the Lions and the other half going to her church. Her husband received a glass eye which was donated by the Lions several years ago and they have donated money to the Lions ever since.

· The White Cane sign-up sheet is all filled out and will be attached in the email with the minutes. We’ll work 12-6 on Friday, April 3^rd and 10-6 on Saturday, April 4^th.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Region Bland on 3/19 at Thalia United Methodist Church

· There will be 4 contestants.

· We need to be there by 6:30 to set-up. 6 Lions volunteered.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center from 10-noon.

· We had a good month in March with 419 glasses turned in and 9 hearing aids.

· 5 Lions worked: Lions Marvin, Ed, Steve, Sylvia, and John.

Nominating Committee Report – Lion Rich Roberts

· President – Lion Irene Conlin

· 1^st VP – Lion Nancy Watters

· 2^nd VP – Lion Debra Laughlin

· 3^rd VP – Lion Marvin Clemons

· Immediate Past President – Lion Aziz Selahi

· Secretary – Lion Rich Roberts

· Treasurer – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Lion Tamer – Lion Mike Coren

· Tail Twister – Lion Steve Rosnov

· 1 Yr Directors – Lion Shelia Romm; Lion Linda Harrision

· 2 Yr Directors – Lion Ed DeLong; Lion Dick Kressig

· Membership Chair – Lion Aziz Selahi

Secretary’s Report:

· $100 in LOVF raffle tickets was turned in. .

· The Region III meeting is on Thursday, March 26^th at the Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Sandbridge.

· Lion Rich informed the club of the passing of Lion Joanne Pheris

· Lion Steve reported on the condition of PDG Don Burson. He went to the ER and had triple bypass surgery, but he is recovering and doing well.

Lion Dick Kressig:

· Lion Dick brought up the fact that other animals than dogs are used for therapeutic treatments. He talked briefly about EquiKids in Virginia Beach and suggested we bring someone from their organization in for a program. Lion Irene said she would reach out and set something up.

Lion Irene Conlin:

· Lion Irene informed the club that people sell fake service dog vest online to be used by scammers. She said if we see this to immediately alter the authorities.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 3 drawings. $25 – Lion Marvin, $15 – Lion Marvin (again) $9 – Lion Jeri

Meeting then adjourned at 8:03 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø March 19^th (Thurs) – Region III Bland Contest (Thalia United Methodist Church)

Ø March 26^th (Thurs) – Region III mtg (Tabernacle United Methodist Church, Sandbridge)

Ø April 1^st (Wed) – Regular Club Meeting (Officer Elections)

Ø April 3^rd/4^th (Fri/Sat) – White Cane (BJs on VB Blvd)

Ø April 9^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø April 18^th (Sat) – 24D Leadership Training (Oak Grove United Methodist Church, Chesapeake)

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

Ø May 1^st (Fri) – District Bland Contest

Ø May 14-17 – MD24 State Convention (Tyson’s Corner, VA)

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Mar 4, 2015

Call to Order at 6:30pm:

Introduction of Guests: Carrie Lang (former club member)

Song – Lion Bob Perine – “This Land is Your Land”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Ed DeLong

Invocation- given by Lion Marvin Clemmons

ATTENDANCE

1 Guests 18 Members 50 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:36 pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion Bob Perrine – “Making a Difference”

In 2006 NBC’s "Making a Difference" segment on their Nightly News Show began when Senior Producer Sharon Hoffman pitched a story idea about an individual who was changing people's lives for the better. The more the staff talked about the story, the more they realized they had something special: a legitimate good news story about a person who was making a difference. Since NBC began this series about people who were selflessly helping others, the network has been utterly overwhelmed by good news stories.

Inspired by the NBC series, the Thalia Lions started its own “Making a Difference” series in 2009 highlighting people who made outstanding contributions to others with disabilities in sight, hearing and diabetes; or simply by helping those less fortunate. Awards have primarily gone to Thalia Lions but sometimes folks in the surrounding communities have been featured. Thalia Lions were encouraged to nominate exceptional people, but as the program progressed, fewer and fewer submissions were made. I’d like to see that trend end. I have picked out a baker's dozen of more than twenty “Making a Difference” stories Thalia Lions have been proud to salute on our web site over the last six years.

http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2005/11/good_news_about.html

http://thalialions.blogspot.com/2009/03/making-difference.html

2009

1- Ophthalmologist Samuel Garrett, founder and President of Virginia Beach Eye Center, started giving free eye exams 15 years ago. He and his staff have worked since in their after-hour free time to donate their services to people without insurance, jobs, and homes.

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2 - Isabel Andrews was featured July 11, 2008 in the Virginian Pilot for her patriotism in welcoming returning Navy ships back to the Norfolk Naval Station even though through failing eyesight she could no longer see them as they passed by her home at the Westminster Canterbury retirement community. Standing on deck naval officers said her welcoming committee of around 15 standing on the seawall waving American flags meant a lot to them.

Update: At 93 Isabel passed away in April 09.

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3 - Thalia Lions Club members Nancy and John Watters traveled to Wise County, Virginia some 460 miles from Virginia Beach, at their own expense to participate in the 2009 three day Remote Area Medical (RAM) Expedition. They joined about 1,800 volunteers providing health care to thousands of local residents in dire need of their services. This was not there first year as they have been for a number of prior years.

Update: Joining the Watters in the past number of years have been Lion Linda Eggleston with husband Steve, Lion Susan Sumnick with husband Mick and Lion Fran Scott plus friends of Lions.

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4 - Dr. Barry Strasnick, a Norfolk ENT-otolaryngologist (oto larin oligist) in Norfolk has worked to make parents aware of hearing problems in their newborns. He was the architect of the Virginia Early Hearing Detection and Intervention law which requires that all Virginia hospitals screen the hearing of all newborns prior to discharge and report it to the Virginia Department of Health.

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5 - Associate Professor Dennis Hong and his Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Department’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory developed a system that allowed the blind to drive a car.

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6 - As the program manager of the “Healthy You” weight management program at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, Registered Nurse Barbara Benson has helped countless children struggling with Type 2 Diabetes to change their life style to become less obese.

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2010

7 - Haitian Lions Club Zone Chairperson William Eliacin’s (Elia-cin) initial earthquake response paved the way for efficient and orderly reception of a swift worldwide outpouring of Lion support despite insurmountable hardships.

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8 - Nurse Debra Laughlin, a member of Foundation Fighting Blindness, has worked for many years bringing eye disease awareness to Virginia Beach. She was featured on Oct 9^th 2010 in the Virginian Pilot for organizing a church health fair despite the fact that she was beginning to lose her own eye sight.

Update: After hearing about her in the Pilot, she was invited to be the keynote speaker at Thalia and subsequently joined our club.

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2011

9 - Thalia Lions Nancy and John Watters have worked for years testing pre-school children for possible vision problems. District 24-D had been using an eye screening instrument since 1999 that was poor in detection, took considerable time in producing results, and used Polaroid instant film that was increasingly more expensive to buy. Lion Nancy was instrumental in obtaining the new Spot Vision Screener designed to quickly and easily detect vision issue.

Update: Lion Nancy has assembled Lions throughout 24-D to test over 32,000 pre-school children with the new Spot machine. Not stopping there, Lion Nancy has been instrumental in obtaining nine more of these expensive devises for other 24D clubs.

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2012

10 - Pamela Brown, Senior & Disability Services Librarian at Virginia Beach’s Bayside & Special Services Library developed this library as the central Hampton Roads location for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped program. She was awarded the “Network Sub-regional Library of the Year Award” along with a cash prize.

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2013

11 - Lions Jack Wagner, Brad Furman, Aziz Selahi, John and Nancy Watters, Irene Conlin, Steve Rosnov, Stan and Jerry Furman, and several other volunteers stepped in to help out when the director of the local Head Start, a federally funded early childhood pre-school program, asked Thalia Lions to help one of five families in need during the holiday season. With the Thalia’s outpouring of willingness to help, not just one, but all five families became the recipients of cash, food and holiday presents.

Update: The same generosity was matched during the 2014 holiday season, an affair that is sure to become an annual Thalia tradition.

2015

12 - Thalia Club’s Lion Nancy Watters took the lead in Lions Clubs International Reading Action Program, Lions Club International’s 10-year commitment to increase reading and literacy rates in young children. Lion Nancy organized 24-D Lions to obtain and put over 1,500 new or gently used books into the hands of young children at hospitals, churches, shelters, schools and Lion Spot Vision screening events.

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13 - Shortly after joining Thalia Lions, Lion Debra began advancing the idea of having Lions participate in a Hampton Roads Visionwalk. Lion Debra must be given a Lion’s share of the credit for the first Virginia Beach Visionwalk in April 2012 when 600 Lions and non-Lion walkers showed up (the largest inaugural Visionwalk ever) with the three walks up through 2014 turning in over $300,000 to Foundation Fighting Blindness. For the 2014 walk Lion Debra brought the whole district into the cause by having 24D challenge Lion District 24A to a fund-raising contest with 24D beating 24A, barely, raising $10,032. The Foundation Fighting Blindness awarded Lion Debra as the 2014 Volunteer of the Year.

Reports

Lion Nancy Watters

· There will be a children’s eyescreening on March 17^th at Rosemont ES from 6-8pm.

· Monday was “Read Across America” day. This involved over 2,700 children in about 45 locations. 12 members & friends of members participated in the event in 5 different location. Lion Nancy shared stories from the event and it sounded like the members had has much fun as the kids.

· The White Cane sign-up sheet was circulated. We’ll work 12-6 on Friday, April 3^rd and 10-6 on Saturday, April 4^th.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· This year’s event was successful and the instrumentalists were excellent.

· Unfortunately we did not have a vocalist this year (first time this has happened), but we will have a vocalist for the region contest vs. Bayside.

· In order to improve the contest, we need to restrict adult from being in the staging and practice areas for the contestants. Apparently one parent made disparaging comments to one of the contestants prior to their performance.

· The regional contest will be on March 19^th at the Thalia United Methodist Church at 7pm.

CAST & Feeding the Homeless – Lion Shelia Romm

· Lion Shelia’s church was able to fill most the volunteer slots.

· What they really need is toiletries, towels, and washcloths.

· Lion Vickie said she has a lot of this stuff already pre-packed at the Ronald McDonald House and that Lion Shelia could swing by to pick the stuff up.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center from 10-noon.

· March 12^th is the next EGRC visit.

· Lion Steve had over 100 glasses to turn-over which he recently collected.

Visionwalk – Lion Debra Laughlin

· Il Giardino (10^th and Atlantic) is going to do “dining in the dark” on April 13^th. They are going to donate all their profits from sales between 5-11 on that day to the 24-D vision-walk team.

· We’re not sure at this point if Ynot is going to do dining in the dark again this year.

RAM – Lion John Watters

· If you plan to go, you need to register ASAP. Registration has to be online this year. Make sure you identify yourself as a Lion.

Nominating Committee – Lion Rich Roberts

· Per our bylaws, we need to hold the election of our new officers prior to April 15^th.

· The nominating committee will consist of Lion Rich and Lion Irene.

· The slate of officers will be presented to the club at our meeting on March 18^th.

· We will hold the election of officers at the club meeting on April 1^st.

Secretary’s Report:

· $780 in LOVF raffle tickets was turned in.

· $22 in broom money was turned in.

· $12.01 in mint money was turned in.

· The Region III meeting is on Thursday, March 26^th at the Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Sandbridge.

· The dates and locations of the Region I and Region II meetings will be distributed to the club.

