08/05/2007: "District Governor's Remarks"

In his first club visit of the new 2007-2008 Lions year, District Governor (H) Grev Edgelow came to lunch on San Juan Island...

In his first club visit of the new 2007-2008 Lions year, District Governor (H) Grev Edgelow came to lunch on San Juan Island accompanied by his wife Virginia and Zone Chair Carol Vincent on July 10. His theme for the coming service year is “Positive Pride”.

He spoke about the need to increase membership in this District by 3% or 60 members by being proud of the work the Lions Clubs do throughout the world as well as locally. We belong to the most effective and highest rated humanitarian organization in the world. We hold world-wide respect as symbolized by our membership in the United Nations.

Let us think positively and continue to help the less-fortunate without regard to any political agenda. He will support our efforts without interference or micro-managing our club actions.

Grev encourages us to consider donations this year to his favorite programs. He passed a collection jar around for Leader Dogs in Minnesota where about 100 free dogs are matched with vision-impaired owners annually.

He suggests we consider placing the youth citizenship program Lions Quest in our school system. The program works well in Canada, but is finding diminished acceptance in the U.S.

He would encourage more clubs to sponsor members to attend the annual USA/Canada Forum. Over a three-day period there will be 60 panels from which to select for training Lions who plan to advance in leadership roles. Cost is only $225 and runs September 6-8, 2007.

He thanked everyone for making positive things happen in our community and invited the members to plan to attend the annual Spring Conference on March 14-16, 2008 in Abbotsford.