Next Meeting- Tuesday, May 5, 11:00 AM or thereabouts, in the new digital, on-line ZOOM format. Presumably the technical details will follow, from one of our internet wizards. (We may have to add a position or two to our Board of Directors if this keeps up - First Wizard, Second Wizard, or whatever.)

This will be a business meeting, and while most business items these days consist of cancellation lists, there no doubt will be other items, because We Serve, and there are still people and places that need our help in one way or another.

A reminder from TailTwister BECKY - Our Assignment: One sentence and email to Becky before the meeting: what positive change have you made that you will continue when we are allowed to socialize? Also: one thing that no one else knows about you … send to: rlfraire@gmail.com.

Man of Many Hats SCOTT GROVER, in cooperation with Pres. DALE, recently put out an all-members email “How Are You Doing?” In response, we were happy to hear from members, including some who for one reason or another are not now the familiar faces we once knew, that all who replied were doing well, under the circumstances. Circumstances…. We all know the big one, but all of us as individuals have “times of our life,” not always fun and games. Whatever, we’ve heard, and you’ve read some messages from Lions we haven’t seen in a while, and it’s been very welcome. Any of you that got the original inquiry and haven’t replied, get on the horn and let’s hear from everyone. Watch for the Tech Bulletins to join our “virtual meetings.” (We are all “virtuous.” This time we are called upon to be “virtual.”)

Which brings us to the subject of Virtual Meetings. As in all else in life, some of us play the computer like a piano and do all sorts of communicating that did not exist just a few years ago. Some of us are stumbling, technically, into the 21st Century, with differing results. As one who barely caught the Last Car to the Future when the Electronic Age exploded, the Editor says “come on in, there’s still plenty of room.” Just push a few buttons, lose the signal a few times, whatever. This calamity may in the end be bringing us closer together.

Our last meeting, virtual, gave us a wonderful opportunity to hear more about how the River Food Pantry is doing in these trying times. Charles McLimans joined us reminding us of all that River Food does, as well as opportunities to assist them. Provided we weren’t part of the “protected” class (old farts).

The following is from Wisconsin Lions Foundation:

With the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation, we wanted to share with you some actions the Foundation and Camp have been, and will be, taking to protect our campers and staff.

1. Our offices are open via email and phone to provide the services we have always provided along with planning for summer camp. However, our physical facility is currently closed to visitors until further notice.

2. Our summer camp project will not start until June 8. Our two weeks of youth with diabetes has been changed to a virtual camp and so with those two weeks not being used, we’ve moved our summer camp back. The current schedule can be found at: http://www.wisconsinlionscamp.com/summer-camp/summer-schedule/. The decision to run camp will be a rolling one - we’ll look at June weeks in May, July weeks in June and so on. As we make those decisions, we will keep you updated.

3. The camp facility will be closed to all tours, visits, Visitor Day tours, and Lions Clubs meetings this summer. If we are allowed to have campers at camp, we need to protect them from exposure as much as possible. We also want to protect those who wish to visit us. We are working on a virtual tour and some other on-line options. While it’s not ideal, we need to keep the health and safety of all in mind.

4. While we understand that many club fundraisers have been cancelled or postponed, we are still operating and appreciate the donations and other funds we have received. There are still many expenses that will need to be covered and while we work on alternative sources of funding, we will continue to need your support to ensure on-going operation of our projects.

5. At this time, the following Foundation fundraisers are still on as scheduled: Kids for Camp Raffle, Birch-Sturm Golf Outing and Hustle S’more. As the dates for the events draw closer, we will make final decisions regarding these events using the best information we have at the time.

We will continue to update clubs of major changes via email. For up-to-date changes and information, please check our websites at wlf.info and wisconsinlionscamp.com as well as our Facebook pages. We appreciate all of your support as we move forward in these unknown times to continue fulfilling our mission: Reaching, Touching and Improving Lives.

For questions or more information please contact Evett Hartvig, Executive Director at ehartvig@wlf.info or Andrea Yenter, Camp Director at ayenter@wisconsinlionscamp.com.

Par..3 above cancels our plan to visit Lions Camp in person this August. “Wait ‘til next year.”