Happy Holidays

Tuesday, Dec. 18 is our Holiday Program, featuring a group of singers from McFarland High School. LINDA BERGREN is the Program Host. This is a good time to bring a guest, spouse, or prospective member.

At our last meeting, the TT auctioned off a piece of decorative china, origin uncertain and undescribable. We think several Lions paid a quarter not to win. Fitchburg Lion ALICE JENSON, present for reasons related below, bought the darn thing, but we hear she sent it on to a new Lion destination in her Club. This thing might be the next Thunderbird.

Pres. DON opened the meeting, JIM SCHUTZ led the song, and TERRY SCHAR gave the invocation. JIM reported that there would be no citrus fruit from Beaver Dam this year as his father-in-law, PDG HAROLD NAGLER, who normally brings it for us, contracted West Nile virus at age 81 from the last mosquito of the season, and got really sick. Hopefully he's on the mend by now.

The sick list is long. Our Secretary, JOHN JENSON, has landed in the ICU with pneumonia, thereby derailing his planned trip to Germany. He's home, and the hospital is back to normal, but he's been told it will take him two months to get over it. However, being retired, he went in to his office today. His wife, ALICE, brought us the news, and stood in for him as PHIL INGWELL conducted the formal procedure for our Club to nominate him for District Governor next year. About time.

BOB BOHN, our chief bell-ringer, passed around a signup sheet for our shift on the Salvation Army kettle at Sentry Hilldale on Wed, Dec. 19. They've moved the kettle inside the store, so it will be warmer than previously reported. Check with BOB to be sure his schedule is full - two-hour shifts from 8 AM to 8 PM, and he'd like two Lions for each shift. Might be an opportunity to wear one of those handsome Lion vests.

MELISSA NOVINSKI filled in for LINDA BERGREN on the Holiday Treat Sale, and she'll take money from your sales. Let's get it in quickly, so the project won't drag on. There is still some product available - check with LINDA.

No one has yet answered the question on which MCLC Lion was pictured on the cover of the December 1993 issue of the Wisconsin Lion. One would think that Lion would remember this rare moment of fame - there haven't been many from our Club so honored - but surely the TailTwister will fine him (hint) for his lack of memory. Only one guess has been received, from one of our three faithful readers, and it was a good guess but incorrect.

PP SAL AL-ASHKAR announced that our Club provided a Diabetes Awareness display at a meeting at the Warner Park Recreation Center, keeping up our participation in the battle against this disease. He also made the momentous announcement that he is a candidate for Dane County Supervisor from his district. Apparently none of the rest of us live in his district so we can't legally vote for him but he could use some financial support in his effort to bring some sort of sanity and common sense to local government in this area. SAL, we thank you for the effort - it will be a big job.

Having dropped that bombshell, SAL then introduced our speaker, Barbara Snell from Access Community Health Centers. They operate an East Side Clinic and a South Side Clinic, and offer a full range of medical and dental care on a sliding scale to patients who are low-income and/or uninsured. There is a minimum copayment at the time of their appointment, with any balance billed to the patient. They coordinate with Medicaid, Badger Care and Medicare, serving Dane County residents with a staff of 118, half of whom are bilingual, with about 50,000 appointments each year. Their slogan is "Improving Health, Improving Lives". Many of their patients are uninsured and/or unable to avoid the full cost of needed care, or even the 20% copayment required by Medicare. All patients pay at least the minimum $15 copayment. Dental pain is the greatest cause of absence for Madison schoolchildren, and their clinics can usually provide same-day service for those in need. In addition to the obvious problems, they deal with some not so obvious - diabetes patients unable to afford medications, "bed rest" for an individual who is homeless, etc. They are one of the agencies that assist MCLC with the distribution of eyeglass grants. They are clearly meeting a vital need in our community. Many of us who have routine access to medical and dental care have not understood how big a problem it can be to those less fortunate.

Have a happy holiday season, and here's to the best of New Years!

Lions Tale Staff