Servant-Leader

PID Anne Smarsh & Allen Aplass

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” - Robert K. Greenleaf.

Servant-Leaders share power, put the needs of others first and help people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Though the servant-leader term is just about a decade old Lions have been servant-leaders for ten decades. We serve! Always have and always will.

At the Asotin Pancake Feed

The servant leader is the first guy who shows up at your club’s pancake feed at dark thirty to get the grills going and he is likely to be the last guy scrubbing that same grill and shutting down the clubhouse after everyone else has gone.

At the Palouse Lions Club

The servant leader is the person who runs the Boy Scout Troop your club sponsors and has been churning out Eagles for years.

Allen Aplass, the Secretary Treasurer of the Walla Walla Downtown Lions Club is a servant-leader. He has championed and supported young Lions in our club and has always been on hand with his pal Lion Bill Lake to serve where needed.

Allen and Sherilyn

This afternoon Allen invited me and my home club to join him and Bill to scrub veteran’s grave stones at our town’s cemetery.  He has been working this project with Sherilyn Jacobson who is connected with the American Legion. 

Lions Caitlin, Dave and Alex. Lion Crystal is taking the pic!

Four of us showed up for a couple of hours and worked alongside Allen, Bill and Sherilyn caring for 10 grave sites and gravestones of soldiers, airman and sailors who died in the Second World War. Though just a small part of a greater project, I can honestly say I haven’t felt the heart stuff that goes along with service as strong on any other service project this year as I did on this one.  Thank you, Allen.

Ashley Burmaster, 19F’s Lion of the Year, is also a servant leader. Ashley, Secretary of the Selah Valley Lions Club, is a servant leader especially in the sense of sharing power. Although she has coordinated extremely effective projects for her Selah Valley Lions Club, she always acknowledges the leadership of others in her reports. The report she shared with me about their new club project, a Glow Run, is excerpted here - 

 Ashley is on the right!

“Selah Valley Lions Club is very active during Community Days in our small town of Selah. We start off Friday Night and set up the parade route, Mike, Cecil, Ken. This usually takes a couple hours. The next morning each of our members woke up and arrived at the Parade Staging location by 7 am. Tammy dispersed us out on the Parade route and we started to stage the Selah Community Days Parade. Lion Garry Johnson and Lion Bill Shepard both came to help. At 10am the parade went on without any problems. Ken and Cecil sold Raffle tickets for our 50/50 raffle and Ashley was in the Parade with all the members children supporting the Lions. The parade finished about 11:30am and Ashley went straight back to the pool and met up with Lauren to start checking people in for the Glow Run that was going to start at 8pm. Check-in was held at the Selah Pool from Noon to 7:59pm. Run started promptly at 8pm. We had 304 people register for our Glow Run. 287 people actually ran in the fun run. Our club brought in $7274.23 for this fun run. $2791.88 went to purchase Glow Sticks and shirts for the runners. Our club donated $448.14 to Yakima Veterans Association, $250 to the Local Young Life Group to help send them to summer camp, $125 to Ellensburg Youth Center summer trips program for students who can't afford to go on trips, $250 scholarship is being given out to Margaret Rees on May 30th. The remaining $3408.22 is being dispersed throughout the community through our projects. Lion Cecil also brought in a $200 donation from a co-worker. Thank you Club for all your work. Way to go us...”

Watching young people grow in their service is good for the heart, too.

You Guys Are Great!

Good Better

PDG Larry Carley - Leadership Chairman

Lions by definition, tradition and inclination strive to do good. Inspired Lions leaders strive to do good better. Good leaders encourage, are a good example and act selflessly without need of excessive praise or notice. Larry Carley our District's Leadership Chairman (GLT) is a good leader. His job is to put on approved training sessions for new club officers. Larry says, "There are two training sessions on the calendar - June 10, 2017 at the Troy Lions Community Center, 415 S. Main St. Troy Id., Time is 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., and June 14th. at the Selah Civic Center, 216 S. 1st St. Selah WA., Time is 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. This Training will count towards your 100% awards. All Lions are welcome to attend any of these trainings. Hope to see you there!!"

If you are in the fields already and can't break away to teach your old dog new tricks you might check out new online training from Lions International. Here's their message and links.

Help to prepare your incoming club officers by sharing new club officer training! These online modules have a brand new look. Each of the trainings will be paired with an exciting interactive webinar (more information to come). Be sure to take a look at all of the excitement here:

Club Officer Training

Club President Responsibilities

Club Secretary Responsibilities

Club Treasurer Responsibilities

Users will need to create an LLC login if they don't have one, so please navigate to the LLC page to get started.