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman – Lion John and Lion Steve both wanted Lion Bob to sing to them. Carrie asked for Lion Stan to sing to her. Nobody bid for them to sing because the club was too distracted with Lion Shelia’s request for Lion Debra to “twerk” for her birthday. The club gave substantial financial support to Lion Shelia’s request. Before any twerking could commence, Lion Debra had to pull out her magnifying glass and watch Twerking videos on Lion Nancy’s phone in order to know what she was being asked to do. Lion Debra is a quick study and did some serious twerking for Lion Shelia. Lion Debra, being the overachiever that she is, decided to close by giving Lion Shelia a lap dance. The club also request for Lion Sylvia and Lion Nancy to sing a duet, which was beautiful. Lion Nancy then gave a special lovey-dovey birthday song to her lovey-dovey husband.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 3 drawings. $25 – Lion Shelia, $20 – Lion Irene, $8 – Lion Nancy

Meeting then adjourned at 8:03 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

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Feb 4, 2015 -

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Carl Welsh (former club member), 2 lions from Portugal (Lewis and Gabriela), 4 Lions from Bayside (Traveling Leo)

Song – Lion Nancy Watters – “My Sweetheart”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Rich Roberts

Invocation- given by Lion Jim Healy

ATTENDANCE 7 Guests; 18 Members; 50 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:35 pm

Reconvened: 6:59 pm

Lion Aziz announced that he will be out of the country from Feb 14 – Mar 24. During his absence, Lion Irene will be running the show and Lion Nancy will be backing her up.

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion Jim Healy: Lion Jim saw the show “Allegiance” which is about Soviet “sleeper agents” and this brought back memories of his experiences trying to infiltrate underground communist networks back in the 1950s. Back then, Lion Jim was a young agent assigned to the San Francisco FBI office. San Francisco had a very active Communist Party at the time which was funded by the USSR. The group had plans to violently overthrow the US government. Congress passed the Smith Act which made planning these types of activities illegal. The Communist Party had planned for this and the passage of the Smith Act forced their leaders underground and the FBI was tasked with finding them and arresting them. Most of the leaders headed to the “boonies” and communicated through a vast network of couriers. Most of the couriers where just “normal” people who worked regular jobs and blended into society. The FBI knew the courier system was their weakest point and set out to identify who the couriers were and analyze their routines. This was mainly done with a lot of old fashioned “stake-outs”. Agents would sit in cars or look out apartment building windows; waiting, watching and photographing. As they identified couriers, they would trail them in order to identify more and more accomplices in order to map out the entire network. The FBI relied on good citizens to allow them into their homes and businesses so they could do their surveillance. Lion Jim and his team grew out their hair and didn’t keep a clean shave in order to blend in and meet with the couriers in order to secure intelligence. Eventually the FBI learned of a high level meeting involving several leaders of the Communist Party. The meeting was to occur in one of two places, so the FBI sent teams to both locations in order to make the arrests. Lion Jim’s superiors feared that the Communist Leaders may try to destroy evidence before they could be arrested, so, being the youngest of the outfit, Lion Jim was assigned the important duty of guarding the toilets. Unfortunately for Lion Jim’s team, the Communist leaders went to the alternate location and were arrested by the other team.

Reports:

Membership Keys – Lion Rich Roberts

· Membership keys are presented to Lions who perform the important task of introducing new people to Lionism. Growing membership is important so we can continue to add more projects and perform more service to our community

· Lion Roger was presented with a 2-member key by Lion Aziz.

· Lion Nancy was presented with a 5-member key by Lion Aziz.

Lion Nancy Watters

· 10,000 books have been spoken for or delivered.

· The VB Headstarts are now asking for books, but we are running out. Lion Nancy is going to try to figure out a way shift some books their way.

· We’ll be doing a Headstart screening on Feb 18^th at 12:30. There will only be 18 kids, so a lot of assistance will not be necessary.

· VB Host will be doing a Headstart screening on the morning of Feb 18^th and Lion Nancy will be helping them out.

· Lion Nancy received a call from the father of a 3yr old child who our club screened at Sunnybrook. The child has a hereditary condition from birth. The child received treatment, but we found the child still needed glasses. He has an 18 month old which he fears has a similar condition and may also need classes. Lion Nancy gave him her address so he could bring his child to her house to be screened.

· Our club will be doing a screening at the Central Library in June (around the 22^nd) during a children’s reading program. Dates, times, and details will be firmed up in the future.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Club contest is scheduled for Feb 19^th at 7:00 pm. Location is the Thalia United Methodist Church on Virginia Beach Blvd. Will need club support to work the event.

· 1 vocalist and 6 instrumentalist have signed up. Many sign up in the final week.

· Andrea has a conflict and won’t be able to participate this year.

· Oceanside is participating with us and splitting the costs.

· Lion John will be the MC again this year, but we need to search for a strong public speaker to replace him for the future years.

CAST & Feeding the Homeless – Lion Shelia Romm

· Lion Shelia’s church is housing the homeless

· Dates are March 11-17

· Lion Bob Gurley (Chesapeake Host) is trying to coordinate a vision and blood sugar screening. The church is in Woodstock’s dirt, but so far they have not responded.

· Volunteers will be needed to help serve food, donate clothes & toiletries, fellowship.

· March 13^th is the target day for the screenings. Lions who need to be certified in blood sugar screening will have the opportunity to get their certification at the event.

LOVF Raffle – CC Stan Furman

· 34 of 3r books have been passed out.

· This is a club fundraiser for our activity account.

· $30 per book. $20 goes to the club and $10 to LOVF.

· Write checks to Thalia Lions

· Drawing at the state convention. Turn in books by last meeting in April.

· Biggest fundraiser of the year for LOVF.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center from 10-noon.

· Bayside was invited to join us if they don’t already have a recycling program.

Fundraising – Lion Aziz Selahi

· Lion Aziz suggested we schedule a white cane and a brook sale.

· Lion Nancy is the white cane chair, Lion Irene is the broom sale chair.

· We penciled in April 3^rd/4^th for the white cane.

Homeless Connect – Lion John Watters

· 195 people were screened by the LMSHU

· 55 people received referrals.

· A ton of reading glasses were handed out.

Secretary’s Report:

· $20 in broom money was turned in by Lion Nancy.

· The LMEB open house is now on Saturday, Feb 7^th. Lion Rich emailed a flyer to the club, but the flyer did not contain many details. The event will not be the same as it was last year. You will get to tour the eye bank.

· Parking is at the Heart Hospital Garage. Go directly to the Eye Bank, not to the Brickhouse Auditorium.

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman

· Lion Bob was the sole birthday boy.

· Lion Bob request Lion Debra sing to him. She did not put up much of a fight until Lion Ed threw in some money to hear Lion Otis sing. Then the bidding got heated. As the pot continued to climb, Lion Marvin stole the show by throwing down big money to hear his sister sing. The whole room was roared as we looked at poor Lion Silvia being betrayed by her own brother. Either way, Lion Stan forced all of them to sing one by one. Lion Debra started the show off fast with her own, non-conventional birthday song. Lion Otis came next. The best part of being at the head table is seeing the look on everybody’s faces while Lion Otis sings like only Lion Otis can sing. Our unprepared guests from Portugal faces were picture perfect, wide-eyed expressions of shock. Then came Lion Sylvia who has a beautiful voice and sang a traditional happy birthday to perfection. Lion Stan then made them all sing a trio. Lion Bob was in heaven as he had a girl on each arm singing to him. The rest of us were happy as well since the girls were able to drown out poor Lion Otis.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 3 drawings. $25 – Lion Vickie, $15 – Lion Ed (again!), $10 – Lion Jeri

Meeting then adjourned at 7:57 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø February 7^th (Sat) – Open House and Lions Medical Eyebank

Ø February 12^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling

Ø February 18^th (Wed) – Headstart Screening

Ø February 19^th (Thurs) – Thalia Bland Contest (Thalia Methodist United Church)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – 24-D Governor’s Social and Cabinet Meeting (Kilmarnock)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – Visionwalk Kickoff Luncheon

Ø March 13^th (Fri) – CAST Screening

Ø April 3^rd/4^th (Fri/Sat) – White Cane (BJs on VB Blvd)

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

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Jan 21,2015 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Jan 21, 2015, by Lion 1^st Vice President Irene Conlin at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: None

Song – Lion Ed Delong – “Grand Ole Flag”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Mike Coren

Invocation- given by Lion Marvin Clemmons

ATTENDANCE

0 Guests

19 Members 53 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:32 pm ; Reconvened: 6:58 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion John Watters: Lion John talked about Glaucoma. Lion John explained that Glaucoma is a loss of vision due to changes in the optic nerve (which is not really a nerve) and it is not necessarily because of pressure. High pressure was thought to be the cause back when Lion John was a resident (~45 yrs ago), but we have discovered other risk factors play into this and ½ of the people with glaucoma actually have normal eye pressure. It is also possible to have high eye pressure and not have glaucoma because some people can just tolerate it. Lion John passed out a pamphlet which outlines the factors which puts a person at risk of having glaucoma. Those factors are: Age, Race (African-Americans most at risk), family history (biggest factor), high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, heart disease, high eye pressure, injuries to the eye, medical steroid use. Lion John described how the eye is formed. He also stated that most people who have glaucoma don’t realize it since the vision loss is from the side. A person with glaucoma can maintain 20/20 vision but lose their peripheral vision. This is different from macular degeneration where you lose your reading sight but keep your peripheral vision. Lion John wants to take the eye pressure test out of the LMSHU because it can be misleading since the pressure test alone is not enough to diagnose glaucoma. If we tell someone their pressure is normal, it is unlikely that they will go to an eye doctor. If this occurs, we could be preventing people from accurately getting diagnosed. ½ the people with glaucoma do not get diagnosed.

Reports:

Scholarship – Lion Bob Perrine

· We’ve already sent $500 to our recipient, Erin Byant.

· She has finished her 1^st semester at Randoff-Macon and wants the rest of her money.

· She earned A’s and B’s and we’re sending her another $500 check.

Lion Bob then promoted his website: http://1bob1.blogspot.com where he is writing about the history of Cape Henry.

Childrens Books – Lion Nancy Watters

· 1 week ago Lion Bob & his wife, Lion Fran, Lion Brad and Ian came over to help stamp a few thousand books.

· With the help of Lions Marvin and Sylvia, Lion Nancy was able to deliver 4500 books to the Headstart Hq in Portsmouth. The books will be distributed to 30 different Head Starts in Hampton, Newport News, and Chesapeake.

· The rest of the books have been spoken for and will be distributed soon.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Club contest is scheduled for Feb 19^th at 7:00 pm. Location is the Thalia United Methodist Church on Virginia Beach Blvd. Will need club support to work the event.

· A few students have already reached out and plan to participate in the contest.

· Lion Vickie attended Smithfield’s Bland contest and she described it as “sad”. They only had 5 contestants and they were all instrumentalists. Their instrumentalist judge fell through so they had the vocalist judge assessing the instrumentalists.

Fruit Sale – Lion Jack Wagner

· We had a good showing.

· Profit will be around $1150

· Things went smoother this year. Lion Jack received a lot of help.

· The quality of the fruit was better this year. Especially the grapefruits.

LOVF Raffle – CC Stan Furman

· Lion Stan passed out the booklets

· This is a club fundraiser for our activity account.

· $30 per book. $20 goes to the club and $10 to LOVF.

· Write checks to Thalia Lions

· Drawing at the state convention.

· Biggest fundraiser of the year for LOVF.

Housing the Homeless – Lion Shelia Romm

· Lion Shelia’s church is sheltering homeless for a week. She is looking for volunteers to help serve food and donate supplies.

· It was suggested we do a screening, but it sounds like one of the Chesapeake Clubs may already be screening them when they stay at one of the churches in Chesapeake. Lion Shelia will get more details.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion John Watters

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center.

· On Jan 8th, Lions Aziz, Mike, Jim, Sylvia, Marvin, and John worked.

