Plano Early Lions Roar!

Lion Karen Marks and I went to the Plano Relief Nursery Brunch this morning. It was a event recognizing the efforts of the various volunteers who have helped the Plano Relief Nursery get going. The featured speaker was State Representative Jerry Madden, who gave a short (!) and very informative talk about the mission of the Relief Nursery and how it fits into his efforts to reduce crime (and the associated expenses of criminal behavior) in the state of Texas.

Lion Karen provided me with this photo of the event. (Note to Tail-twister, there is a Lion in this photo not wearing a Lion’s vest or T-shirt.)

Lions Karen and Howard get to meet Rep. Jerry Madden

The next major fund-raising event for the Plano Relief Nursery is the Plano Fun Ride on August 7th, 2010. For details, see the Plano Fun Ride site.

It was my pleasure to attend the District 2X-1 Convention, along with several other members of our club.

I didn’t get to go to all of the sessions that I wanted to, but I did get to participate in the Computer seminar given by Lion PDG Frank Pickens and his co-chair, Lion Mahindra. These Lions will be continuing in the role of District 2X-1 IT Co-Chairs.

Lion Hillary Landrum, this year’s newsletter editor, gave a short presentation on submission of event notifications to the newsletter. She admonished everyone to remember to submit enough details that people could make some sense of what the event is about.

Lion Renee Francey will be newsletter editor next year, and she mentioned that anyone submitting a photo needs to include a meaningful caption, and at least the names of everyone in the photo — along with a paragraph or two regarding what the photo is about.

Lion Dan Busdieker, the incoming District Governor, spoke briefly to the group, and gave words of encouragement to the group.

Lion John McGinnis spoke briefly about use of Twitter by Lions. I’m not sure I would consider Twitter all that useful, especially for a Lions club that has a lot of computerphobes…

After the Computer seminar, there was a memorial service for Lions that had passed in the prior year.

We had a great lunch, with Past International President Ebb Grindstaff as the keynote speaker.

We found out the next day that Lion Ken Gleason won the election to 2nd Vice District Governor. Congratulations, Lion Ken!

On St. Patrick’s Day, the Plano Early Lions hosted the magic show featuring performer CJ Johnson at the Courtyard Theater in downtown Plano. These photos are from the first show (Mr. Johnson did a 6pm and an 8pm show for us).

We had several members turn out to help greet the patrons who supported us with this very successful fund-raiser.

Lions Mike and DeAnne greet those attending the 6PM performance and collect their tickets.
	Young lady thrust through the mirror!
A couple of audience members help C.J. Johnson with a card trick.
	This audience member caught the attention of our photographer (me). Love that hair!
Many Lions helped make this a successful event.

Marek, Nancy Claire Geiger McConnell

Passed away on February 20th in Plano, TX. Born January 2nd, 1938 in Fort Wayne, IN to Rev. Leroy and Violet Rush Geiger. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband’s parents, her sister Gladys Geiger Price, and her former husband Jerry McConnell. She is survived by her husband, Lion Bill Marek, her stepson, Lion Steve Marek, her son Scott McConnell and his wife, two grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

After graduating from North Central College, Naperville, IL, in 1959, Nancy Marek taught elementary school in Park Ridge, IL. She then taught in US Department of Defense schools on Okinawa for three years and in Wurzburg, Germany for two years. She taught Kindergarten through Fourth grade in a variety of places. Nancy earned her MA degree from Texas Woman’s University in December 1991, and married Lion Bill Marek on January 15th, 1994. She was honored with a lifetime membership in the State of Texas PTA while teaching at Wells Elementary in Plano. She was a member of the Plano Retired Teachers Association and traveled for the United Church of Christ national office as a consultant for churches in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 13th at 2:00 pm at St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church, UCC, 6464 East Lovers Lane, Dallas, TX 75214, with reception in Fellowship Hall to follow. Memorials may be sent in her name to the Memorial Fund at St. Paul’s.

Posted by Lion Howard Harkness, Immediate Past President, Plano Early Lions.

