Membership Growth Awards recognize Lions and clubs for inviting new members.  Tradition-ally, the month of October has been dedicated to inviting new members.  To encourage clubs to start and the end year strong, Lions Clubs International is now also recognizing member invitation in the month of April.  Awards are sent to club secretaries six weeks after the close of the month.

Silver & Gold Membership Growth Award Pins:  Lions that sponsor a member in either October or April receive the Silver Membership Growth Award Pin.  Lions that sponsor a member in October and April will receive both the Silver and Gold Membership Growth Award Pin.

Membership Growth Award Banner Patch:  Continuing in the 2014-15 fiscal year, clubs that add new members in April will receive the Membership Growth Award Banner Patch and a fiscal year patch.  Repeat award recipients (after FY2013-14) receive a fiscal year patch to affix below the banner patch.

Eligibility:  To be eligible to receive the awards, new member and sponsor names must be reported to International Headquarters using MyLCI between April 1 and midnight April 30, Central Standard Time.  Paper MMR’s must be received between the 1^st and 20^th of April to be processed in time.

SPOT PROJECT

The early childhood vision screening program is now called KidSight USA.  The website for the Spot project is http://www.lions-kidsightusa.org/.  It has the calendar/schedule and other information about the SPOT project.  Jane Stoll is in charge of this project.  She can be reached at 540-657-1626 or by email at mjane4@earthlink.net.

AEL WEBSITE

To learn more about our club, please visit our website:   www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/aquiaeve.  Our webmaster is Carol Byers.  She can be reached at 703-635-8411 or by email cbyers202@gmail.com.  For information on Club website, contact Brandi Bowles at 909-915-8086 or by email at brandalyn.bowles@outlook.com.

MEMBERSHIP ROSTER

Please contact Sheryl Sinche, Admin Secretary, at 540-273-7604 or by email at sinches1@verizon.net to obtain an updated 2022-2023 Membership Roster.

VOLUNTEER HOURS

Please remember to email your volunteer hours for this month to Sheryl Sinche, Admin Secretary, at 540-273-7604 or by email at sinches1@verizon.net.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP DINNER MEETINGS NO-SHOWS

The Board discussed the cost of no-shows at our monthly general membership dinner meetings.  Once we provide Jennifer Belcher, the Chef/Caterer for our meetings, with a head count from our telephone polling, we are required to pay for the dinners, whether or not the member shows up.  To save the club from paying for uneaten dinners, we must be more conscientious about this little housekeeping chore.  We can cancel a meal up to two days before the dinner meeting, i.e., Tuesday evening.  If you have RSVP’d and events beyond your control prevent your attendance, if possible, please contact Sheryl Sinche at 540-273-7604, as she is responsible for contacting the Clubhouse.

ALERT:  POTOMAC COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN (CFC) #

The Aquia Evening Lions Club is now listed with the Potomac CFC.  Our number is 99070.  Please let your family and friends, who are federal employees, know so they might donate to our charity.

EMPOWER HOUSE

For those of you who are new to the Club, we support Empower House, a shelter for abused women.  Donations are collected monthly to purchase groceries for those at the shelter.  Empower House provides education and training for volunteers to assist the women and their children at the shelter.   If you would like to volunteer, or if you need more information, please contact Alma Johnson at 540-659-4811 or by email at tailhookboater1@verizon.net.

AQUIA EVENING LIONS (AEL) FACEBOOK PAGE

Our Club has a page on Facebook (FB) at www.facebook.com/AquiaEveningLions.  As you may know, FB is a social networking site that’s great for finding old friends and keeping up with

current friends and acquaintances.  Lions International has a very strong presence on FB and uses it very well for PR purposes.  Chris Hilditch of the Stafford, England Lions, the club we are

twinning with, is also a FB friend.  This is the link to their Club’s website:  http://www.staffordlions.co.uk/.