· 161 glasses and 1 hearing aid were turned in

Homeless Connect – CC Stan Furman

· Next Wednesday, 8am-3pm at the scope

· 2 shifts

· Contact Lion Nancy Cranford if you want to go

Treasurers Report – Lion Vickie Kennedy

CC Stan made a motion that we pay our yearly commitments to Leader Dog, LMEB, and Journey for Sight. Second by Lion John Watters. Motion passed Unanimously.

Secretary’s Report:

· The city of Virginia Beach sent us a letter of appreciation for supporting our holiday families.

· Next meeting we will have a traveling leo from Poquoson.

· $34 in broom money was turned in by Lion Roger.

· $176 in citrus money was turned in

· Lion Rich will get the details on the LMEB open house from Lion Pat Jones and distribute to the club

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman – Lion Stan let Lion Ed pick the raffle ticket since he was the only Lion fined during the meeting. Lion Ed made good use of the opportunity by picking his own ticket!

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 3 drawings. $25 – Lion Ed, $15 – Lion Nancy, $6 – Lion Ed again!

Meeting then adjourned at 7:50 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø January 28^th (Wed) – Norfolk Homeless Connect

Ø January 31^st (Sat) - Low Vision Seminar (Bayside Special Services Library 2pm-4pm)

Ø February 5^th (Thurs) – Open House and Lions Medical Eyebank

Ø February 12^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling

Ø February 19^th (Thurs) – Thalia Bland Contest (Thalia Methodist United Church)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – 24-D Governor’s Social and Cabinet Meeting (Kilmarnock)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – Visionwalk Kickoff Luncheon

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

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Jan 7, 2015 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Jan 07, 2015, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:24pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:24pm

Introduction of Guests: Dr. Ehsan Salek, Dr. A. Hoojhang, Chegini, Dr. Mojgan Chekini, Foud Mohit, Simin Mohit, Arian Selahi, Lion Vicki’s Boss’s father.

Song – Lion Vickie Kennedy – “The More We get Together”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Dick Kressig

Invocation- given by Lion Bob Perrine

ATTENDANCE

8 Guests

19 Members 53 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:29 pm

Reconvened: 6:55 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Dr. Hormoz Azar - Cardiologist

Dr. Azar talked briefly about several common heart and vascular diseases and then opened up a question and answer session. Dr. Azar stressed the importance of proper diet, exercise, and body weight as a way to prevent and treat coronary diseases. If the condition cannot be managed in this fashion, then you should move on to medications, then stents, then bypass. He stated you should minimally exercise for 30 minutes twice a week and preferably exercise daily. Any exercise should involve an aerobic component to strengthen your cardiovascular system. He stated that often a person can have coronary disease and not show any symptoms before having a heart attack. Women are especially unlikely to show any symptoms prior to a heart attack. He stated bypass surgeries are usually good for 8 years before some secondary actions (like another bypass) need to occur, but he has seen them go as long as 20 years. Cholesterol is a factor which makes you more likely to develop a coronary disease but this can also be managed through proper diet and exercise. Dr. Azar was asked about sodium intake, and he stated that sodium intake is not something you need to be too worried about unless you have high blood pressure; however, elevated sodium intake can increase the chances of developing hypertension.

Reports:

Childrens Books – Lion Nancy Watters

· Lion Nancy did an inventory of the books she received from Salvation Army. It’s over 10,000!

· She needs help to stamp them. She will be working on them in the afternoons of Jan 10^th (Sat), Jan 13^th (Tues), Jan 15^th (Thurs), Jan 16^th (Friday).

· You’ll be in the garage, but it sound like wine will be available.

Adopting Families

· Lion Nancy’s group served a young single mother with a 6yr old and a 4mo old. They don’t have their own home and are living with friends. They delivered fresh food, baby supplies, clothes and a $200 Walmart gift card. The 6yr old really wanted a remote control car and they got him one. The children also got free toys from the Salvation Army.

· Lions Steve, Irene, and Linda served a single mother with a 12yr old girl and 4yr old girl. They asked the girls what they wanted and they replied they needed warm clothes for the winter. The oldest girl liked art and she received art supplies and the youngest liked “princess stuff” and she received a new princess doll.

· Lion Brad’s group took care of an unemployed married couple with 4 children. They were provided with food and winter coats for the children.

· Lions Linda and Shelia helped a single mother who works two jobs but still barely makes ends-meat. She was provided with $300 worth of gift certificates to purchase food.

· Lions Jeri, Stan, Dick, Sharon, & Marvin served a single mother with 2 teenagers. They were provided with gift certificates, $150 worth of food (incl. a turkey and a ham) and a walmart gift card.

Lion Stan – He recently helped 3 needy people receive cataract surgery.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Lion Vickie gave an overview of Bland to our guest

· Club contest is scheduled for Feb 19^th at 7:00 pm. Location is the Thalia United Methodist Church on Virginia Beach Blvd. Will need club support to work the event.

· A few students have already reached out and plan to participate in the contest.

· Cookies and coffee will be served.

Fruit Sale

· Lion Rich collected $744 in fruit money at the meeting

· Lion Vickie stated $2,582 in fruit money has already been turned in.

· The fruit supplier has already been paid. $2,930.

Fundraising – Lion Steve Rosnov

· Need something to replace umbrella sales

· Narrowed peanut companies down to two based on only two responded to his inquires.

· Selling peanuts would bring in about 40% margin

· $500 minimum order required

· We need to pick a date to hold a sales, probably in the spring

· Nick said we can sell them year round at Paul’s Garage

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong.

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center.

· Jan 8th is the next date.

Secretary’s Report:

· The club received a $501 donation for our activity fund.

· Scotty (Lion Dick’s grandson) sent the club a thank you card for our donation to JDRF.

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman – Lion Rich and Lion Vickie were present for their birthdays. Lion Rich requested Lion Vickie sing to him. As an act of vengeance, Lion Vickie requested Lion Rich to sing to her. Lion Rich tried hard to buy himself out this predicament, but his efforts were thwarted by the club. The club really wanted Lion Aziz to sing as well since he had so many of his friends in the audience. Lion Aziz begin the birthday celebration by singing in Farci. The entire club was clapping in the background to keep the beat. Lion Rich was up next and while down on one new gave a moving and soulful rendition of Happy Birthday, which would make any R&B singer proud. Not to be out done, Lion Vickie channeled her inner Marylyn Monroe while singing Happy Birthday, which cranked the temperature in the room up about 10 degrees.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman – 3 drawings. $25 – Lion Marvin, $15 – Lion Jim, $12 – CC Stan.

Meeting then adjourned at 7:55 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø January 8^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø January 21^st (Wed) – Regular Club Meeting

Ø January 28^th (Wed) – Norfolk Homeless Connect

Ø February 5^th (Thurs) – Open House and Lions Medical Eyebank

Ø February 19^th (Thurs) – Thalia Bland Contest (Thalia Methodist United Church)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – 24-D Governor’s Social (Kilmarnock)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – Visionwalk Kickoff Luncheon

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

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Dec 3, 2014 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Nov 19, 2014, by Lion President Irene Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Erika Frydenlund

Song – Lion Vickie Kennedy – “Jingle Bells”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Linda Eggleston

Invocation- given by Lion Steve Rosnov

ATTENDANCE

1 Guests, 22 Members 62 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:33pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Erika Frydenlund – ODU Graduate Student

Erika is doing her dissertation on refugee migrations. Due to her studies she has spend a lot of time visiting and interviewing people in the Kiziba camp in Rwanda. Rwanda is about the size of Maryland and very densely populated. The neighboring Congo is a large country which is sparsely populated. During colonial times, people were taken from Rwanda into the Congo to mine its vast natural resources. These people continued to speak the Rwandan language and maintained their culture through the generations, even though the current descendants have never been to Rwanda. Congo is now a failed state with little central control and many local wars. Genocide against the migrant Rwandans began in 1994 and continues today. Millions fled. The Congo did not want these people, however, there were not welcomed back in Rwanda either despite their common language and heritage. The Kiziba camp was established in 1996 and about 16,000 people live there. Children have grown up in the camp and know no other lifestyle. The UN runs the camp; however the UN does not have any representatives in the camp. All of the camp’s operations are subbed out to different organizations. Erika gave us a snapshot of what life is in the camp and told us about different programs which resettles refugees into different countries. Only a very small percentage get the opportunity to resettle.

Reports:

Adopting Families – Lion Stan Furman

· Lion Stan received a list of families from social services. Social services makes sure families are not duplicated and they vet them. We did not have contact information, but social services will forward the information after we tell them which families we want to adopt.

· We received 5 families, 4 of which were single mothers and one family which had a mother and father with 4 children.

· Lion Brad will handle the family with the mother, father, and 4 children through another organization he belongs to.

· Club members agreed to take care of the 4 single mothers.

· Lion Lind H. will take a family, Lions Nancy, John, and Aziz will take a family, Lions Stan & Jeri will take a family, and Lions Steve, Irene, & Linda E. will take a family.

Holiday Party – Lion Nancy Watters

· Wednesday Dec 17^th at the Watters’ residence.

· Lion Nancy and John will provide rotisserie chicken and drinks

· Club members will bring sides. Sides do not need to be coordinated before hand, it always seems to work out.

Childrens Books – Lion Nancy Watters

· Lion Nancy did an inventory of the books she received from Salvation Army. It’s over 10,000!

· She already sent 1000 books to church food pantries

· After the first of the year, she is going to start distributing them to the Virginia Beach Head Starts

· Some of the books are in Spanish and Lion Nancy is making arrangements to send them to South America.

· Our guest speaker will be able get some of the books into the hands of the refugees.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Club contest is scheduled for Feb 19^th at 7:00 pm. Location is the Thalia United Methodist Church on Virginia Beach Blvd. Will need club support to work the event.

· A few students have already reached out and plan to participate in the contest.

· We are going to be joining with Oceanside to do the contest this year and they will split the costs with us. Hopefully this will get them started on holding their own contest in the future.

Fruit Sale – Lion Jack.

· Orders need to be placed prior to Dec. 10^th

· Delivery between the 17^th and 21^st of Dec at Lion Jack’s House.

· Min. order is 120 cases. Last year we sold 180.

· We have only sold 68 cases so far.

· $176 of citrus money was turned in at the meeting.

Samaritan House – Lion Jack

· If you donate to Samaritan House, the money will go into the general fund unless you designate it for a specific purpose. If you want the money to go to the pantry, you need to write “Pantry” on the check.

· When you give money to Lion Jack, he gives the money to the food pantry, so that money does not go into the general fund.

Sight and Hearing Van – Lion John Watters

· The club worked the LMSHU on Wed. Dec 3^rd at the Adult Learning Center.

· 9 Lions participated in the event.

· 75 people received sight and hearing screenings.

· 33 people received blood sugar screenings.

· Recipients hailed from 25 different countries

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong.

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center.

· 275 eyeglasses were turned in this month

· Dec 11^th is the next date.

Secretary’s Report:

· Zone G meeting was held on Dec 2^nd. Lion Rich and Lion Stan represented Thalia.

· Feb 5^th will be an open house at the Lions Medical Eye Bank. The event will be 5-8pm. The goal is the recruit new members. The district will set up displays in the Brickhouse Auditorium (where we hold the District Meeting) to educate people on our projects. From there visitors will be taken on a tour of the eye bank.

· We received two patches at the district meeting for last year’s district achievement contest. Thalia was 2^nd place in the district, 1^st place on zone g.

· Lion Tucker is no longer heading up the Knight’s Vision. If you want something published in the Knight’s Vision, send it to Lion Sharene Nolan.

