Our next meeting, on June 5, will be a new member orientation. All new members from the past couple of years are requested to attend, and their sponsors and all other members who’d like to hear an Orientation Program on Lionism in general and our Club in particular are invited. "The special Orientation Meeting on June 5 has been planned for a smaller group, so if you are planning on coming, please reserve with PHIL INGWELL at 249-0593."

TaleTwister's Jackpot
$1,229

Our esteemed TailTwister ROSS ROYSTER opened today's show by announcing that the Joker's Pot had increased to $1226, which sparked a flurry of sales to a member who buys tickets in bulk. The Pot is now $1229, and increasing as we speak. Twenty cards remain (two more have been removed), including the Joker. PHIL STOWITTS held the winning ticket, but sadly, he drew a queen (rumored to be the Black Maria). ROSS promised that more cards will be withdrawn for our next go-around. Attendance was good, with 32 people present.

"Conformity is the jail of freedom and the enemy of growth" (John Kennedy). So claims President SAL AL-ASHKAR, in his opening statement defending his order-bending choices. This time, however, he bowed to the conformists, and asked JIM SCHUTZ to lead our patriotic song, followed by the Pledge, and MICHELLE VETTERKIND lead us in a short but sweet invocation. Guests today were Lois Bergren, mother of LINDA, and Chloe Schutz, daughter of JIM. Claiming paternal bragging rights, JIM informed us that Chloe, a student at Case Western, had recently received an award for the top service in her service fraternity. SAL reminded us of the Board meeting tonight at the DoubleTree at 6:00pm. HAL OTTERBACK announced that he had located 300 pair of glasses for Dr. Dong to distribute, pretty good collection on short notice.

MICHELLE returned to the limelight, leading our Lionistic birthdays: TOM STEVENS (4 years), DAVE MEIS (11 years), SPARKY WATTS (12 years), PHIL STOWITTS (20 years), KEVIN KING (25 years), STEVE BRIGGS (26 years), JERRY MILLER (27 years total), BOB BOHN (38 years), DAN STOUDT (45 years total), and TERRY SCHAR (48 years). Outstanding service! MICHELLE announced that it was also Bishop BOB's 85th birthday! Winners in the present drawing were: DON NEVIASER, SPARKY WATTS, JIM SCHUTZ, MELISSA NOVINSKI, and JIM KEMMETER.

DAN STOUDT informed us that Ducks Unlimited would be sponsoring a Madison Mallards game (apropos) in June, $20 for adults and $10 for the younger ones. Contact him for more information. ED NEESE announced the death of Barbara Wilcox, wife of BILL WILCOX. The obituary is in today's paper. CHUCK BASFORD said that the W Club had finally sent a check for the basketball concession work. Football and basketball combined, Lions made over $10,000. MCLC did about 30% of the work, and the checks will be distributed at the State Convention. JOHN JENSON reminded us that the Albany Lions social was next Wednesday. See him if you'd like to carpool. SAL spoke of a spate of golf outings: Birch Sturm (July 21), Prairie du Chien (June 2), Lions Eye Bank (combined with MCLC) (June 7), and McFarland (June 14). JODY BURMESTER told us that she received a gum ball check for $1670+, for a running total of over $148,000. She also reminded us of the June 5 new member orientation, and the June 19 new officer installation. June 19 will also mark the kickoff of the WLF Sports Raffle, and the joint old/new Board meeting.

JODY then introduced our speaker, Lion JIM SCHUTZ. He played an integral part in starting children's vision screening. JIM said this was sparked by his own family's experiences. MCLC took quite a risk in starting a screening program, and three people were in the room today who have enjoyed the training. Campaign Sight First pledged to attack the leading causes of blindness in children all around the world. Dr. Weinstein suggested the need for screening, and MCLC took the lead in purchasing a camera. Now other clubs have purchased more cameras.

JIM has worked with the Orphan Train (the first collaboration between Lions and Rotarians). He and members of his family have been on two trips to Bulgaria and one trip to Romania, with another trip planned for the fall. SPARKY WATTS has taken a camera to Haiti for screening. Locally, vision screening has been done with Head Start and Madison Public Schools. The costs have been camera operators time, Lea Charts, and film — about $1.25 per picture. Lions International has purchased cameras for China. And all of this started because MCLC had a meeting, much like today's.

Approximately 2 to 4% of children have a vision problem (the percentage will change depending on the sample group), and the camera finds more problems than using Lea eye charts. There will be another training session in the fall.