Next Meeting - Tuesday, January 21, 2014. MELISSA NOVINSKI is the Program Host, and she will introduce Lynn Pawelski, Community Outreach Director, for the Henry Vilas Park Zoological Society. There's always something going on at the Zoo, and we'll be brought up to date on this great community asset. We think they're building a new Polar Bear habitat, among other things, and we hope to hear about some new or replacement animal residents.

At our last meeting, about 11 Lions braved the “Polar Vortex” extreme cold to convene at the Sheraton with their fellow Lions. The room was warm, and everyone seemed to be coping with the elements. PID and PP PHIL INGWELL presided in his current capacity as Vice President, and the meeting opened in time-honored form with the Pledge of Allegiance. There being no cleric (we think the closest one would be Pastor Brown, and she was only at one of our previous meetings, and Pastor Dennis is in Inman, Kansas, a bit too far away) and no musician present, the invocation and song were omitted. PHIL had to use the big and imposing Sheraton podium, but he dealt with it.

There was no formal agenda for the meeting, but the informal agenda was a general discussion of the Club and its activities. PHIL gave us two lists. One was a calendar-organized list of our Club activities in 2013, and there were quite a few of them. The other was a calendar for 2014, and that one was blank. Obviously our first project is to plan and schedule some projects. Stating the obvious, we are hampered by a lack of numbers, which among other things means that all Lions should make an effort to participate as much as they possibly can. PHIL noted that Lion membership is dropping in the US and in Canada, but not elsewhere. You could interpret this as our society casting aside one of its most effective institutions, possibly in search of some electronic nirvana where everyone reads information to each other but nobody actually does anything.

That exasperated comment off the Editor's chest, it would appear that we still have things to do - eye tissue transport, vision screening, Cycle For Sight, maybe a repeat on Stuff The Bus, highway cleanup, golf outing (without the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin), Salvation Army bell ringing and District and State (Multiple District) Conventions. Some of this, and lots of other service, takes money. A prime goal is to find a way to replace the $2400 or so that we used to get from the UW's Concession Stand at the Kohl Center. We also need to determine whether our Flower Sale and Holiday Treat Sale are sustainable. The obvious was pointed out - our membership numbers make fundraising by sales to the public in general and our friends in particular, dicey at best. The same would be true of a raffle. We need to find a way to get the public to come to us, rather than try to go out to them. It would also be a good thing to make more connections with the UW Campus Lions Club. Obviously, some interaction between the two groups might lead to a better understanding on each side of what the other group finds to be important to them. Like it or not, the young people are going to take over the earth, and if we're going to try to point the way, we at least need to make their acquaintance. Perhaps in so doing we might find some new ways of achieving our goals. It does seem at the moment as though problems are more numerous than solutions.

All of us must look hard for new ideas, and find the energy to work on them. Our role of service to others clearly depends on them.

One thing further - all of us need to search our recollections for people who might provide programs for our meetings that would be interesting, informational or entertaining, and would attract an audience. Not another worthy charitable organization that does good things but needs our help (read: money), but someone who can keep their listeners interested for 15 or 20 minutes. MICHELLE can't do it all by herself. Try to think of a speaker you've heard that the rest of us might like, or a subject you'd like to know more about, such as how the UW sports teams get to and from their contests away from home, or the migrational habits of sea turtles, or something!!

Keep calm, and keep on thinking!