It's a great way to reach out to the community and publicize our events in a very easy way.  For example, once a new entry (reminders of our events, photos, videos, etc.) is posted on our page, it will automatically feed that entry to everyone who is a "fan" of our page.  You can easily let your friends know what's going on in our Club, and they can see what we do.  It also will, hopefully, help in recruiting new membership.  For more information, please contact Brandi Bowles at 909-915-8086 or by email at brandalyn.bowles@outlook.com with any questions or comments about our Facebook page.

HEAD START FOOD COLLECTION PROJECT

The Aquia Harbour Evening Lions Board has voted to support, on a monthly basis, the food bank at the Head Start office located off Route 17.  Food is distributed only on an emergency as-needed basis.  They receive no funding for the food bank, relying instead on the generosity of the community.  Each month, the Club will bring requested food items to the general membership meeting for delivery to the food bank.  Sheryl Sinche and Mary Walter will deliver to the food bank.

DISTRICT 24-L LEADING LIONS LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM

District Governor Donalda Lovelace would like for the Lions of Virginia District 24-L to take advantage of a new online leadership training program.  This training is being offered to you online.  Those of you who would like to take future leadership roles in our club, our zone, or our district are encouraged to take advantage of this training in the comfort of your home.  This training will enable

you to be better equipped to take action once you are in a leadership position.  After completing these classes, this training will assist you in advancing our organization in a positive way.
To enroll, please log on to the Lions Learning Center using this Link:

http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/member-center/leadership-development/lions-learning-center/index.php

Once you are in the Learning Center, please register. You can view the online tutorial that will guide you through this process at:  http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/member-center/leadership-development/news-train-IIc-video.php

Once you are registered, you can select from the Lions curriculum. There are three levels, based on four competencies, and 18 courses.

Level 1:  Leading Lion Basic Degree:  Introduction to Lions Leadership:  Writing your Personal Mission Statement.  Setting Goals.  Delegation.  Effective Listening.  Managing Meetings.

Level 2:  Member Motivation:  Effective Teams. Decisionmaking.  Creativity.  Promoting Innovation.  Public Speaking.

Level 3:  Leading Lion Graduate Degree:  Coaching.  Managing Change.  Conflict Resolution. Valuing Member Diversity.  Providing Community Service.  Public Relations.

Once you have completed the courses for a particular level, you will be awarded a certificate for that level. Upon completion of all three levels, you will be awarded your DEGREE as a LEADING Lion.  When you have completed a course, you need to SAVE your PROFILE REPORT indicating the COMPLETED STATUS of a course.  Please email your profile report to Brandi Bowles, Club President, at 909-915-8086 or by email at brandalyn.bowles@outlook.com.

LCI LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WEBINARS

If you have the Internet, you can participate online in the LCI Webinars.  Register online for the next Webinar for various training opportunities.  If you know a fellow Lion that would be interested, please feel free to pass this information along!  We hope to have you and fellow Lions participate in our Webinars.  The website is:  www.lionsclubs.org/EN/member-center/leadership-development/

VOLUNTEER TO WORK AT THE LIONS RECYCLING CENTER

Most Americans are very fortunate to be able to purchase a new pair of glasses within a few hours for about $100.  In many other countries around the world, however, glasses are simply

rare and too costly for the average person.  The effects can be devastating and can force adults into unemployment and poverty, and poor eyesight that is left untreated can lead to blindness.

According to the World Health Organization, the vision of 500 million people could be improved with a pair of eyeglasses!  Since its inception in 1998, the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center of Northern Virginia has sent over 600,000 pairs of glasses to vision-impaired people around

the globe.  This means that over 600,000 children, with corrected vision, can now read in school and, likewise, adults, with corrected vision, can lead normal, productive lives.

Please be a part of the mission to improve the lives of people around the world -- donate your time and/or donate glasses to those in need.  No previous experience is necessary as they train all

volunteers when you get there.  Our Club works at the Eyeglass Recycling Center at Lake of the Woods on the first Wednesday of each month.  The work consists of simply sorting, cleaning,

and reading the prescription of donated glasses so they can be appropriately labeled.  Please join us.  We have a lot of fun and it’s personally rewarding to know that you’re helping to improve someone’s vision!