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman

Lion Jeri chose Lion Brad to sing to her. Lion Jim chose Lion Erin to sing to her. Neither Lion Brad of Lion Erin where able to buy their way out of it. Lion Ed threw in $25 for Lion Steve to sing by himself. In the end, we heard 3 separate renditions of Happy Birthday.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: 2 drawings. $25 – Lion Nancy Watters. $18 – Lion Nancy Watters again!

Lion Nancy said the money was going into the holiday party fund, so it sounds like we will eat well.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:10 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø December 11^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling

Ø December 17^th (Wed) – Club Holiday Party (The Watters’ residence)

Ø February 5^th (Thurs) – Open House and Lions Medical Eyebank

Ø February 19^th (Thurs) – Thalia Bland Contest (Thalia Methodist United Church)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – 24-D Governor’s Social (Kilmarnock)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – Visionwalk Kickoff Luncheon

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

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Nov 19, 2014 - The Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, Virginia, held a special Board Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn, on Nov 19, 2014, following the Regular Meeting. The meeting was called to order at 7:54 p.m. by President Lion Aziz Selahi who acted as chairman, with the following board members and regular members in attendance:

Lion Richard Roberts, Secretary

Lion Debra Laughlin, 3^rd VP

Lion Roger Snell, visitor

Lion Bob Perrine, visitor

Lion Ed Delong, visitor

Lion Nancy Watters, 2^nd VP

Lion John Watters, visitor

Lion Vickie Kennedy, Treasurer

Lion Linda Harrison, Director

Lion Irene Conlin, 1^st VP

Lion Steve Rosnov, visitor

Lion Jim Healy, visitor

Lion Stan Furman, TailTwister

Lion Mike Coren, visitor

Lion Jeri Furman, visitor

Lion Susie Sumnick, visitor

Lion Shelia Romm, Director

Lion Sylvia Wagner, visitor

Minutes of Business Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:54 p.m. by Lion President Aziz Selahi.

1. Lion Nancy Watters. Sunnybrook wanted to give the club $250 after we did an eye-screening. They could only give the money to a 503(c), so the money was donated to the Charity Foundation and earmarked for our club’s use. This money needs to be moved out of the Charity Foundation ASAP. Lion Nancy motioned that the $250 earmarked for our club be moved from the Charity Foundation and donated to the District’s line item for Children’s Screenings. Second by Lion Ed. Motion passed unanimously.

2. Lion Stan Furman. Last year we delivered Christmas items to families in need. Lion Stan asked if we want to do this again. The club agreed that we did. Many present shared the emotional experience this project was. Lion Stan said he would have a list of needy families at the next meeting.

3. Lion Vickie Kennedy. We budgeted to donate money to the District’s Children Screenings. Since we are moving the money to the Charity Foundation for that purpose, Lion Vickie made a motion to make a $100 donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Second by Lion Nancy. Motion was approved unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 7:58 pm

Respectfully submitted: Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

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Nov 19, 2014 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Nov 19, 2014, by Lion President Irene Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Lion Aziz’s wife, Arian & brother, Hamid (visiting from Scotland)

Song – Lion Sylvia Wagner – “God Bless America”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Mike Coren

Invocation- given by Lion John Watters

ATTENDANCE

2 Guests

19 Members 53 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:33pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion Nancy Watters – Reading Action Program

RAP is a ten year initiative by LCI to raise literacy rates in the world. Reading to children is the best way for children to learn; however, this does not occur in impoverished households. Only 10% of blind children learn to read Braille. Many rural classrooms lack textbooks and proper classroom supplies. 24-D has distributed over 4000 books to Head Start programs over the past couple years. The district is going to start distributing books to hospitals. Lion Nancy just recently received several thousand books from the Salvation Army.

Reports:

Children’s Screenings – Lion Nancy Watters.

· The Nov. 15^th screening at Pembroke Mall was successful. Volunteers from 6 clubs helped out. Seven Lions from Thalia worked the event. 97 children were screened with 9 referrals.

Holiday Party – Lion Nancy Watters.

· Wednesday Dec 17^th at the Watters’ residence.

· Lion Nancy and John will provide rotisserie chicken and ham

· Club members will bring sides. Sides do not need to be coordinated before hand, it always seems to work out.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Club contest is scheduled for Feb 19^th at 7:00 pm. Location is the Thalia United Methodist Church on Virginia Beach Blvd. Will need club support to work the event.

· A few students have already reached out and plan to participate in the contest.

Fruit Sale – Lion Rich Roberts.

· Orders need to be placed prior to Dec. 10^th

· Delivery between the 17^th and 21^st of Dec at Lion Jack’s House.

· Min. order is 120 cases. Last year we sold 180.

· $329 of citrus money was turned in at the meeting.

Sight and Hearing Van – Lion Rich Roberts

· The sight and hearing van has been scheduled for Wed. Dec 3^rd at the Adult Learning Center.

· We will have the blood sugar screening kit available.

· This is part of a larger health fair being held at the center.

· The hours are 10-2. We’ll break this up into 2 shifts. A sign-up sheet will be coming out soon.

· Lion Ed mentioned the need for helpers who speak multiple languages since many of the students are from foreign countries.

Fundraiser Ideas – Lion Steve Rosnov.

· Lion Steve will soon have the prices for the peanuts. We’ll get a wholesale price and a discount due to our tax exemption status.

· We will look at the candles after we get the peanut situation figured out and rolling.

· Lion Steve is also looking at selling Christmas ornaments from the White House. Lion Aziz’s old club use to do this and it was very popular.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong.

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center.

· 3 Lions were present this month. (Lions Mike, Ed, and Sylvia)

· Over 200 eyeglasses were turned in.

· Dec 11^th is the next date.

Secretary’s Report:

Ø LMSHU board meeting is Nov 20^th at Angelo’s. 6pm if you want to eat, 7pm for the meeting.

Ø Fall Conference Recap

o 6 attendees from Thalia

o Membership in the district is down overall. Region III is the only region which is net positive.

o A new device was announced by PID Weiler. The device is used to screen children’s hearing. It is placed in their ear and measures brain wave activity to detect hearing problems. This will allow Lions to screen children’s hearing when we are in schools with the SPOT. Since we will have to place the device in the child’s hear, a training program must be developed and Lions will need to become certified before this device is deployed. One of these devices is in the district and we may get an early shot at trying it out.

Ø Lion Beth Stevens (VB Town Center Blind Lions) announced she is running for 2^nd VDG next Lion’s Year.

Ø Lion Pat Jones (Oceanside) is planning to hold a Zone Meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 2^nd. The time and location have not been set. She mentioned she might try to do it earlier than normal (around 5 pm) to entice some of the older members in VB Host to attend. More to follow.

Ø The Governor’s Social is Feb 28^th in Kilmarnock.

Ø Our 990-N (taxes) for the year have been filed.

Ø Lion Sol Sherfey (Smithfield) sent out a survey seeking feedback for replacing the Sight and Hearing Van.

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman

· Lion Linda H. asked for Lion Roger to sing to her. Since the club enjoys hearing Happy Birthday sung in unusual foreign languages, Lion Roger sang the song in Proper British English. Lion Roger was followed by a duet of Lion Aziz and his brother who sang in Farsi.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: 2 drawings. $30 – Lion Bob Perine. $21 – Lion Rich Roberts.

Meeting then adjourned at 7:53pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø November 20^th (Thurs) – LMSHU Board Meeting (7pm, Angelo’s Steakhouse, Newport News)

Ø December 2^nd (Tues) – Zone G meeting (Time and Location, TBD)

Ø December 3^rd (Wed) – S&H Van @ the Adult Learning Center (10am-2pm)

Ø December 3^rd (Wed) – Regular Club Meeting

Ø December 11^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling

Ø December 17^th (Wed) – Club Holiday Party (The Watters’ residence)

Ø February 19^th (Thurs) – Thalia Bland Contest (Thalia Methodist United Church)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – 24-D Governor’s Social (Kilmarnock)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – Visionwalk Kickoff Luncheon

Ø April 26^th (Sun) – Visionwalk

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Nov 5, 2014 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Nov 05, 2014, by Lion 1VP Irene Conlin at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: None

Song – Lion Ed DeLong – “Grand Old Flag”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Rich Roberts

Invocation- given by Lion Jim Healy

ATTENDANCE

0 Guests

21 Members - 58 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:33pm - Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Debra Bond Dear – CEO of Vanguard Landing:

Debra has a mentally handicapped child. She relayed her experiences navigating the public schools systems with a special needs child. She found the hardest part is when then finish school, there really is no support for them. Although VA is a high per-capital income state, VA offers almost nothing in the way of support and ranks at the bottom of the country as far as programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities. This drove her to start a non-profit to offer needed services through private means. Vanguard Landing is a planned community which will be located off of Princess Anne Rd near Red Mill Landing. The community will offer a place for individuals to live in private housing with 24-hr care available. The on-site shops will provide revenue streams to keep the community going without the support of government as well as offer a place for the tenants to work. Currently 21,000 people with intellectual disabilities don’t have a place to live or work in VA.

Reports:

Fining Lion Stan – A motion was made and passed at the 10-15 meeting to fine Lion Stan. Lion Stan whined about this extensively.

Bland Contest – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· Club contest is scheduled for Feb 19^th at 7:00 pm. Location is the Thalia United Methodist Church on Virginia Beach Blvd. Will need club support to work the event.

· The Region Contest is o March 19^th at 7:00 and also at Thalia United Methodist Church.

· The District Contest is on May 1^st at Chandler Hall (Old Dominion University).

· Lion Rich suggested Zone Contest could be held in lieu of club contest to increase participation by logistically making it easier for the clubs who don’t currently hold contest. The pros and cons were debated. No action was taken as the discussion was academic in nature and for future thought since Lion Vickie is the District Bland Chair.

Children’s Screenings – Lion Nancy Watters.

· Nov. 15^th – Screening at Pembroke Mall for those not attending the Fall Conference. The hours are 10-2. Lion Nancy will not be present but has farmed out all the duties. Lion Roger will arrive early to help set-up the tent and displays. 8 Lions from the club volunteered to be there. Most of the VB clubs will be represented.

Children’s Books – Lion Nancy Watters.

· Lion Nancy received a grant where she will be able to obtain 700 new books for distribution to the Head Start Centers. She gets to pick the titles.

USO Party and Supply Drive – Lion Irene Conlin.

· This is in partnership with the Town Center Blind Lions from 2-4 on Nov 8^th. Sailors come in and do a party. Items are collected to distribute to service members overseas. Lion Irene passed out a flyer with the requested supplies. Care packages from home are a big deal to service members and the event is a lot of fun.

Fruit Sale – Lion Jack Wagner.

· Delivery between the 17^th and 21^st of Dec at Lion Jack’s House.

· Min. order is 120 cases. Last year we sold 180.

· Brochures created by Lion Roger were passed out.

Fundraiser Ideas – Lion Steve Rosnov.

· We need something new since we no longer call sell umbrellas.

· VA peanuts would logistically be easy to do. We could sell them year round and sell the passively at Paul’s garage.

· Lion Steve said it is getting harder to do fruit sales because the young guys can’t be there to unload the truck since they are at work. He said we could replace fruit sales with Yankee Candles.

· Discussion from the floor revolved around trying the candle sells at a different part of the year to see how it goes and what the profitability would look like.

· Lion Steve said he would do more research and formulate a more concrete plan.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong.

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center.

· This month will be Nov. 13^th. Neither Lion John or Lion Jim will be able to make it that day, so Lion Ed called for some additional support.

Sight & Hearing Van – Lion Ed DeLong.

· Lion Ed was contacted by the Adult Learning Center who wants to schedule the S&H Van. Lion Ed wants to pass the ALC contact information to the Chair of the S&H Van committee so they can coordinate. We did not know who the committee chair was at the meeting. After the meeting, the chair was determined to be Lion Susie.

