Our next meeting is Tuesday, October 4, and our program will be Pete Waite, coach of the nationally ranked Badger Volleyball team. The Badgers are off to a good start, beating UCLA three straight last weekend, and we can expect Coach Waite to tell us how it was done and what the prospects are for this season. The Big 10 is always tough, and they play each team home-and-home, so we’ll find out who the key players are and which games to watch. Tickets are available and inexpensive, and it’s one of the best buys in sports in Madison. JODI BURMESTER is the Program Host.

President CHUCK BASFORD called the last meeting to order, JIM SCHUTZ led the song on a consensus pitch, and “SPARKY” WATTS gave an invocation appropriate to the times. Disasters always hit the poor hardest, and lately there’ve been a lot of them. We are helping - generous Club members have donated about $250 for Hurricane Katrina relief, and our Board of Directors has approved adding funds from our service budget to round the gift up to $1,000 and sending it in to Lions Clubs International Foundation.

JIM BRADLEY is back, on his own two feet again, which is good to see. OTTO FESTGE apparently had a brief hospital stay last week and is recovering now at home.

PID PHIL INGWELL gave us a rundown on the operation of LCIF. It is set up to give disaster aid through Lion Districts and can move quickly when needed - over a quarter of a million dollars was approved for the Gulf Coast area within a day or two of Katrina. As Clubs and Districts in an affected area identify pressing needs, the funds are directed to meet them, with local Lion participation. It is international - LCIF provided emergency shelters in Turkey after earthquakes there, and has pledged $5 million USD (US Dollars) for rebuilding areas in Southeast Asia wiped out by last year’s tsunami, as well as administering an additional $6 million USD donated to LCIF by individuals for tsunami relief. A similar effort can be expected for the US Gulf Coast, and it also can be local - our own Multiple District (State) has received about $1.25 million since 1974, mostly for tornado disasters. About $90,000 of that was in our own District 27D-1, including among other things a new fire truck for Barneveld when theirs was destroyed by the tornado about ten or fifteen years ago. The $1,000 our Club and its members have just sent will go to give similar help to areas along the US Gulf Coast. PHIL also noted that the Madison-Monona Lioness Club has just pledged $6,000 USD to the UW Pediatric Eye Clinic.

PHIL then shifted smoothly into conducting the Lion Birthday celebration, honoring the service of MELISSA ABBOTT, 2 years; ART TAGGART, 10 years; GLEN SCHAEFFER, 37 years; DALE MUELLER, 40 years; and ED NEESE, 50 YEARS! Among other things, ED was Club Secretary and Bulletin Editor for a number of years. It didn’t become the BULLetin until after he gave it up. Winners drawn for the gifts were TOM STEVENS, SCOTT GROVER, RALPH JOHNSON, SPARKY WATTS and PHIL STOWITTS.

DON NEVIASER gave us the details on our Sports Raffle, which starts now. 1250 tickets printed, price is, as before, $5.00 for one or three for $10.00. First prize, two tickets to Packers-Vikings on Nov. 21 plus $350. 2nd prize, two tickets to UW-Iowa football on ll/12 plus $250 cash. 3rd prize, two tickets to a UW basketball game plus a gift certificate from the Essen Haus. 4th prize, two tickets to a UW hockey game plus a gift certificate from the Essen Haus. The drawing will be during our meeting on November 1. This is an important fundraiser for our Club and it should be an easy sell - all of those events are sold out. See DON for a supply of tickets. We only have two meetings between now and the drawing so he can’t nag you every week - get out and sell those tickets! We are greatly indebted to the generosity of JIM SCHUTZ, who donates the Packers tickets. Money and ticket stubs can be turned in to DON or raffle treasurer MELISSA NOVINSKI.

PHIL STOWITTS also announced that Bucky Books are in. They are $35 each, and entitle you to all kinds of discounts, particularly on golf. There are also a lot of free restaurant meals in there, along with discounts to such places as Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Museum, the EAA Museum at Oshkosh, Old World Wisconsin, and many other attractions and fast food places. It will more than pay for itself, and the Club makes $12 on each one we sell. PHIL will be out of action for two or three weeks, so DALE MUELLER is filling in for him - he has the Bucky Books. See him for yours. There is even talk of setting up a coupon exchange on our Club web site, so the golfers and eaters can trade tickets. There’s a lot of information about Lions in general and our Club in particular available through our web site - use our new navigational menu found floating at the top of the page.

Future Luncheon Schedule:

or see our Calendar.

Diabetes Walk - October 2, Lakewood Park, Middleton
volunteer online

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