For more information, please contact Susan Schindler, Chair of our Sight Committee, at 703-303-6419 or by email at susanusmc2@aol.com.

EYEGLASS COLLECTION LOCATIONS

Used eyeglasses have been dwindling at the State level, and many requests are going unmet.  Please look around your home for unused glasses and ask your neighbors for their old glasses that are not being used.  Our Club has six locations for eyeglass recycling:

--- Box on the dais at the General Membership meetings

--- Aquia Harbour Club House

--- Aquia Harbour Information Center

--- John M. Porter Memorial Library-Parkway Boulevard (the eyeglass recycling box is in the corner, next to the copy room)

--- Retina Group of Washington, 200 Executive Center Parkway, Suite 102, Fredericksburg, VA

VISITATIONS

We are in District 24-L, Southeast Region, Zone F.  To qualify for a visitation award, members must visit each Club in our Zone between the period of July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 and each visitation team must consist of at least two or more Lions.  The other clubs in our Zone are the Aquia Harbour Host, Fredericksburg Host, Greater Falls Run, Stafford County, Westmoreland, Stafford Regional LEOs, Clifton Forge High School LEOs, and Stafford Middle School LEOs Clubs.  We must visit the 5 Lions Clubs in our Zone (not LEOs) plus other clubs anywhere in the world.  Members joining after April 1, 2024 are not required to make a visitation.

Qualifying visitations include visits to any official dinner meeting of another Club, District Conferences, State & International Conventions, District Visitation and Awards, and Zone meetings, and any fundraisers or scheduled service projects.  These events provide opportunities to promote fellowship, share ideas, and socialize with fellow Lions.

We need 12 official visits to Lions Clubs anywhere in the world to get a Participation Award.  The Governor’s Award goes to a small and a large Club that have the most visitations.  For more information, please contact Sally Kenavan, the Visitation chair, at 540-659-1399 or by email at sallykenavan1108@gmail.com.

Meets on the 1^st& 3^rd Thursday

Aquia Harbour Yacht Club

Social @ 6:45pm; Dinner @ 7:18pm

Contact:  Ron Rempert, 860-460-1329

Email:  ronald.j.rempert@gmail.com

FREDERICKSBURG HOST LIONS CLUB

Meets 2nd & 4th Thursday @ 5:30pm

Fredericksburg Country Club

11031 Tidewater Trail, Fredericksburg, VA

Contact: Elizabeth Knoxville, 540-448-1474

Email:  mknoxville@comcast.net

GREATER FALLS RUN

Meets on 2^nd & 4^th Tuesday

IHOP Restaurant

I-95 & Rt. 17 (exit 133), Fredericksburg, VA

Social @ 11:30am, Lunch @ 12:00pm

Contact:  Leslie Edenton, 703-975-5408

Email: lmedenton@gmail.com

Meets on the 3^rd Tuesday

6 Bears & A Goat

1140 Inernational Parkway

Social @ 6:30pm; Dinner @ 7:00pm

Contact:  Karen Bierne-Flint, 973-800-9535

Email:  biernekf@yahoo.com

WESTMORELAND LIONS CLUB

Meets 3rd Tuesday @ 6:30pm

American Legion Post 252

14576 Kings Highway, Montross, VA

Contact: Randy Hudson, 804-493-1720

STAFFORD REGIONAL LEO CLUB

LEO Club Advisor – Lion Alexis Scott

Email:  marchinghawk2019@yahoo.com

540-656-6018

COLONIAL FORGE HIGH SCHOOL

LEO CLUB

550 Courthouse Road, Stafford, VA 22554

Faculty Advisor:  Kelly Greco

LEO Club Advisor - Lion Sue Schaefer

Email:  kisianya@aol.com; 540-752-1534

BIRTHDAYS!