Community Need Assessment – Lion Rich Roberts.

· As a way to make sure we are doing the right things as a club, we need to engage those in the community to make sure the services we provide are effective and relevant. We also need to indentify if there are needs out in the community which are not being met. This is the key to both having an effective club and achieving membership growth. LCI recommends doing this yearly.

· LCI has a template for surveying community leaders. Ideal people to survey are educators, public servants, police, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, school councilors, and social workers.

· Lion Rich said he would lead a committee to perform this survey and asked for volunteers to help him identify potential people to survey. Lion Marvin, Irene, Stan, Debra, Jack, and Steve all volunteered to help.

Upcoming Events – CC Stan Furman

· The Region II meeting is on November 12^th at the South Norfolk Moose Lodge in Chesapeake. We have 4 lions going, so this will qualify as a Traveling Leo.

· The International Convention is on June 26-30 in Honolulu.

Money Matters – Lion Vickie Kennedy

· We raised 1,131.96 with our recent White Cane.

· We receive a lot of questions about brooms. The guy who owns the piano shop next to BJs said we could sell brooms at his establishment to we won’t have to direct people to Paul’s Garage. We may need to be careful on how we approach this to not offend BJs.

· Lion Vickie suggested we make cards with directions to Paul’s Garage that we could pass out at events. Lion Roger said he could do this.

· People also ask about eyeglasses. They can donate at BJs. We also have a donation box at the Central Library.

Mints – Lion Roger Snell

· Lion Roger has mints n his car if you want them.

JDRF – Lion Dick Kreassig

· Lion Dick received $62 for the JDRF walk from club members. Lion Dick was upset that the club did not include money for this in the budget. He stated that we don’t do enough for diabetes and urged the club to focus on this more.

Diabetes Research – Lion John Watters

· Lion John stated that a lot of groundbreaking diabetes research is being done locally.

Holiday Party – Lion John Watters

· The annual holiday party will be at the Watters’ residence on Dec. 17^th.

· Meat and libations will be provided. Attendees are asked to bring a side or desert. Sides and deserts won’t be coordinated as it always seems to work out.

RAM – Lion John Watters

· The dates are July 17-19 in Wise County.

· You can register at www.ramusa.org. Wise County may not be listed yet. If you have trouble, you can contact Lion John for help.

Secretary’s Report:

The Region II meeting is on November 12^th at the South Norfolk Moose Lodge in Chesapeake. If at least 4 members attend, this will count as a traveling leo.

Ø Mark your calendar for the Fall Conference. It’s at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Hampton on Nov 14-15. You don’t need register if you are just attending classes or the district meeting. Please let Lion Rich know if you register so we can claim the points on the Achievement Report. Classes start at 9 am on Saturday. The District Meeting starts at 2pm.

Ø The Governor’s Social is Feb 28^th in Kilmarnock.

Ø $38 worth of broom money was turned in

Tail Twister – CC Stan Furman

· Neither of our November Birthdays were present so we will do birthdays during the second meeting of the month.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: 2 drawings. $20 – Lion Roger Sneel. $15 – Lion Marvin Clemmons.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:40pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø November 8^th (Sat) – USO Party and Supply Drive

Ø November 12^th (Wed) – Region II meeting (South Norfolk Moose Lodge)

Ø November 13^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø November 14-15^th (Fri-Sat) - 24-D Fall Conference (Crowne Plaza, Hampton)

Ø November 15^th (Sat)– Pembroke Mall Screening

Ø November 19^th (Wed) – Regular Meeting

Ø December 17^th (Wed) – Holiday Party (Watters’ residence)

Ø February 28^th (Sat) – 24-D Governor’s Social

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Oct 15, 2014 =- The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Oct 15, 2014, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Valda (Lion Sylvia’s guest) and 5 members from Southside Lions

Song – Lion Debra Laughlin – “America the Beautiful”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Steve Rosnov

Invocation- given by Lion John Watters

ATTENDANCE: 6 Guests, 17 Members - 45 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:33pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Bob Perkins – President of the Tidewater Beekeepers Association

Bob first started learning about bees because he needed a way to pollinate his blueberries. 80% of our food crops in VA are dependent on pollinators. There are 20,000 types of bees, most of which are solitary. There are many types of pollinations (wind, moths, bats, etc); however bees are the most important. Mason bees are important for VA apple trees. They pollinate but don’t produce honey. Honey bees provide 80% of pollination. A mason bee can be a more efficient pollinator than a honey bee on a one-on-one basis; however, honey bees make up for this in numbers. Honey bees also will travel further and are active year round. A queen bee will lay 1500 eggs per day. 2/3s of a queen bee’s body weight is her eggs.

Reports:

Children’s Screenings – Lion Nancy Watters.

· Over 5000 children have been screened in the district so far this year with over 600 referrals.

· Headstart screenings are coming up.

· Southside Lions has a very active screening program. They have done 20 screenings so far this year.

· Lions John and Nancy are going up the Eastern Shore to team with the local clubs to do screenings.

· Nov 15^th is the Pembroke Mall screening. Please help if you are not going to the Fall Conference.

· Bring books. Books are still be passed out at screenings and Headstarts. We want to pass out books at Pembroke Mall on the 15^th and distribute books to the hospital waiting rooms. 416 books are going to the Eastern Shore Headstarts on the 16^th.

White Cane – Lion Irene Conlin.

· Sign up sheet is out for the white cane on the 17^th and 18^th at BJs.

· Lion Aziz will pick up the buckets and signs from Paul’s Garage on Friday morning. Lion Irene will collect them at the end of each day.

USO Party and Supply Drive – Lion Irene Conlin.

· This is in partnership with the Town Center Blind Lions from 2-4 on Nov 8^th. Sailors come in and do a party. Items are collected to distribute to service members overseas. Care packages from home are a big deal to service members and the event is a lot of fun.

Fruit Sale – Lion Jack Wagner.

· Revised price list was passed out.

· Delivery between the 17^th and 21^st of Dec.

· Trying to move up the delivery date but that will require us to sell a whole truck load.

· Min. order is 120 cases. Last year we sold 180.

· Lion Roger will make order forms.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong.

· 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center.

· We had a good turnout last time with 6 lions and 1 guest (prospective member Valda).

· We turned in 204 glasses and 5 hearing aids this month.

· Lion Ed collects hearing aids for the district. He recently turned in 370 hearing aids to EVMS. Hearing aids which EVMS can’t use are sent to South Africa for use there.

Sharing the Vision – Lion Debra Laughlin.

· Dec 2017 is LCI’s 100^th Birthday. The centennial service challenge is to serve 100 million people in by this date.

· California Pizza Kitchen (VB Town Center) is hosting an event on Oct 21^st from 11am-9pm. If you wear a vision impairment mask and eat, they will donate 20% of the meal the Lions of 24-D Visionwalk team.

· Lions will be manning a table all day at California Pizza Kitchen during the event.

· You will need to tell the waiter you are with the Lions (or a friend of the Lions) for them to donate the portion of your meal cost.

· Visionwalk is April 26^th at 31^st Street.

Eyebank Luncheon – Lion John Watters.

· Every quarter The LMEB host a luncheon where donor families meet recipient families. The lunch tends to be a tear-jerker. The next one is Nov 13^th and Lion John had two spots open. Lion Marvin and Lion Debra said they would attend.

Secretary’s Report:

Ø The Region III meeting is on October 16^th at the Hibachi Grill on VB Blvd. 7 club members are attending.

Ø The Region II meeting is on November 12^th at the South Norfolk Moose Lodge in Chesapeake. If at least 4 members attend, this will count as a traveling leo.

Ø Mark your calendar for the Fall Conference. It’s at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Hampton on Nov 14-15.

Ø Lion Nancy turned in $46 worth of broom money.

Ø We received a thank you letter from the Virginia Lions Hearing Foundation for our yearly donation.

Ø Norfolk Middletown Lions is celebrating their 5^th anniversary on Sunday Oct 19^th. Lion Rich can provide details if you wish to attend.

Tail Twister – Lion Marvin Clemmons.

· Lion Marvin issues fines to Lions who were not wearing their pins and who did not have a membership application on their person. Lion Marvin listed out several transgressions committed by Lion Stan. Lion Nancy made a motion that Lion Stan be fined at our next club meeting (Nov 5^th). The motion was seconded by Lion Jack and passed unanimously.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister Lion Marvin Clemmons: 2 drawings. $20 – Lion Nancy Watters. $18 – Lion Mike Coren.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:05pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø October 16^th (Thurs) – Region III meeting (Hibachi Grill on VB Blvd)

Ø October 17^th-18^th (Fri-Sat) – White Cane (BJs on VB Blvd)

Ø October 20^th (Mon) – Traveling Leo to Deep Creek

Ø October 21^st (Tues) – Sharing the Vision (California Pizza Kitchen @ VB Town Center)

Ø November 5^th (Wed) – Regular Club Meeting/ Board Meeting

Ø November 8^th (Sat) – USO Party and Supply Drive

Ø November 13^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling Center

Ø November 14-15^th (Fri-Sat) - 24-D Fall Conference (Crowne Plaza, Hampton)

Ø November 15^th (Sat)– Pembroke Mall Screening

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Oct 1, 2014 The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Oct 1, 2014, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: Amber (Lion Linda H.’s guest) and Lion Chelsea for Princess Anne

Song – Lion Ed DeLong – “Grand Old Flag”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Jeri Furman

Invocation- given by Dick Kressig

ATTENDANCE

2 Guests

19 Members 50 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:33pm

Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: CC Stan Furman

Lion Stan gave a short plug for the Lions of Virginia Foundation. LOVF was the first foundation in VA and was primarily a source of disaster relief. The foundation now does just about everything and gave support to all districts last year. Every club in MD-24 is a member of the foundation.

Lion Stan then talked about Pin-trading. VA started the 1^st pin traders association for a multiple district. The association publishes a catalog for all the pins which have been produced by the clubs. The catalog is hundreds of pages long. Lion Stan has all the pins produced by the two clubs he has belonged to, Little Creek and Thalia. We discussed producing a new pin for our 50 year anniversary which will occur in April of 2016. Lion Stan booked a past ID for our guest speaker.

Reports:

Children’s Screenings – Lion Nancy Watters. At Malibu ES, 87 children were screened with 11 referrals. The Pembroke Mall screening is Nov 15^th for those who are not attending the Fall Conference. The times are 10-2. Since 2010, we have screened 43,000 children.

Lion Nancy is giving a presentation to Deep Creek Lions on the Reading Action Program on Oct 20^th. She will joined by additional club members to make the trip a traveling leo.

White Cane – Lion Irene Conlin. White Cane is scheduled for Oct 17^th-18^th in front of BJs on VB Blvd. The sign-up sheet went around. We added a 4-6 shift on Friday to capture additional shoppers. We are aiming to staff each shift with 3 Lions.

Fruit Sale – Lion Jack Wagner. Lion Jack passed out a proposed pricing sheet based on the updated fruit costs. Some minor pricing tweeks were discussed with possibily more to be settled out. Delivery will be the first week in Dec. We will need orders in November. Exact dates will follow.

Bayside Peanut Sales – Lion Debra Laughlin. Lion Bob Donnelly reach out to us wanting Thalia to help in Bayside’s fundraiser selling Virginia Peanuts. General consensus in the room was selling the peanuts is not a good deal and not worth our time and efforts.

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong. 2^nd Thursday of every month the club does 2 hours at the recycling center. Lion Ed pointed out that when the hospital ships leave to do their medical missions, they take thousands of glasses with them from our recycling center.

Bid-Buy Auction – CC Stan Furman. The auction is this Saturday. Over 200 items have been donated. We need 15 people to register in order to qualify for the $250 service grant. The event starts at 11 and the live auction begins at 1.