I’m live-blogging this morning from Grand Prairie, where the Grand Prairie Host Lions are hosting the District 2X-1 Midwinter Conference. I am joined here by Lions Ken, Cyndie, Mike, Dee, and Don. Unfortunately, Lion Andrew wasn’t able to make it.

The conference started with a very moving presentation on the Snowball Express. I regret that I wasn’t able to be there, but Lion Ken and Lion Cyndie were, and they got their pictures prominently displayed in the presentation. I’m just going to have to arrange to take the time off to do this next December.

Next on the agenda was a presentation by International Director Beverly Stebbins (2E-2), also on the Snowball Express.

After the announcements, and distribution of awards by PDG Alic Conway, we had the student speakers contest. I won’t know the results until after lunch, but I felt like Sam Scott was a powerful contender. I’ll follow up on this entry this afternoon, after I learn who the winners are, and I will also add some photos of the participants.

UPDATE: Sam took first place again this year. Here are some photos of the event.

	Sam studying his speech before the contest.
	The Panel of Judges.
	Photo-op of the Student Speakers Contest Chairman and the 6 contestants at the end of the presentations. Photos were not permitted during the contest.
	After the awards presentation, Sam was invited to give his 1st-place-winning speech to the entire conference.

Snowball Express was a unique experience that I and a number of other lions from Plano Early Lions and other Lions clubs had the pleasure of participating in. Snowball Express is a group that brings together the children of service members who have lost their lives in the service of our county. The children are shown a good time, provided the opportunity to talk and interact with other children who have had similar experiences, and get chance to see how much we appreciate them for the sacrifice their parnet made.

This year the 5 day experience was held in Dallas. That first day there were people from all different lions clubs, various other service organizations, and local military personnel all there for one purpose to make their trip a easy and painless as possible. We works to get the families settled into their hotels, to ensure that family’s had their luggage and any other belongings. The family’s were placed on buses that took them to three down-town hotels and the buses were escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders who are a group of motorcyclist enthusiasts who ride for any number of military events.

On Saturday after the Plano Parade, I worked with a number of other lions serving lunch to the families at the the new Cowboy’s Stadium. Here the kids got to interact and get autographs from a number of NFL players. The also got to play a number of games including throwing the football with former and current NFL players, various bounce houses, and just having a great deal of fun. There was also entertainment from a number of country singers as well as the Lt. Dan band which was formed by Gary Sinise who played Lt. Dan in the movie Forrest Gump and worked through the USO to put on shows for our troops.

But the thing that stuck with me the most was talking to a family who came in shirts with a picture of the father they lost in Iraq. The son told me how glad he was to attend Snowball Express because he got to meet people who understood his loss and find men who were willing to play catch with him. This really brought home to me the reason for Snowball Express and cemented my desire to assist again when Snowball Express is hosted in Ft. Worth next year.

Click here to see pictures

Here are some photos of the Christmas Parade.

I’ll add more when I get them!

Lion PDG Carolyn Dorman spoke at the September 5th meeting about the upcoming Snowball Express IV to be held in Dallas December 9th-13th.  Snowball Express is a service project for the emotional support of children who have lost a parent in military service since 9/11. There are 9 hotels involved in this project, all in downtown Dallas. We expect at least 2000 participants in this year’s activities.

If you wish to volunteer, see the PELC Roar! newsletter for details.

Our Club unanimously endorses Lion Ken Gleason as a candidate for Lions 2X1 2nd Vice District Governor.  For his brochure, we took this picture, with Lion Ken saying “I Want You…to Vote for me”.

We had really good attendance at our club meeting on August 15th, probably from many members wanting to see and hear from State Student Speaker Contest Winner Sam Scott.

Here is Sam presenting his winning speech, “Drug Abuse – Paradise Lost”, which he presented successfully at the Club, District, and State level competitions, earning scholarships totaling $4000.  And since he was only a junior, he gets to try again this year, hopefully to add to his scholarship winnings.