My theme is “We Serve, Our Community-Our
Nation-Our World”.
I am pleased to report to you that the planning for
the journey I asked you to take with me has been completed. I have assembled what I believe are a great
team and I thank all those Lions who accepted a position on my Cabinet and
welcome them aboard for the ride of their lives.
In my speech to the Convention at Red Cliffs I
spoke of time as being “the past, present and future”. I posed the question, isn’t this what Lions
is all about? We have a proud past, a
present in which we continue serving our community unselfishly and a bright
future to savour the rewards of our work, not only locally but nationally and
internationally as well. We must never
forget that we, as Lions, have obligations, not only to the community in which
we are based, but also to our Multiple District and Lions Clubs International. We are part of the big picture.
I am proud to be a Lion. In my travels I marvel at the number of structures I see bearing
the Lions emblem. No project seems too
big or too small for Lions to tackle. However,
we need to keep our community informed about our activities, keep reminding
them that we built the park, the BBQ, or provided the funds for the hospital
wing and so on.
This is why I want C2 Lions, this year, to
communicate more, in fact better, with each other and with our community. Public Relations will play a big part in my
year as your District Governor. One
can’t be associated with PR for nine years and simply walk away from it.
We are continually
being referred to as the “Best Kept Secret in Town”. Why is this? My theory is
quite simply, people don’t know where to find us. They know of us but can’t find us. What do we do about it? We
tell
them. I will be encouraging all Lions
clubs to be more proactive in their PR efforts. I will be encouraging clubs to showcase to their communities and
others what they are doing - make them aware of their existence and what they
exist for. I will be encouraging Lions
clubs to place their contact details in local telephone books, with their local
MP’s office, State & Federal, and with their local councils, in libraries
and everywhere there is a community notice board. I served six years as National PR chairman and will be only too
willing to assist if asked.
Remember, “We Serve, Our Community-Our
Nation-Our World”