Lion Shelia Romm informed the club that the Race for Breath is on November 1^st. Go to raceforbreath.com in order to donate or to look up further information.

CEP/Long Range Planning – Lion Rich Roberts. Lion Rich talked about his experience at the Regional Lions Leadership Institute. It was a positive and productive experience. LCI offers a lot of leadership development opportunities either through institutes and/or webinars on the website. These offer skills which translate not only to Lions Clubs, but to your professional life as well and Lion Rich encouraged club members to take advantage of these recourses.

In North America, Lions Clubs are experience a decline in membership. Membership in Lions has decreased in Virginia every year since 1978. More than half the clubs with less than 16 members will not exist in 10 years. This could force us to start consolidating districts in MD-24. Lion Rich pointed out that we are a strong club which meets most of LCI’s indicators for a healthy club; however, just because we are good does not mean that we couldn’t do better. If we can do better, then we can look to help other clubs in the zone/region/district which are not as strong as us. Lion Rich would like to lead Thalia through the Club Excellence Process in order to figure out if there are things we need to look at doing/changing. We’ve already done part of this by completing the How are You Rating Survey which was spearheaded by Lion Steve. Lion Rich will form a committee to analyze the findings and to help develop a long range plan for the club.

Secretary’s Report:

Ø Lion Steve stopped by Paul’s garage and collected $267 worth of broom money.

Ø We discussed birthdays. Some club members felt doing birthdays twice a month was excessive. After a discussion, the club decided we all preferred to limit birthdays to once a month.

Ø The Region III meeting is on October 16^th at the Hibachi Grill on VB Blvd.

Ø Mark your calendar for the Fall Conference. It’s at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Hampton on Nov 14-15.

Ø Lion Rich talked about the club Facebook page. He asked for members to keep sending him pictures which get a lot of hits. Our posts are currently being seen by 100-300 people. We need to keep liking and sharing the thing Lion Rich puts on the Facebook page to increase visibility and so the things we do get seen by our friends.

Ø We have 2 members who have not paid their dues. Lion Donna and Lion Willard. They have not responded to any correspondence.

Ø Southside Lions is coming to visit us on Oct 15.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: 3 drawings. $20 – Lion John Watters. $12 – Lion Vickie Kennedy. $10 – Lion Nancy Watters.

Oct Birthdays – Lion Marvin had a trio sing to him consisting of Lion Sharon, Lion Sylvia, and Lion Chelsea. For once, we got to enjoy good singing. After that, Lion Marvin and Lion Aziz were forced to sing happy birthday to each other.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:05pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø October 4^th (Sat) – Charity Foundation Bid Buy Auction

Ø October 9^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass recycling

Ø October 15^th (Wed) – Regular club meeting

Ø October 16^th (Thurs) – Region III meeting (Hibachi Grill on VB Blvd)

Ø October 17^th-18^th (Fri-Sat) – White Cane (BJs on VB Blvd)

Ø October 20^th (Mon) – Traveling Leo to Deep Creek

Ø November 14-15^th - 24-D Fall Conference (Crowne Plaza, Hampton)

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Sept 17, 2014 Regular Meeting Agenda, Wed

Hilton Garden Inn, Virginia Beach Town Center

Social time – 6pm ±, Hilton Lobby

General Meeting/Dinner 6:30 pm – President Lion Aziz Selahi - Call to Order

Introduction of guests:

Song – Lion Aziz Selahi

Pledge of Allegiance – Lion Mike Coren

Invocation – Lion Dick Kreassig

Recess for Dinner

Program: Scott Richards – Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia

Reports:

Zone G Chair – Lion Pat Jones

Children Screenings – Lion Nancy Watters

Membership Goals/Survey Results – Lion Steve Rosnov

Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed Delong

JDRF Walk – Lion Dick Kreassig

24-D Charity Foundation Bid/Buy Auction – CC Stan Furman

Reports/Issues from the floor:

Secretary’s Report – Lion Rich Roberts

Birthdays: Lion Fran (9/02), Lion Roger (9/06), Lion Dick (9/23), Lion Stan (9/30)

50/50 Raffle: Tail Twister, CC Lion Stan Furman

Adjournment

Reminders:

Ø September 17^th (Wed) – Norfolk Homeless Connect

Ø October 1^st (Wed) – Regular club meeting

Ø October 4^th (Sat) – Charity Foundation Bid Buy Auction

Ø October 9^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass recycling

Ø October 16^th (Thurs) – Region III meeting (Hibachi Grill on VB Blvd)

Ø November 14-15^th - 24-D Fall Conference (Crowne Plaza, Hampton)

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Aug 20, 2014 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Aug 20, 2014, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests: PCC Carl Johannsen and his wife Lion Tia from District 21-B (Arizona), Lion Jo Anne (Lancaster Lions) and DG Pam Kidwell (Lancaster Lions)

Song – Lion Vickie Kennedy led “I’ve got the Lion Spirit”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Linda Eggleston

Invocation- given by Lion John Watters

ATTENDANCE

4 Guests,21 Members 53 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:35pm: Reconvened: 7:00 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: CC Stan Furman Introduced DG Pam Kidwell

DG Pam said we are going to have zone and region meeting earlier in the year. She wants more club member so come out to these meeting to offer feedback on what they want to see done and how the district can operate better. Region III’s meeting will be on Oct 16 at the Hibachi Grill on Virginia Beach Blvd. The Fall Conference will be on Nov 14 and 15. She encouraged club members to attend the conference and utilize all the classes which will be offered. She has lined up a doctor from the hearing foundation to teach a class, which will be interesting. She is exploring ways to utilize technology to increase participation from the remote clubs. She would like to broadcast the conference, region and zone meetings via Skype. She wants to see more clubs get active with traveling leos. The new rules will be coming out soon. She is requiring each club to go all the way out to visit Lancaster. She believes an increase in the traveling leo contest will lead to increase communication between clubs, which will lead to more fellowship, and ultimately to more motivation. The club which travels the most will win a $500 charity grant from the 24-D charity foundation. The second place club will receive a trophy. She wants to see more leo clubs in the district and she wants to see more interaction between the leo clubs and their host clubs. She stressed the importance of including leos in club projects. She wants to see a bland contest in each club to further engage our youth. She encouraged each member to ask at least one friend to join the Lions. She mentioned the new public relations chair is PDG Donna Wieller. She talked about clubs doing more joint projects. She specifically mentioned helping with Ward Corner’s holiday feast program. The membership goal for the district is +76. A trophy will be given to the club which has the greatest increase in membership for the month. The trophy will travel from club to club based on each month’s results.

Lion Aziz thanked the District Governor for her speech. He mentioned that in his country, when someone invites you to visit them, you must accept. Therefore, we will have to go visit Lancaster Lions. He also said, if someone invites you they are offering their hospitality and so they will be paying our way. Dinner is on Lancaster Lions!

Reports:

Ø Youth Camp Video – Lion John Watters. Lion Debra was not present so Lion John filled us in. Lion Debra hosted 1 girl from Finland and 1 girl from Italy. She convinced her sister to take on a boy from Hungry who didn’t have a host family. We watched a 10 minute video complied form pictures of their visit. Those kids had a wonderful, action-packed couple of weeks in America.Ø Blood Drive/Broom Order – Lion Nancy Watters. 30 pints of blood were collected. A total of 11 members worked a total of 48 lion-hours. We collect $455 from broom sales.

Ø Larkspur MS Screening – Lion Nancy Watters. On Aug 21^st, a large screening will take place at Larkspur MS. This will be a zone project. About 700 students are expected to be screened. All the students being screened will be qualified for some sort of public assistance such as Medicaid. 10 members are signed up to work.

Ø Spot Screening – Lion Nancy Watters. Lion Nancy needed more help for a screening on Monday in Ghent. About 100 children need to be screened. PCC Carl and Lion Tia offered to be there and work the screening on their vacation! The club also has several screenings set up for September and Lion Nancy received offers to work those screenings from the club.

Ø Lion Medical Eyebank Dinner – Lion John Watters. 17 club members attended, which was the most of any club in the district.Ø Membership Plan/Survey – Lion Steve Rosnov. Club surveys were sent out and about half the club has filled them out. After we get all the surveys in, Lion Steve will analyze the data and report the findings to the club. He mentioned he isn’t too good with numbers and my seek assistance from Lion Nancy. He went over the three membership teams. The team leaders are Lion Steve, Lion Rich, and Lion Shelia. The first team to bring 3 guests to a meeting will win. Lions from other clubs do not count as guests for the competition.

Ø Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong. Reminded the club this is the second Thursday of every month. Meet at the recycling center at 10:00 or the Best Buy on Independence at 9:30 if you want a ride. This month, 7 members worked and 510 glasses were turned in. Lion Ed also mentioned that the Youth Exchange is a good thing and that we can do something similar with adults. We have a lot of foreign visitors due to the navy and marine activity in the area. Lion Ed suggests we invite them to our homes for dinner.

Ø CC Stan Fuman:

o Our next club meeting will be our yearly pool party at his condo. Same meeting date, same meeting time. The club will provide hot dogs, burgers, and buns. Club members will bring sides. No glass will be allowed

o Lion Stan talked about the raffle ticket fundraiser for the charity foundations. If you have sold tickets, get them turned in.

Ø Lion Bob Perine. Lion Bob addressed the District Governor over his concern of the district website. Lion Bob maintains our blog and it is the first search result on google. The district’s page is not on page one of google searches. Lion Rich suggested she have an IT person or web designer look at search engine optimization (SEO) which will increase the websites search result on google.

Ø Lion Otis Ethridge – Will plan a Bonney Road clean up in Sept/Oct now that the weather is cooling down.

Secretary’s Report:

Ø Mark your calendar for the Fall Conference. It’s at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Hampton on Nov 14-15.

Ø Ø Sigh and Hearing van board meeting is Thursday the 21^st at Angelos in Newport News. It’s easy to find and right off I-64.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: 3 drawings. $30 – Lion John Watters. $20 – Lion Jeri Furman. $8 – Lion Tia Johannsen.

August Birthdays – Lion Willard was not present, so we used DG Pam as a surrogate. Lion Aziz chose Lion Marvin to sing to her. Lion Marvin tried hard to bid himself out of it, but with no success. Since Lion Marvin is our newest members, we did not want him to sing without support and we threw some money in the pot to have Lion Aziz join him. Lion Aziz sang happy birthday in Farsi. Lion Marvin listened carefully and pulled off singing in Farsi as well. Then they both joined together to sing in English.

DG presented Lion Aziz with her Pin.

Lion Aziz presented a club banner to DG Pam and to PCC Carl.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:15pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø August 21^st (Thurs) – Larkspur MS Screening

Ø August 21^st (Thurs) – Sight and Hearing Van Board Meeting (Angleos in NN)

Ø August 25^th (Mon) – Spot screening in Ghent

Ø September 3^rd (Wed) – Pool Party at CC Stan’s

Ø September 6^th (Sat) – Low Vision Expo (Central Library)

Ø September 11^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling

Ø September 16^th (Tues) – Seatack ES Screening

Ø October 4^th (Sat) – Charity Foundation Bid-Buy Auction

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Aug 6, 2014 - The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on Aug 07, 2014, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:25pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:25pm

Introduction of Guests: Lions Marvin Clemmons, Sharon Ross-Clemmons, and Sylvia Wagner (formerly of Norfolk Middletown) were present. All three intend to transfer to Thalia. Erin Bryant (PAHS scholarship winner and her mother Jolene were present.

Song – Lion John Watters led “Grand Old Flag”

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Steve Rosnov

Invocation- given by Lion Ed DeLong

ATTENDANCE - 7 Guests - 18 Members 49 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:30pm: Reconvened: 6:45 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion Nancy Watters Introduced Dr. Roshan Telreja.

