Next Meeting, Tues. February 3, 2015. It should have stopped snowing by then. Remember, we're at the Coliseum Bar, on the second floor. If you haven't experienced it yet, the menu is on the table with the Badge Box, and there's usually a cooked meal, or a salad, or a sandwich. The latter two have soup included. You pick your choice, note the color, and pick up a correspondingly colored square of paper and take it to your table, and your lunch is delivered. Beverages are in labeled pitchers on the bar, and we think the coffee pot on the back bar may be running.

This will be our business meeting for February, and although we know of no big issues, there is always Lion business to be done. In particular, we need to ramp up alert for March, our Eye Tissue Transport Month. If you'd like to be on that team, or are uncertain as to your status or any other details, or if you'd just like to know more about it, talk to SCOTT GROVER.

Cycle For Sight is coming up. It's Saturday, March 14, which conflicts with our District Convention, but we think that is being worked on, or maybe can be worked around. GAIL STIRR is the contact for this one. Seems like most Lions should be doing one or the other, or somehow both.

At our last meeting, Pres. JACK opened the meeting, and we actually said the Pledge of Allegiance! No one volunteered an invocation, or offered to lead us in song, so those two formalities were omitted.

Sec. JOHN JENSON reminded us of the above-mentioned District Convention, at the Marriott just over the border in Middleton, on March 13-14. If you want to go, you've got to sign up with JOHN no later than the next meeting. The Club picks up the cost of registration and the Saturday lunch. It's another chance to widen your view of Lionism. The Multiple District 27 (State) Convention will be at the Abbey in Fontana on May 15-16. Again, sign up with JOHN if you want to go. You get an even wider view at that one. Even if your primary interest is in service to our own community, you can't help but be proud of some of the things that Lions are doing on bigger stages, and if you are a Lion, you are a part of world-wide efforts.

SCOTT GROVER pointed out the small box of remaining items from our Holiday Treat Sale, noting that most of the known inventory is gone. No small achievement, since a couple of mass-merchandising opportunities that we've used in the past didn't happen this time. Let's see if we can make the small remainders disappear.

The Birthday Chairperson having unfortunately missed her own birthday celebration (though her gift was there even if she wasn't), the indefatigable SCOTT GROVER ran that ceremony as well. Years of service were celebrated for JEFF SCHNEIDER (5), MELISSA NOVINSKI (21), CRAIG BUTLER (22), JOHN JENSON (34), , GLENN SCHAEFER (47), and DALE MUELLER (49)and although they weren't with us, JOYCE KNOWLTON (2), ANN CAROTHERS (2), DEBBIE MAHAFFEY (2), WALT PRIDHAM (33), DALE ST. JOHN (45), and AL GOLDSTEIN (54). Drawing winners included GAIL STIRR, SCOTT GROVER, JACK HEIM, CRAIG BUTLER, PHIL INGWELL, and JEFF SCHNEIDER. A tremendous amount of Lion service has come from these Lions over many, many years.

Our speaker, introduced by MELISSA NOVINSKI, was Toya Johnson from the United Way of Dane County. She focused her talk on two United Way projects to aid seniors, chosen because 19% of emergency room visits by seniors are caused either by falls, or by adverse drug events, and because it was possible to determine whether these efforts were effective by charting the results. They offer a Comprehensive Medication Review, in which a trained pharmacist goes over a patient's list of medications, checking for conflicts or dangerous drug interactions, presenting any needed alerts or recommendations to be transferred to the patient's physician, and followup visits afterward to check on the results. They also train volunteers to make home visits to low-income seniors' homes, checking for unsafe conditions that present a risk of falling. They also organize low-impact exercise classes, like TaiChi, at community centers and Stepping On Classes to alert seniors to walking hazards and safety measures.