Next Meeting - Tuesday, May 6, at the Sheraton, noon. Our business meeting for the month of May, and Pres. LINDA says it's an important business meeting. First, we will have the report on the result of our Flower Sale, and since MELISSA NOVINSKI probably did it, all the facts will be there.

Our Golf Outing/Spring Social is May 19, and the dinner at that event doubles as our regular (second) meeting for May. Cost of the dinner is $25 per person, and the editor has no info on the menu. It probably will be part of next Tuesday's discussion. When you consider that you get three events, Golf Dinner, Spring Social, and regular meeting, all rolled into one, such a deal. You can sign up, if you haven't already, at our next (May 6) noon meeting.

We will have raffle tickets to pass out, $10 for one, $25 for three. Only 250 tickets to be sold. First prize, two tickets to the Packers-Bears game at Lambeau. Second prize, two (48 yard line) tickets to the UW Homecoming Game. Third prize, 4 tickets to a Brewers game, club seats and parking. Fourth prize, four tickets to the Mallards Home Front, with food and drink included. An important fund-raiser, obviously, with some really great prizes - start your prospect list immediately, because we are told the drawing will be on May 19. If you can't make this next noon meeting, contact Pres. LINDA at 235-0914 for signup and/or raffle tickets.

At our last meeting, Pres. LINDA opened the meeting with the venerable Pledge of Allegiance. JOHN JENSON produced a flag for the occasion. It may have been Spring in Augusta, GA, but our members were, as usual, wearing down jackets, not green ones. Last minute details for our Flower Sale and Highway Cleanup projects were ironed out.

We were reminded that the Golf Outing Dinner Social will begin with cocktails at 5:00. Dinner will be at 6:00. The cost is $25.00 per person, and non-golfers are encouraged, as this is also our regular meeting for that week and the Spring (Late Winter) Social. We heard that State HOUSE Investments (Jim Schutz, Prop.) will be a sponsor of our Golf Outing.

We will run a vision screening on Friday, May 9, at Warner Park, as part of the Nesco Health Fair. Hours will be 8:30 AM to noon, and we could use some more help. You don't have to have technical training to assist - there are lots of details to be taken care of. SCOTT GROVER has the info.

If you go to dinner at Benvenuto's in Fitchburg on Sunday, May 4, tell your server you are a Lion. They are donating a portion of the day's receipts to a fundraiser for the Lions Club.

PHIL INGWELL reported that he had finally found how to reach Guy Eichsteadt, so we can look forward to another chapter of Guy's life as a Scout Executive in Japan.

There was a general discussion of the state of the Club, and our seeming inability to increase our membership. No miraculous answers were uncovered. Other clubs in the US and Canada are having the same problem, but worldwide Lions continues to grown. Obviously, some of the social changes in North America have complicated our situation. Central Madison is a lot different than it was 70 years ago, and so are the people who live and work here. Change, unfortunately, is not always for the better.

Editor's Opinion: As I remember, when I joined Lions, it was for three main reasons, in no particular order. I wanted to serve somehow, and Lion service specialties appealed to me. I didn't know then that I had four eye surgeries in my future, without which I would now have very limited sight. I looked forward to expanding my circle of friends, and that certainly happened. I have greatly enjoyed visiting with my Lion friends, from all sorts of careers and with all sorts of personalities, although my hearing difficulties make it harder now. It would, as the expression then went "be good for business." A small business owner/operator with a product or service to sell benefits from meeting other people, who more often than not are in similar circumstances. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you just make yourself available and don't use the club as a prospect list. (Almost all the people who join organizations only for this reason don't last long, because although you do benefit, it's usually only incidental. The same amount of time, if spent cold-calling, would probably be more profitable but nowhere near as much fun.) Today, there isn't much small business in Central Madison, and the current generation communicates by electronic gadgets, not face-to-face. Efficient, maybe, but pretty impersonal. People are willing to serve, but they just want to show up at a preplanned event, do something, and go home. It's hard to get long-term commitments.