Dr. Roshan Talreja is a retired physician and self-styled philosopher. He took his premed training at Cambridge and graduated from Delhi University Medical School. After completing his medical degrees in England, India and the U.S., he did his Internal Medicine Residence in 1973, a Fellowship in Cardiology in 1974 and training in Emergency Medicine in 1975. He is a member of American Medical Association and the American Philosophical Association. He enjoys public philosophy where east meets west...science meets spirituality...knowledge meets wisdom. Dr. Roshan gave several examples of practices his grandmother instructed him to follow during his childhood in India. He complied but wrote these practices off as meaningless superstition. Through his years of medical training, he began to realize there was real science behind these practices and devoted his time to better understand these practices. He talked about the need to combine Eastern wisdom with Western knowledge and the connection between medicine and meditation.

Reports:

Ø PAHS Scholarhip – Lion Bob Perrine. Lion Bob attended the award ceremony at PAHS this year and was very complimentary on the experience. He suggest we send somebody to the ceremony each year. He talked on the merits of the IB program. PAHS is the only school in Virginia Beach with the rigorous program. He talked about Erin’s application and how it really stood out from the others due to her character, community service, and financial need. Erin said a few words to express her deep appreciation.

Early 50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: We did an early 50-50 so Lion Bob could take our scholarship winner home. We did one big drawing ($48) won by Lion Nurys.

Ø Blood Drive/Broom Order – Lion Nancy Watters. We need help for the blood drive as well as sell brooms/flags/umbrellas or anything else we can find. We sold out of brooms last year and need people to sign up to work. Lion Nancy passed out flyers for the event. They need 40 people to sign up but only have 8 so far.

Ø Headstart Screenings – Lion Nancy Watters. Lion Nancy has scheduled screenings at all the headstarts. Most of the screenings will happen in the other cities of southside, but it will be helpful if our club members support.

Ø RAM – Lion John Watter. RAM was cold and wet. Thalia had 7 representatives, Lion Susie and her husband, Lion Linda E. and her husband, Lion Fran, and Lions John and Nancy. All worked in the eye clinic. The traffic appeared to be lighter than usual, probably due to the poor weather. They saw less cases of different conditions due to the increase in preventive medicine. They also delieved 400 pairs of underwear. The districtdelievered hundreds of pounds of clothes, which went quickly. If you plan on going next year, you should look to book your lodging arrangements now.

Ø Lion Medical Eyebank Dinner – Lion John Watters. The annual member meeting is Aug. 13^th. Each club is a member of the eyebank. We need 10 members to reserve a full table. It appears we will exceed this number. Reservations need to be called in prior to this Friday.

Ø Lion President Aziz Selahi presented Lion John Watters with a plaque of appreciation (made by Lion Roger Snell) for his hard work in dedication.

Ø 1 Touch Defense – Lion Irene Conlin. An Adaptive PE teach from VB schools reached out to Lion Irene to see if we would sponsor his registration fee ($600) to become certified and teach self-defense to visually impaired students. If we sponsor him, he agreed to do work in the community with the visually impaired as well as teaching his students at school. There were concerns with our low activity funds and questions on how much community involvement would be involved and the club’s role in that community involvement. Due to the unresolved questions, the club decided to table the issue for the moment. Lion Irene plans to bring him to a meeting so we can ask some questions and determine what kind of return we would get by investing in him.

Ø CC Stan Fuman:

o Visited the Hearing Foundation in Charlottesville. He described the incredible medical research they are doing.

o Bid Buy Auction on Oct. 4^th. We can win a $250 service grant by having 15 people at the auction. We can win a separate $250 service grant through a raffle. Each raffle ticket is earned by donating an item of at least $50 in value.

o The district has an agreement with EVMS to do cataract surgeries for us. The district is approaching Bon Secours to establish a similar deal.

o Lions in China are responded to the earthquake which hit them. LCI has an emergency fund we can donate to. Donations will count toward a MJF.

o Lion Stan passed out the “How do you rate your club” survey. We can also take this online. The DG Pam would like us to fill them out before she comes for her official visit on Aug 20^th.

o Cabinet Secretary Sharene Nolan’s husband had a massive stroke which left him brain dead. He is expected to be taken off life support on Thursday. Our thoughts and prayers are with her.

Secretary’s Report:

Ø Mark your calendar for the Fall Conference. It’s at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Hampton on Nov 14-15. Ø 6 lions still owe dues. Lion Rich is about to turn up the heat.
Ø We’ve been nominated for the “Giving Back Awards”. If we place in the top 15, our club will get a write up in the Coastal Virginia magazine. Lion Rich will send out the link so we can vote early and often.

Lion President Aziz presented Lion Rich with a plaque of appreciation for his year as president.

July Birthdays – Lion Giovanni asked Lion Otis to sing to him. Lion Ed requested Lion John. Lion John tried hard to bid his way out of it, but his attempts kept being thwarted by his loving wife and he masterfully sang to Lion Ed to honor his 86^th birthday. Lion Otis was Lion Otis and words can not describe it.

Meeting then adjourned at 8:25pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:
Ø August 13^th (Wed) – Lions Medical Eye Bank Dinner
Ø August 14^th (Thurs) - Eyeglass Recycling, 2040 Broadmoor Ave, Chesapeake at 10:00am
Ø August 18^th (Mon) – Blood Drive at Virginia Beach Christian Church
Ø August 20^th (Wed) – Regular meeting (District Governor’s Official Visit)
Ø August 21^st (Thurs) – Larkspur MS Screening
Ø October 4^th (Sat) – Charity Foundation Bid-Buy Auction

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July 16, 2014 OFFICIAL MINUTES OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
The Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, Virginia, held a special Board Meeting at the Hilton Garden
Inn, on July 16, 2014, following the Regular Meeting. The meeting was called to order at 8:20p.m. by
President Lion Aziz Selahi who acted as chairman, with the following board members and regular
members in attendance:
Lion Richard Roberts,
Secretary
Lion Debra Laughlin, 3rd
VP
Lion Roger Snell, visitor
Lion Bob Perrine, visitor
Lion Nancy Watters, 2nd VP
Lion John Watters, visitor
Lion Vickie Kennedy, Treasurer
Lion Linda Harrison, Director
Lion Irene Conlin, 1st VP
Lion Stan Furman, TailTwister
Lion Mike Coren, visitor
Lion Jeri Furman, visitor
Lion Susie Sumnick, visitor
Minutes of Business Meeting
The meeting was called to order at 8:20 p.m. by Lion President Aziz Selahi.
1. Treasurer’s Report, Lion Vickie Kennedy: We discussed the budget for the upcoming
year. We line by line through last year’s budget and made adjustments based on what we
anticipate to happen this year. We will likely need to find another fundraiser for our
activities account. Lion Vickie will complete this year’s budget based on the board’s
adjustments and then submit it to the board for review. Upon approval, the club secretary
will submit our budget to the District Governor and Cabinet Secretary.
2. The District Governor’s official visit will be August 20th. The Region III meeting will be
Thursday October 16th.
3. Lion President Aziz Selahi wants to engage local media in order to raise the visibility of
the club. Lion Debra Laughlin discussed the possibility of getting on the Hampton Roads
show since we work with them on Visionwalk. We could promote the Charity Foundation
bid-buy auction on the show as well as discuss the things we do in the community. We
discussed places where we could display flyers. We do this at the Head Start locations and
we could expand it to hospitals and the VA Aquarium.
4. As in years past, we will have a pool party in lieu of a regular meeting on September 3rd.
We will have our holiday party in lieu of a regular meeting on December 17th.
5. The Hilton Garden Inn presented us with the contract for the next year. We are obligated a
minimum 20 people per meeting. The costs increased slightly to almost $17 per person.
The board decided to continue charging members $16 per person at meetings since our
admin fund is strong and the hotel generally undercharges us (If we tell them 20 people
will show up, but 21 or 22 come they only charge us for 20).
Meeting adjourned at 9:05 pm.
Respectfully submitted:
Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary
Attachment: None
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 16, 2014 OFFICIAL MINUTES OF REGULAR CLUB MEETINGS
The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on July 16,
2014, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach,
VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.
Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.
Call to Order at 6:30pm
ATTENDANCE
1 Guests
19 Members
51 Percent
Recessed for Dinner: 6:34pm
Reconvened: 7:00 pm
Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion Nancy Watters introduced Lauren Stacy from the Therapy
Network.
Lauren has a doctorate in physical therapy. She spoke to the club about how and why people become
more susceptible to falls as they age and how to prevent them. Measurements are taken to determine
balance and then assess fall risk. The key factors in determining fall risks are cognitive factors,
physiological factors, biomechanical factors, motor control factors, and environmental/functional factors.
1/3 of people of 65 fall. 2/3 of people over 65 have a near fall (catch yourself). Falling is the leading cause
of injury for the elderly. Proper diet and exercise are key in mitigating fall risks. Lauren recommends at
least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. Any type of activity is good, but a mixture of endurance,
strength, balance, and flexibility training is most effective.
Lion Bob brought up the point that learning how to fall is also important. He demonstrated proper falling
technique in the front of the room. Lion Nancy snapped a photo of Lion Bob on the ground for those
interested.
Lion Aziz prepared a slide show movie with pictures set to music from our recent events. The first movie
showed pictures from charter night and the second showed pictures from the Youth Exchange dinner.
Reports:
RAM – Lion John Watter. 7 people representing Thalia are leaving for Wise County tomorrow.
If you plan on going next year, you should look to book your lodging arrangements now. RAM
should be the 3rd week in July.
Lion Medical Eyebank Dinner – Lion John Watters. The annual member meeting is Aug. 13th.
Each club is a member of the eyebank. We need 10 members to reserve a full table. We will have
2 August meetings since the Eyebank dinner does not fall on a meeting night this year.
Youth Exchange Report – Lion Aziz. Lion Aziz gave the list of countries represented from the
youth exchange. The teens all introduced themselves and mingled with the club. One girl who had
a beautiful singing voice sang for the group. All had a great time. The three teens hosted by Lion
Debra for the last 3 weeks made her banners which represented their counties. Lion Stan spoke
about the Parade of Nations, where each teen gives a presentation on their country. Lion Stan
encouraged more club members to attend in the future.
Eyeglass Recycling – Lion Ed DeLong. 6 lions showed up. 380 pairs of glasses were turned in.
Lion Ed encouraged more members to attend. Lion Ed explained that the work is not difficult and
explained the recycling process.
Membership Drive – Lion Rich Roberts. Lion Rich presented Lion Steve’s membership plan.
Lion Steve wants to start a friendly competition. He divided the club into 3 teams with a captain
for each team. Teams are encouraged to invite guests to meetings. The first team to bring 3 guest
will win immunity from the tail twister for 2 months. The second team to bring 3 guests will get 1
month of immunity.
Diabetes Awareness – Lion Dick Kreassig. Lion Dick talked about the differences between
Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. He also brought up a recent NY Times op-ed which contained a lot
of incorrect information about diabetes.
Blood Drive/Broom Order – Lion Nancy Watters. We need help for the blood drive as well as
sell brooms/flags/umbrellas or anything else we can find. We sold out of brooms last year.
International Convention – CC Stan Furman. Lion Stan informed the club of a rule change
which allows a council chair to be terminated for cause. The club felt this rule might be prophetic
since Lion Stan is the council chair this year.
Lion Aziz Selahi presented Lion Jack Wagner with the Lion of the Year award.
Lion Irene Conlin asked the club for speaker ideas.
Secretary’s Report:
Lion Rich Roberts passed out District Directories to the cognizant Lions. Some other club
members wanted directories. They can purchase directories from PDG Barbara Senecal for $3.
Lion Rich, Lion Aziz, and CC Stan all offered to get club members contact information if they email
them with a request.
Lion Rich Roberts talked about a new incentive program for the 24-D charity foundation bid-buy
auction fundraiser. The bid-buy auction is the charity foundation’s biggest fundraiser. The charity
foundation does a lot for the district and the club, so it is important to support. The club can earn a
$250 service grant from the charity foundation by bringing 15 or more club members/guests to the
auction. The club can win a second $250 service grant in a raffle. The club will receive a raffle
ticket for each item donated to the auction which is greater than $50 in value.
Lion Rich Roberts discussed the Coastal Virginia Magazine’s giving back awards. The award is
won through a process of nomination and then a series of voting rounds. Lion Rich nominated
Thalia, but based on the number of votes the winning non-profits had last year, he suggested
nominating the District and then having the DG and Cabinet Secretary to encourage the clubs to
vote.
Lion Rich Presented Lion Debra Laughlin with an achievement award from LCI due to her work
to aid the blind and low-vision.
July Birthdays – Lion Rob Seim was not present. CC Stan Furman decided to proceed anyway. He set
up an empty chair and asked Lion President Aziz Selahi to choose the singer. Lion Aziz chose Lion Jim
Healy; however, he didn’t have to spend much to get out of it. The bidding quickly turned to Lion Nancy
Watters and Lion Bob Perrine. Both were determined not to sing and a fierce bidding war soon broke
out. In the end, the deep pockets of Lion Bob were too much for Lion Nancy who animatedly and
passionately sang Happy Birthday to the empty chair. $109 was collected.
50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister CC Stan Furman: $21 won by Lion Nancy Watters , $15 won by Lion
Jeri Furman, $8 won by Lion Jim Healy.
Meeting then adjourned at 8:15pm.
Respectfully submitted
Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary
Thalia Lions Club
Upcoming Events:
July 18th – 20th –RAM, Wise Co.
August 6th (Wed) – Regular meeting
August 13th (Wed) – Lions Medical Eye Bank Dinner
August 14th (Thurs) - Eyeglass Recycling, 2040 Broadmoor Ave, Chesapeake at 10:00am
August 18th (Mon) – Blood Drive at Virginia Beach Christian Church
August 20th (Wed) – Regular meeting (District Governor’s Official Visit
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 2, 2014. The regular meeting of the Thalia Lions Club of Virginia Beach, VA, was called to order on July 2, 2014, by Lion President Aziz Selahi at 6:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, Town Center, Virginia Beach, VA, with those members in attendance as shown on the Attendance Record and Guest Register.

