Md 35
District 35-O
Ponce Inlet Lions Club FL

Announcements :

UPCOMING EVENTS

June 3rd Meeting 6 PM.  Ponce Inlet Lions present a Community Town Hall event for area residents, Lions and guests.  This one might just save you some money!   Morgan Gilreath, Volusia County Property Appraiser, will return to present information about the on line system, answer questions about home ownership, homestead and other exemptions, and homestead portability.  He will also address home valuation and the appeals process.  Remember to invite your friends and neighbors ~

Lions Annual Banquet, Tuesday June 9th.  Halifax River Yacht Club.  Bill Wester Coordinator

Message from Lions President, Tom Gannaway:

Many of you have joined the Lions Club of Ponce Inlet in the last two years.  You may not know I was drafted and was a reluctant write-in candidate for President.  Upon being elected I announced that I had two goals for our club.  First, was to have fun at our meetings, introduce social functions and for our club to become an enjoyable club of which to be a member.  The second was to increase our membership by recruiting new members who both wanted to have fun and to serve the community and people in need.

I believe we have achieved both of these goals over the past two years.  Our club has become a friendlier, more social club in which all our Lions enjoy one another.  Because we are an open friendlier club in which almost all Lions both work and play together, we have increased our membership.  I believe 17 of our current membership of 41 have joined in the past two years with potentially 4 more new Lions joining in May.  You become a Lion by being invited by a Lion to join.  Lions Margaret Ann, Kassandra, Hazel and Jim Hinson in particular have done a wonderful job of asking their friends, neighbors and contacts to join.

I had a third unannounced goal to increase our charitable contributions while eliminating our annual draw of funds from our Foundation investment account.  We have substantially increased our contributions, thanks to all the Lions that pitched in to raise the funds, and this year did not have to draw funds from the Foundation.

I want to thank every Lion for their support and hard work to make these successes possible; it’s every Lion’s achievement.  I am very confident that the Lions Club of Ponce Inlet has only just begun to hit its stride.  I look forward to turning the gavel over to President-elect Margaret Ann and look forward to her leadership. A good club is going to become a great club in 2009-2010 under her leadership.

Tom Gannaway, President

Lions Club of Ponce Inlet

LIONS AT WORK - COMPLETED PROJECTS and EVENTS  

Lions Grilling for Corvette Car Show  - "Vette's at the Lighthouse Park" May 16th
A large number of Lion volunteered and cooked burgers and hot dogs to raise about $900 to help fund Lion's sight, hearing and community projects. Thanks to all who volunteered and to Jim Hinson who coordinated the event..

May 12th - LIONS NIGHT at the DAYTONA CUBS  was a gathering of area Lions Clubs to raise funds for the Conklin Center, to help multi capped individuals receive services for visual and other challenges.  It  was well attended by a large number of Ponce Inlet Lions who enjoyed a nice BBQ and an exciting game when the Daytona Cubs (14-17) snapped their three game losing streak by defeating the Tampa Yankees (13-18), 6-5 in a game that would go down to the last at bat. Thanks to Jff Follmer for coordinating this for our club.

May 6th Meeting (6 pm).  Community residents and Lions provided a good turnout for our Town Hall style meeting by Volusia Tax Reform for the program. Margaret Patchett, Executive Director, Volusia County Tax Reform, presented on our current taxation system, sources of revenue and potential changes under consideration in Volusia County, as well as recommendations for reform that the Tax Reform organization advocates. This program was open to the community and followed by the regular Lions meeting.

April 11th - 50 - 60s SOCK HOP at the Community Center.
Dining treats from the good ole days, 50s -  60s, Oldies music for dancing to twirl, twist, rock and roll to..Residents and Lions had lots of fun, good eats, and rocking to the Q2Q oldies band, as we raised hundreds of dollars to help our sight, hearing and community projects.

April 1st Meeting.  Members of the Ponce Inlet Community gathered to hear Morgan Gilreath, Volusia County Property Appraiser speak to current events at an open forum on Wednesday April 1st from 6:00 to 7:00 PM at the Ponce Inlet Community Center. 

BBQ for Arts Festival at the Lighthouse Park -  March 4th  and 15th.  Lions served hot dogs, burgers and brats and cool drinks to a large number of attendees, and earned over $800 for our sight and other projects. 20 Lions helped support this project over the two days. Conklin Center Visit. 

On February 18th, the Ponce Inlet Lions Club met at the Conklin Center for the Blind and Multihandicapped.  Lunch was served by the Conklin Center and at Noon followed by a tour of the Center Director Robert Kelly, which was very informative for new members. 

Western Night Dinner Dance Fund Raiser -  We raised over $1,300 for the Children's Camp   January 17th at the Community Center.  Thanks go to all Lions who worked and to our caring community who "sold out" this event again.
 
At Our February 4th Meeting, Mayor Tony Goudie  presented his "State of the Town" address, which was very informative with the many accomplishments and initiatives for our fine Town.  Thank You Mayor Goudie!  At the January  21st Ponce Inlet Town Council meeting,  Mayor Goudie also said  nice things about our Lions Club's  sight, hearing and community projects.

At Our January 7th night meeting.   35-O District Governor Carlos Ubinas addressed our Club with an inspiring talk.  Thank You DG Ubinas! 

TANNER PAGE BENEFIT: The October 26th, 2008 benefit raised $9,000 for Tanner Page and was a great help and encouragement to him and his family as he bravely battled cancer.  Thanks go out to all who helped, our community, Lions, Down the Hatch for the food and setting.  All for a wonderful young man and family.  UPDATE: Sadly, we received word from Tanner's family that his struggle ended January 29th, 2009 as surrounded by family, he passed peacefully to heaven.  His valiant struggle was uplifting to all, and we offer our prayers for Tanner and family.

Lions Christmas Party.  December 17th took place at the Halifax Yacth Club.  Lots of Toys were collected for Toys for Tots.  Several new members were inducted by Vice District 35-O Governor Shel Reichard.  After a nice banquet, all enjoyed singing Christmas carols led by Charlie Spitzfaden and Margaret Ann McCormick.

------------

Officers July 2008 - June 2009:
President: Tom Gannaway 
1st Vice President - Vic McClellan 
2nd Vice President - Margaret Ann McCormick 
Secretary - Carol Scherf
Treasurer - Jim Hinson             Membership - Hazel Dauksis
Lion Tamer - Claude Bird         Tail Twister - Tom Lindberg
1st Year Director - Wayne Olive   1st Year Director - Bill Wester
2nd Year Director - Bill Dauksis  2nd Year Director:Ginger VanRensselaer 
3rd Year Director - Joe Grasso    3rd Year Director - Charlie Spitzfaden

------------

Melvin Jones Fellow 2008 - Joe Grasso. 

Lion of the Year 2008 - Jim Hinson.
-------------

Summer Meeting Times - From the President: We will meet on the first Wednesday only in August and September, returning to the twice monthly meetings in October

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Activities :