Next Meeting - Tuesday, October 2. Speaker will be Megan Benson from the Dane County Chapter of the American Red Cross, talking about “Local and International Disaster Relief.” Whether it’s floods in Wisconsin, hurricanes in Louisiana, tornadoes in Ohio or forest fires in the West, the Red Cross is there, helping the victims and supporting the rescuers. They do what is necessary first and sort out the details later, and we will hear about it. Volunteers from Dane County have gone all over the country on relief operations, supported by our local Chapter. SAL AL-ASHKAR is the Program Host.

October will be a busy month. Speaker at the regular meeting October 16 will be Capt. Shannon Kilcoyne of the Wis. National Guard, and MICHELLE VETTERKIND will lead the celebration of August, September and October Lion Birthdays on that day. October used to be Membership Month, and so there should be lots of gifts for the drawing. On Tuesday October 30 (note- new date. Room availability problem) we will have our Awards Night and Social. Put that special one on your calendar and bring your spouse, friend or prospective member. More details later.

The TT nobly sacrificed his hot meal while scrounging for cash at the last meeting, and bravely volunteered to lead the song when the usual suspects were all absent. What we learned from that is that the TT is a tenor. Dedicated, but a tenor. We also learned that there are 571 Lions Clubs and 21,214 Lions in Wisconsin. ROSS ROYSTER gave the invocation. A familiar voice, trained on the wild winds of Lake Mendota, boomed across the room to let us know that JABO JABLONIC was here. He’s now a Yooper, belongs to a Lions Club up there, lives in the wilds and seems to be enjoying every minute of it. He mentioned that he’d been on a couple of cruises, but no word on the type of ship. Probably not galleys.

Pres. DON (wearing a wild striped shirt that could be heard before it was seen) announced that his 51st birthday would be celebrated on Nov. 14, by the All-City Service Club Luncheon. Save the date - we’d like to have a contingent there. Details and tickets to follow. VP JODI BURMESTER attended the US-Canada Forum in Grand Rapids, and like all of us who have had the good fortune to attend one, came back with many new ideas and much information. JODI also reported on the raffle sale. Our sales were down 22%, and we made $1610 for our service work. Leading sellers, DON NEVIASER 49, MELISSA NOVINSKI 40, SANDY LESLIE & JOHN JENSON 30, and SUE SABIN, THEMIS FLORES, JODI BURMESTER and SAL AL-ASHKAR 25. Others, PHIL INGWELL, JAN CICHOCKI, LINDA BERGREN, WENDY WRIGHT, MICHELLE VETTERKIND, SCOTT GROVER, MELISSA ABBOTT, DAVE WEINBACH, PHIL STOWITTS, OTTO FESTGE, BOB BOHN, TERRY SCHAR. About half our members sold at least one ticket.

PHIL STOWITTS has 15 Bucky Books left. $35.00, and if you golf or eat out, you’ll save that much in a week. Club gets the profits from the sale. JIM BRADLEY subbed for LINDA BERGREN and put out order sheets for Holiday Treats, Nuts and Fruitcakes. Let LINDA know what you want right away. There’s info and an order blank on our website, too.

SANDY SOBECK LESLIE announced a training session for vision screeners on Sat. Nov. 3. We think i't’s in Waunakee, but check with SANDY. This is your chance to be part of one of our most important and satisfying projects! She also put out the first call for our 2008 Rose Sale next spring. Start organizing your prospect lists and sales techniques. MELISSA ABBOTT reminded us that more workers for the UW concessions stands are needed, both to staff the stands and to raise more service money for our Club. Check the dates on our website, and lend a hand. MELISSA NOVINSKI and SCOTT GROVER took part in the Combat Blindness Foundation Walk, and raised a couple hundred dollars for the effort. That will restore sight to more than a dozen cataract patients in Africa.

The speaker from Big Brothers/Big Sisters turned out to be Aaron Backer, VP, who once worked at an eye bank in NY. They have more than 1,000 kids with Big Brothers/Sisters in Dane County, and still have 300 on their waiting list. They need more volunteers, obviously, because their goal is to provide a mentor for every child in Dane County who wants one. Most client families are single moms, and they have an annual budget of around $1 million. Like us, they spend a lot of time fundraising, and Bart Starr is coming to Madison soon to speak at one of their meetings. Our Pres. DON has been a Big Brother for six years, and finds it to be a very worthwhile effort. It is one-on-one, first person service, and it has to be satisfying to see a kid’s grades and attitude improve as you work with them.

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