Transcribed below is what happened at the meeting.

Call to Order at 6:30pm

Introduction of Guests:. Lion Steve Rosnov introduced Dian “Buttercup” Rosnov. Lions Beth and Mack Stevens visited from The VB Blind Lions Club.

Song – Lion Rich Roberts led the theme to SpongeBob SquarePants

Pledge of Allegiance – led by Lion Mike Coren

Invocation- given by Lion John Watters

ATTENDANCE

3 Guests

15 Members 40 Percent

Recessed for Dinner: 6:34pm

Reconvened: 6:59 pm

Introduction of Guest Speaker: Lion Nancy Watters introduced Region III Chair, Lion Beth Stevens

Lion Beth told a compelling and emotional story about losing her vision and how she became such an active Lion. In summary, she had a typical small-town childhood and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. After graduating, she desired to live near the beach and moved to the area. While volunteering, she met Lion Mack, and they quickly married. About one year into their marriage, she noticed her vision started becoming fuzzy. She sought medical attention and the optometrist informed her that she was legally blind in one year and low-vision in the other. The optometrist explained how the brain will compensate as your vision degrades and you won’t even notice a 15% reduction in your sight. After leaving the optometrist’s office, she worried about losing the ability to drive because driving is a symbol of independence; however, she soon learned that driving was the least of her worries. She was diagnosed with retinal degeneration but the doctors could not figure out the cause or the cure. She was involved in many studies at John Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania which were funded by the Foundation for Fighting Blindness. Since all of this was happening so early in her marriage, she began to fear that her husband would not want to deal with all of this and leave her. Fortunately these fears were not warranted and Lion Mack has stuck by her side for the last 22 years. During this time she kept her vision issues from her family because she feared how they would react. She felt she could just fix it and they would never need to know. She was told she wouldn’t lose all of her vision until she was an old lady; however, she lost all usable vision in less than 10 years. This was a time of indescribable emotional turmoil. She lost many friends finding that other people in their 20s and early 30s didn’t want to be around a disabled person because it made them uncomfortable. She also found some friends she didn’t expect who came to her aid and those individuals are real, lifelong friends. After losing all of her sight, she soon realized the biggest loss in her life was the ability to read. For a long time, the audio-books and readers from the Bayside Special Library was a lifeline for her. Since this happened before the internet explosion, it was hard for her to connect to others experiencing the same things as her. Eventually she was able to connect with the American Council for the Blind. She found the group sessions helpful. They tried to get her to use a white cane but she stubbornly resisted because she didn’t want to stand out. Soon after, she was attending a conference and found herself stranded in a 2^nd floor room alone. She found herself contemplating whether to crawl down the stairs or wait and call for help. Eventually a man found her and she latched on to his arm so tight that she believes the circulation in his arm is still cut off to this day. After that experience, having a white cane did not seem as embarrassing. She began vision rehab in hopes of landing a job. She soon found herself facing discrimination for the first time in her life. People who get excited and invite her to an interview based on the strength of her resume; however, she could feel the energy get sucked out of the room when she showed up with a driver and a white cane. Technology for blind people was not as good or as portable back then which provided obstacles. She eventually found a job, with some help from friends, but co-workers during training kept encouraging her to quit and asking why she would want to work when she didn’t have to. Eventually she took another job with the Red Cross. She was paid $8/hr while paying a driver $5/hr to drive her car and she was buying the gas. She thinks she was probably netting $1/hr when it was all said in done, but she just wanted to work. Eventually she moved up with the Red Cross and managed a team with a million dollar fundraising goal. Lion Beth really enjoys descriptive movies, which adds additional audio to movies which explains the non-verbal scenes. There was a movie she wanted to see which was available as a descriptive movie; however, the movie theater she went to did not have it. She asked to talk to the manager and he agreed to get the descriptive movie. Apparently he had received this request before from the Blind Lions Club. This is how Lion Beth first got involved with the Lions. The manager asked if the club could train his staff on helping low-vision individuals. Lion Beth agreed to do it and now the club has a good relationship with the movie theater which offers more descriptive movies. The VB Blind Lions Club has 69 members, of which about half are blind. The Lions gave Lion Beth a family to belong to and she has been very active with her club and the district ever since.

Lion President Aziz thanked Lion Beth for sharing her story and presented her with a plaque of our appreciation. Lion President Aziz reiterated that we are all a family. He thanked Lion John for keeping the club informed on Lion Steve’s heart condition and wants a way of informing the club of what is going on with our wives, husbands, families, and selves. We agreed to send any such information to the club secretary to distribute to the club. Lion President Aziz stated that while we serve others, we much also serve each other as well.

Reports:

Ø Committee Assignments – Lion President Aziz Selahi – The committee assignments were sent out via email. Lion Aziz asked if there were any problems/objections to the assignments. The members agreed to the assignments.

Ø Central Library Screening Report – Lion Nancy Watters – 4 lions were present. 25 children were screened with 8 referrals.

Lion Nancy also took the SPOT over to screen the homeless children which were being sheltered at her church. These are children without addresses so they get missed with our normal screenings. 11 children were screened with 2 referrals.

The district screened about 40K children this year with 6K referrals. Last year, we collected children’s books at dropped them off at the Head Starts as we did our screenings. This year Lion Nancy would like to branch out our book collections and distribute the books to hospital waiting rooms as well. She envisions each club adopting a hospital, but this is still in the works.

Ø Blood Drive/Broom Order – Lion Nancy Watters – need help for the blood drive as well as sell brooms/flags/umbrellas or anything else we can find. We sold out of brooms last year.

Ø International Youth Camp Meal, July 13^th: Lion Rich Roberts – Lion Rich will be at the District Meeting and Lion Aziz will be the man in charge at the youth camp.

The Menu will be:

Chicken – Lion Aziz

Coleslaw – Lion John & Nancy

Vegetarian Dish – Lion Linda H.

Cheesy Potatoes – Lion Cathy

Quinoa – Lion Bob

Cookies – Lion Vickie and Lion Linda E.

Bottles of Water – Lion Vickie

Plates/Napkins/Forks – Lion John & Nancy

Jugs for lemonade – Lion John & Nancy

Time will be 5:30pm on July 13^th. Location is the Chapel at Virginia Wesleyan.

We expect to feed 30 teenagers.

Ø Facebook Campaign – Lion Rich Roberts - Lion Rich created a page a few years ago but he didn’t do anything with it. We are going to try to use the page to promote the club. In a week, we went from 29 likes to 87. A post about our eye screening programs was seen by 89 unique people. Lion Rich asked all who have Facebook to go like the page. More likes – more people seeing what we do. Lion Rich plans to post the club’s activities on the page on a regular basis. Lion Rich asked club members to e-mail him the things they are doing and to attach pictures whenever possible because pictures get seen by more people. He asked to club to like and share the post he puts on the page because that places the content on their timelines which then can been seen by their friends which will ultimately show them all the good work that we do and give the club positive publicity.

Ø RAM – Lion John Watters – 7 club members are scheduled to travel to Wise Country for the Remote Area Medical project. Last year club members observed to tattered state of many of the recipients clothing and the district has been collecting underwear and children’s clothes to take and distribute at RAM.

Lion John also talked about the upcoming Lions Medical Eyebank dinner and board election. Each club is a member of the eybank and has a vote for the board members. More details to follow.

Ø Charter Night Awards – Lion Rich Roberts – Lion Debra was not present to receive her award. A stunned Lion Jack was informed he won Lion of the Year, but we didn’t have to trophy and will get it to him at a later date.

Ø From the Floor –

Lion Jack Wagner informed the club that Samaritan House recognized the help our club provides to them in their newsletter. Lion Rich will scan the newsletter and distribute it to the club and make a post to the club’s facebook page.

Lion Ed DeLong reminded the club that eyeglass recycling is the second Thursday of each month. He stated that the same Lions show up each time and he encouraged more members to come and help.

Secretary’s Report:

Ø Lion Rich informed the club that Malibu Elementary sent the club a nice card thanking us for the support we give to their nurse’s clinic each year. The club donates $200 each to the school clinics at Malibu ES, Kings Grant ES, and Thalia ES every year.

Ø Lion Rich reminded the club about the first district cabinet meeting. Sunday, July 13^th at 2pm. Brickhouse Auditorium at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

July Birthdays – Lion Rob Seim was not present.

50-50 Raffle: Tail Twister (proxy) Lion John Watters: $30 won by Lion Vickie Kennedy , $20 won by Lion Bob Perrine.

Meeting then adjourned at 7:58pm.

Respectfully submitted

Lion Rich Roberts, Secretary

Thalia Lions Club

Upcoming Events:

Ø June 23^rd (Mon) – Thalia Lions Central Library screening, 12:30pm – 2pm

Ø July 10^th (Thurs) – Eyeglass Recycling, 2040 Broadmore Ave, Chesapeake at 10:00am

Ø July 13^th (Sun) – Feed the international Lions youth camp, Va Weslyan College

Ø July 13^th (Sun) – 1^st District Cabinet Mtg, Norfolk General – Brickhouse Auditorium

Ø July 16^th (Wed) – Regular Meeting

Ø July 18^th – 20^th –RAM, Wise Co.

Ø August 18^th (Mon) – Blood Drive at Virginia Beach Christian Church

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