Please be sure to forward this message to any incoming officers.

Best Regards,

Leadership Development Division

Your Club Secretary can provide you with your membership number which you will need to create the LLC (Lions Learning Center) login. I can help you get that number as well.

Do Good Better!

You Guys Are Great!!

DG Dave 

Pics, Please

When District Governor-Elect Crystal Walk visits your club next year she will continue the Serving Generations theme. In our visits this year we were amazed and delighted to find out about the different ways each club serves their towns.

Crystal will present a new video show this year when we visit called Generations of Service. Since it is the Lions Centennial Celebration Year this video will emphasize the different types of service Lions do and have performed for your communities and for the world. This new video will be more of a celebration of service than a history of Lionism.

Last year about half the clubs did a great job providing me photographs, histories and emails about what their club does. Those clubs got a kick out of seeing themselves, their names and pictures of their clubs serving their towns in the Serving Generations video. It was designed to be a feel good video and it worked.

For the clubs that were lax in providing images and histories to me I worked hard searching the internet for pics, finding stories in local newspaper online archives, culling the LCI Monthly Reports and searching Facebook member by member for material to localize the show.  Some of the shows were a little thin on the local. Several times club officers remarked that had they understood what I was doing they would have tried a bit harder to gather and send me pictures.

So, I am asking all of you to send me pictures you have taken on your cell phones of club members, snaps of the of the Lions photos you have on hand at home and pictures of your clubs serving the community. A picture of an event poster or a newspaper article works good, too.  To produce a good show I need about 40 items to choose from and usually use 20-25 images to make the video locally yours.

Speaking of Yours, we intend to leave with you as we depart the visit a DVD or a thumb drive of the last year's video and the new video so you can use it on your club's Facebook or website or show it to your friends at an event or open house.

Please send emails to liondavidwalk@gmail.com with your pictures and simple explanations of the pictures.  I 'd love the pictures by May 30 so I can stay ahead of the visitation schedule producing your club's video.

You Guys Are Great!

Ben Franklin Live!

Yakima Lions Reverend Fred Hutchinson and Dr. Ruth Bishop are relative newcomers to District 19F but they are making a great impact on the area with their Olde Yakima Letterpress Museum in Union Gap.                 

Fred started hand setting type on a family business printing press in 1953. He was six years old. In their very active retirement Fred and Ruth are bringing his old craft and the history that accompanies it to life.

I like Fred. He was the first Lion to respond to a request to advertise in our District Conference Program. He and Ruth also got a table in the lobby of the Marcus Whitman Hotel to tout the upcoming visit to Yakima by their friend Benjamin Franklin! The Ben Franklin!! Ben turned 311 this past January.  It does not surprise me that this great American scientist has flourished so long in the heart and soul of America. 

I grew up on the East Coast with a fondness for our country’s First American Founding Father, patriot, writer, diplomat, inventor and printer all wrapped up into one amazing man. I have visited his post office twice, his museum once, gloried in his writings and have stood twice in Independence Hall in Philadelphia where he and Tom and a bunch of his friends started this country. 

I am happy to invite you all on their behalf to Ben Franklin Live! at the Yakima Convention Center, 10 North 8^th Street in Yakima at 6:30 PM on Friday May 12^th. It's just $12 at the door. 

See Ben Franklin Live! with the famous and well-traveled Christopher Lowell, an internationally recognized actor/historian.

I hope my front row seat is still waiting for me. 

Cherry Festival!

Lions across our District are involved in wonderful celebrations of spring as our communities shake off winter and gather out of doors in the sunshine.

The Granger Lions Club is doing good works in preparation for their 69th Annual Granger Cherry Festival next weekend on April 28th, 29th, and 30th. Granger Lions Vice President Valdemar Valenzuela 509-830-5310 is a point of contact for the event which Lions have hosted and sponsored since 1948.

The three-day Cherry Festival centers at the city’s downtown park at Third and Main streets where carnival rides, children’s activities and food and craft vendors will be on hand beginning Friday from 6 to 9 PM. On Saturday at 11 a.m. the Cherry Festival parade starts at Roosevelt Elementary School at 405 Bailey Ave. Afterward, events will resume at the downtown park, where several bands and other acts will provide entertainment throughout the day.

