Next Meeting - Tuesday, October 1, 2019, on the Mezz at Festival Foods, at 11:30 AM as usual. This is our combined Board of Directors Meeting and Business Meeting for October, and there will be things to discuss - schedule an Induction Ceremony for some new members, more discussion of the composition of the Board of Directors, given our difficulties in having enough Board members present to form a quorum for official action, more discussions on what to have for fund raising, such as raffles, Bags Tournaments and such, any new suggestions.

In 2005, the Board had eleven seats. Back when the Editor was President, shortly after the invention of electricity, the number was fifteen, and shortly thereafter International decreed that the Membership Chairman should be a Director, and the number rose to sixteen. Even with Club membership hovering around ninety, that proved a bit unwieldy, and offices were pruned here and there to reduce it to the present number, whatever that is. There was an officially recorded session once to eliminate the Lion Tamer and two or three Directors, and somewhere along the way a couple of VPs fell out of the progression, but the Editor does not recall exactly where we are now, either officially or practically. This will probably be part of the discussions at the upcoming meeting.

At our last meeting, PP PHIL INGWELL presided, in the absence of the Prez. The usual opening comments were made to a good number of Lions in attendance, along with a couple of new members and two guest speakers.

Madison Monona Lioness reported that Hy-Vee did the sorting of Stuff The Bus items and delivered them to the School Board site for us, and that they were more than willing to continue to sponsor and expand this project next year.

Past Pres. KEVIN GOKE has transferred to the Baraboo Lions Club, where several members of his family are also members.

The Club has received a request for assistance from Horizon High School, which says that they are a small non-profit assisting high school students with various special needs. They provide meals for their students and want help with the cost. This is probably a “board action” item, but members’ input would help. Information on their accreditation and other source(s) of funding would probably be helpful.

Travis Currier, local resident and member of the National Speakers Association Academy, gave a nice presentation (complete with Powerpoint) on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He asked for volunteers for moments of feeling in the minority in their own lives. The presentation sparked a good discussion about the need for diversity for our club. What is the best way to recruit new members that don't look like us? We need them, but how do we make them feel that they need us?

Jim Fletcher, Zone Chairman from Verona LC announced the next Region Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. at the new Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin (address: 5003 Tradewinds Pkwy, Madison, WI 53718). They need a head count from our Club, so if you’d like to go and haven’t indicated that at the last meeting, let Pres. DALE or Treas. SCOTT know.

Calendar for October:
• October 1 - Business/Board Meeting
• October 13 - Cabinet Meeting
• October 15 - Program Meeting
• October 15 - Mount Horeb Lions Club 62nd Charter Night Dinner
• October 30 - Region Meeting