Next Meeting - Tuesday, July 1, noon at the Sheraton as usual. Our monthly business meeting, and the start of the new Lion Year. Pres. JACK HEIM will preside, with what ceremonies (if any) remaining to be seen, and we will proceed to discuss what MCLC is up to.

That's actually quite a lot, as you will discover. We can expect a Final Report on the Flower Sale, which appears to have set a record for earliest date of completion, there will likely be a progress report on the perpetual Holiday Treat sale, and we have a number of activities scheduled for the near future.

In the past, the Club accomplished a lot of its work by the use of Committees. This is another subject which will likely come up at the next meeting, so start thinking about which operations/activities/projects you are interested in, so you can pick your spots to participate. Note particularly: “participate!”

Save Sight Night, July 18, at the Mallards, is coming up fast. If you want to go, you will likely have to commit at this next meeting.

We will once again ring the bells for the Salvation Army's Red Kettle drive in July. The date is Thursday, July 17, but if you are signed up to work this one note that THE LOCATION HAS BEEN CHANGED. We will be at the HyVee West, at Westgate. Hours and shifts will be the same as previously scheduled.

We hear that the Club Budget is available for study on our web site. It may come as a surprise to some, but we actually do have budgets, one for club operations and one for our service activities. A review of the service budget will remind you of what we do for our communities, which is the main reason we exist. It also highlights what we need in good old fashioned $$$$ to keep that up.

At the last meeting, Pres. LINDA rang the bell, and PHIL INGWELL led the Pledge to the Flag, which had magically appeared, albeit in miniature, from somewhere. We got a “Thank You” from the Wisconsin Lions Foundation for our annual contribution, which supports Lions Camp, the Eyeglass Recycling project, Hearing Aid project and various Youth Programs, among other things.

Pres. LINDA gave a brief commentary on the ups and downs of her past two years, during which, in the editor's opinion, she successfully led, cajoled and coerced the Club into a great many activities, both social and service. The job is a lot harder than it used to be, and the applause she got was just one evidence of the gratitude all of us have for keeping the ship afloat.

Speaker for the day was David Mancel, Director of the Office of Financial Literacy in the State Office of Financial Affairs. This Dept. started out regulating banks, but expanded their mission a few years back when studies confirmed the suspicion that the general public didn't know enough about financial matters to manage their own affairs. Further inquiry suggested that the obvious place to start was in the schools, and so efforts began to train teachers in such subjects as home and auto buying, investing, saving, budgeting, insurance, taxes, Social Security and retirement, investing, credit costs and methods, money management, and the biggest maze of all, free enterprise and regulation. Obviously, there is a lot of ground to cover, and as usual, the problem of how to fit more stuff into the schedule is paramount. Whenever something new comes along, something else has to give.

It should be noted that our own LINDA BERGREN served on the team of experts who worked with the Department of Public Instruction and the Department of Financial Institutions to development model academic standards for personal financial literacy.

Your editor concluded that this is a big problem, and one of the biggest part is the need to convince people that there is in fact a big problem. There is a sense that when a problem is addressed by government, it is like operating a battleship - it takes a long time to get moving, it is very hard to steer, and it is almost impossible to stop. There is also a sense that some of the most important areas are least understood by the people who have the fewest assets to manage, and thus most apt to be hurt by their lack of understanding. Just one more place where we need to try harder - year-round school, anyone?