Next Meeting - Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 3, on the Mezz at Festival Foods, at 11:30 AM as usual. What's not going to be usual is that our esteemed Tale Twister has given us a clue about the meeting. He says, “June 27th was Hellen Keller's 138th birthday. In 1925 at the Lions International Convention she said “I appeal to you Lions, you who have your sight, your hearing, you who are strong and brave and kind. Will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in this crusade against darkness?” In honor of her birthday and all she had done to promote Lionism, the Tail Twist for this upcoming meeting will be to dress like a knight. Since we are all Knights of the Blind I believe this would be a fun way to honor her legacy.”

This will be our Business Meeting for the month, and there will be updates on the Bags Tournament, The Summer Social (after the Bags Tournament, around 6 PM, on Aug. 4 at Cherokee Country Club, the Summer Raffle (sell tickets now, can't do it all at the last minute) the Scavenger Hunt on Aug. 25 (KATIE says we need volunteers - we also need info on where and to do what) and we may get first reports from attendees at Lions International Convention, who will be coming home to cool off. We understand it was 108 deg. At least two days during the Convention, which compares favorably with the 114 deg. the year your Editor was at LCI in Phoenix.

There is no truth to the report that there was an earthquake in Las Vegas a few days ago. We do know, however, from pictures on Facebook, that our outgoing District Governor JODI BURMESTER was in attendance. We await her report.

Our Club finally has its very own Vision Screening Camera, and we are on the lookout for times and places where we can put it to good use. If you are not familiar with the process, SCOTT GROVER can tell you about it. This is one MCLC project that is “hands on”. Members have clamored for this opportunity for years - put on your Lion gear, and round up some kids, and you can be right on the battle line against vision impairments. There are a lot of conditions that can be improved or prevented IF THEY CAN BE CAUGHT EARLY!

We wre working on projects for a Little Free Library on City land, to replace one that was vandalized, and also looking for opportunities at Vilas Park.

Upcoming Calendar Events:
• July 4, Deforest Lions Community Raffle
• August 4, Madison Central Lions Club Summer Bags Tournament
• August 4, Mt Horeb Lions Memorial Golf Outing
• August 11, Statewide Lions Stuff the Bus

Our speaker was Annika Konrad, PhD, a Board Member of the Wisconsin Council Of The Blind, and author of a blog TheOutlookFromHere.wordpress.com. She spoke about the problems in communication, and the isolation that they bring, for people with vision impairment. “Access” is more than just obtaining resources or help. It should involve everyone, not just the visually impaired individual, to enhance communication.

The burden for arguing for access is typically on the shoulders of the visually impaired individual and not society as a whole. What can we do? That is a question for Lions everywhere. Your Editor can testify from personal experience that if you can't see, or hear, what's going on, it is pretty difficult to be a part of it, in addition to the personal dangers that sometimes crop up. A worthwhile presentation, well done.

Sometimes in our eagerness to right some far-off wrong, or plug the hole in a distant dam, we overlook the opportunities right before us. Annika has retinitis pigmentosa. WENDI DWYER has it. Our Past President JACK HEIM has it. Our Past President DICK POMO was and is blind. We have seen the problems, we have done somethings about it, we need to keep at it.