DG Jill - Aims for the New Year
The first thing I want to see attended to in the coming months is the formation of a local Disaster Response plan in every zone or area in V1-4.
The V1-4 Disaster Relief/Lions Alert Chairman, liaising with the Zone Chairmen, will assist every zone to put on paper a "What to do" plan for that zone, with details of your Lions Area Co-ordinator who knows where to go and who to deal with, should a situation arise in their zone.
The Lions Area Co-ordinator contact details also need to be known by whoever is in charge from Police/SES/Red Cross etc, so they know who to contact to enlist the assistance of Lions. Each Lion needs to have a copy, and know what their local plan is.
Our District Bank Account details will be put on the website for anyone to donate to any disaster appeal that may be needed in the future.
The second item on my agenda is better knowledge within clubs of District chairmen, their portfolios, and what their roles are within the District. Zone meetings are one way that club officers can get to know their District Chairmen, but inviting a Chairman to attend club meetings as a guest speaker will help all Lions learn about what’s available within their District to support.
The third thing I would like to achieve is more contact between clubs - more knowledge of what other clubs do. Especially more social visits, but also more offers of, and requests for, assistance with functions and projects. Some clubs do this really well now, but I know it can expand. The more contact we have with each other, the more comfortable we are together - we can really feel like we’re all important members of the “Lions family”.
And the thing that always comes up, because it always needs to be mentioned, is people. Where would clubs be, without their members? In fact, where will your club be in 10 or 15 years time? Will you have the people you need to keep your club and your projects going in your community? Do you perhaps need to start actively persuing a program of finding new members? However hard you think that might be, the answer is YES - you DO need to do something to attract people to our service organization.
People do want to give to their community, and they need a vehicle whereby they can do this. Lions can be that vehicle. Membership is the key to our success - members are our most valuable asset and resource. There will be many membership initiatives and opportunities provided throughout the District this year – please use them to help grow your clubs.