April 2016 Lions Pen
Board Elections
Board elections for FY 2016-2017 will be held on Monday, April 11. If you are feeling a little left out and you would like to be more involved in running our club, show up Monday and let us know. We are always looking for new faces for the board. We also need someone to step up to the 1st VP position. This person would be in training for the position of President the following year.
Scholarships
Each year we give out $1000 scholarships to one female and one male RAHS student from Lauderdale or Falcon Heights. If you know of a senior from either city who might qualify, encourage them to apply through RAHS. Member’s children are eligible since we are not involved in the selection process.
Harvest Pack
The Outreach Team is organizing another outreach project – Harvest Pack – tentatively planned for Thursday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. Harvest Pack (harvestpack.org) is modelled after FMSC with these differences: 1) organizations that pack the meals also pay for the food, 2) Harvest Pack brings the packing to us, and 3) some of the food is distributed locally in partnership with VEAP. We approved up to $460 for packing 2000 meals on a trial basis. Stay tuned for more details.
Twin Cities Kids in Need Resource Center Backpack Building
We had so much fun with the Backpack Building on February 27 that we plan to do it again on
Saturday, May 14 from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm! Sign up here: signupgenius.com.
Prior to that date, help is also needed to unpack cases of supplies needed to set up a pick line for the build dates. If you want to help with that, let Ken know. Our group picture from the February 27 backpack build made it into the 5M-6 newsletter this month.
March Social Meeting:
Karyssa Jackson, Community Outreach and Engagement Group, Metro Transit Customer Services & Marketing Division, Metro Transit, talked to the Lions on Monday, March 28 about the new ‘A’ Line Bus Rapid Transit program, which will start running June 11. The A Line busses will run along Snelling, turn onto Ford Parkway and then 46th Street. This is the same as the current 84 Route, which will run less frequently. The A Line will run every 10 minutes (no schedules necessary!) and will be up to 25% faster. Why? The busses will stop less often, allow customers to board faster and stop at fewer red lights.
For more information about stations, security, bus descriptions, and to see several interesting Metro Transit videos, check out: metrotransit.org/a-line. Karyssa emailed after the presentation to share a recent (excellent!) video created by North Suburban Beat that talks about A Line: vimeo.com. She told us to feel free to call her with questions: Karyssa.Jackson@metrotransit.org.
Lion Kris Grangaard
April Social Meeting:
Steve Barrett (Yes, he's Lion Joe’s son!) is a Resident Construction Engineer for the Metro Division of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. In his position he serves as the “Engineer of Record” for 20-25 MnDOT construction projects each year. This involves planning construction staging, closures, and contract time, writing specifications, overseeing field inspection, resolving site and schedule changes, and a host of coordination and communication responsibilities. Some recent projects that Steve has overseen include: I-35E MnPASS in St Paul, TH 100 in St. Louis Park, I-694/Snelling/TH 10 Interchange in Arden Hills, and the I-35W Crosstown Commons project in Minneapolis and Richfield.
Steve will share his experiences on past projects and discuss plans for future work. He will be happy to answer any questions you have about MnDOT road construction.
Lion Kris Grangaard
30th Anniversary Celebration Countdown
Summary from the Lions 30th Anniversary Planning Team:
The Team met and, in order to accommodate many of the suggestions that have been generously offered, decided on three celebratory events, the first with an internal focus, and the others focused externally:
First, a Celebration Party/Picnic for Lions and families, and former club members, on May 23, 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Community Park Building and Grounds. The goal is to Celebrate, Socialize, Eat, and Play! After numerous, lengthy speeches, we will eat brats, visit, play games, listen to 80s music, and preview the photo display to be shown at the later external events.
Second and third, enhanced Celebratory Lions Presence at the Falcon Heights Ice Cream Social (July 28, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at FH Community Park) and at the Lauderdale Mid-August Event (date and format are pending, at Lauderdale Community Park).
The goal at these established events is to be highly visible and publicly celebrate Falcon Heights - Lauderdale Lions Club Service! At the Lions table(s), many Lions can show how Lions serve, supported with a banner, photo display, pamphlets to distribute (identifying service projects/fund recipients), show-and-tell with dictionaries, a Christmas tree, and possibly giveaway food or Lions logo’d items. Lions can Celebrate Service with the community. If they are so moved, people can take or fill out applications to join the Lions.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with the festivities before they happen, please contact Kris Grangaard (ktbd4@comcast.net or 651-647-4419). There will be plenty of planning to do! Our hope is that all the Lions can attend the events, participate, and have fun!
Lion Kris Grangaard
Gaga Ball, Anyone?
Brooke Moseley, 1128 Autumn St., sent us this request:
“For my Girl Scout Gold Award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout can receive, I am building a Gaga Ball Court at FHES. Gaga Ball is a game kind of similar to Four Square, but played in a wooden enclosure. One benefit of gaga ball is that anyone can play because there are no teams and the rules are simple enough for kids to easily understand. It also encourages exercise and socialization. The wooden enclosure is what I will be building, along with flooring inside of it. It is octagonal with a 20 foot diameter. The total cost to buy materials and build it would be about $1600, assuming that we can get a donation for the wood. I would welcome your potential donation to help pay for asphalt to be laid as the flooring and to help buy the brackets used to hold the wood together. I'm hoping to start building towards the end of April or early May. I'll send pictures of the finished project. Here is an example of a gaga ball court:”
We contributed $300 toward this project.
Service Opportunity
Approximately 1,000 blind and visually impaired people from across the United States and several foreign countries are coming to Minneapolis for the 2016 American Council of the Blind conference. Over 350 meetings, workshops, seminars, tours and social events will pack convention week. A fantastic exhibit area will include all kinds of technology, products and services for people who are blind and visually impaired. Attendees will begin arriving on Thursday, June 30, and the last weary visitors will depart on Sunday, July 10.
Here are some of the things you and your group can do to help:
- Welcome people to Minneapolis at the airport
- Act as ushers in general sessions
- Volunteer at the ACB Fundraising Walk (Sunday morning, July 3rd)
- Volunteer at the ACB Auction (Wednesday evening, July 6th)
- Help people locate booths in the exhibit hall
- Act as guides on tours and between meeting rooms
THE SCHEDULE:
- Airport: June 30th through July 3rd and July 8th through July 10th.
- The Hyatt Regency, 1300 Nicollet Mall: Every day June 30th through July 10th.
Volunteers should be able to work a three to four hour shift. See Ken for details.
MINNESOTA LIONS EYEGLASS RECYCLING CENTER, INC
They posted this request in the District newsletter: “We do NOT recycle any eyeglass cases, broken plastic frames or loose lenses. Please do not wrap each pair of glasses in paper or plastic bags of any kind. It only makes more work for you (and us).”
We Serve
We made a $460 donation to Harvest Pack in lieu of our usual Loaves and Fishes contribution.
We contributed $300 toward the cost of materials for Brooke Moseley’s Gaga Ball Court.
We authorized spending up to $350 for the purchase of souvenir aluminum water bottles.
Remember:
April 11, 6:30 p.m. - Board meeting, FH Community Park
April 21, 6:30 p.m. - Harvest Pack (tentative)
April 25, 6:30 p.m. - Social meeting, FH Community Park
May 9, 6:30 p.m. - Board meeting, FH Community Park
May 14, 9:30 a.m. – TC Kids in Need Backpack Build
May 23, 5:30 p.m. – Family picnic, FH Community Park