A Granger family at the 2016 Fishing Derby

Bright and early on Sunday - 7 a.m. the annual fishing derby begins. Anglers will gather at the Granger Pond at Hisey Park at the corner of Main Street and State Route 223. Entry fees for the fishing contest are $7 for adults and $4 for children 12 and younger. State fishing regulations apply.

If your travel plans have you on I-82 and US 12 in the beautiful Yakima Valley head into Granger for the food and fun. The cherry trees should be in full bloom and the dinosaurs will delight you and your kids.

Support the local Lions wherever you may be.

You Guys are Great!

Thank You

Number 3 of 

The 10 Commandments of How to Get Along with People Number proclaims, 

"Praise Good Work regardless of who did it." 

My disclaimer - There's no way I can possibly even know and remember everyone who lent a hand and did good work at the 19F Spring Conference. There were too many of you. If this column leaves you out then Commandment 8 applies - I apologize promptly and also Commandment 4 - I regard you as a person of importance (even if my memory fails me.)

Crystal

Thanks and admiration to Crystal, Sam and Karen for dotting the i's and crossing the t's, ordering and selling the Purple Polo shirts, processing the registrations, paying the bills and doing the reports on the Conference. Wow!

Thanks to Derence, Crystal, Kathy, Kay, Bill, Fred, Paul, Patty and Steve for the beautiful 19F Conference Program.  

Sam, Karen, Melissa, Sunshine Jim, Kathy and Keith served up a great Fun Night Dinner at Conference. Thank you all so much!

We appreciate Ed, Darrell, Marie, A.J., the Boys, Jon, The Grangeville Wild Men and the Bunko Uproar Women for playing well with others.  

Thanks to the Prescott Lions - Mike, Sandi, Len, Sue, Chuck, Matt and Patty- for the Horseshoe Pits, The Skyrocket Wine and for being supportive Lions and good friends.

Tessa Fresco

Thanks to Allen, Ashley and Tammy and Tessa for the very sweet Peace Poster ceremony. 

We are grateful to Sarah, Vision Source Clinic of Ellensburg and Cle Elum, the Downtown Walla Walla Lions, and the Yakima West Valley Lions for stepping up to honor Marge and pay for Conference pastries and coffee.

Thanks to Fred, Ruth, Ben, Marsha, Karen, Caitlin, Darling, Tori, Steve, Viva, Kay, Ashley, Ken, Tammy and Erma for doing the lobby, the raffle, the election and the displays. 

Kudos to Ken and J.B. for preparing and bringing your Club Display Board. It was great.

Thank you Crystal, Jim, Michelle, Bill, Paul, David, Marie, Darrell, Betty, and Carol for honoring our Departed Lions with dignity and respect.

Gloria and Anne

Thank you Bob, Wanda, Steve, Larry, Gloria, Ret, Richard, Hal, Marie, Viva, Anne, Tom, Bill, Carol, Patty, Enoch, Dave and Sam for the words, the wisdom, the speeches, the presentations, the inspiration and the humor. You Guys are Great!

Thank you to all the Lions who hadn't been to Conference before and gave the Walla Walla Conference some fresh faces to look at.

Special Thanks to Alex, Carl, Brenden, Caitlin and Darling  - our youthful College Place Lions - for their stamina, strength, enthusiasm, talent and skills particularly during the Chevron Banquet.  

Thank you all of you thoughtful Lions who took time to email or actually write and mail Thank You and Congratulatory notes to me and DGE Crystal concerning  how much you enjoyed the 19F Spring Conference. Those notes buoyed up our exhausted spirits.

Now what you've all been waiting for - 

The Ten Commandments of

How to Get Along with People.

1. Keep skid chains on your tongue; always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice. How you say it counts more than what you say.

2. Make promises sparingly, and keep them faithfully, no matter what it costs.

3. Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody. Praise good work, regardless of who did it. 

4. Be interested in others, their pursuits, their work, their homes and families. Let everyone you meet, however humble, feel that you regard him as a person of importance.

5. Be cheerful. Remember, everyone is carrying some kind of a load.

6. Keep an open mind. Discuss but don’t argue. Disagree without being disagreeable.

7. Let your virtues, if you have any, speak for themselves. Discourage gossip. It is a waste of valuable time and can be extremely destructive.

8. Be careful of another’s feelings. Apologize promptly.

9. Pay no attention to ill-natured remarks about you. Simply live so that nobody will believe them.

10. Don’t be too anxious about the credit due you. Do your best, and be patient. Forget about yourself, and let others “remember.” Success is much sweeter that way.

 
                                  Dave