Getting Our Youth Involved

August is Engaging Our Youth month.  More specific, August 8-14 is Worldwide Week of Service to Youth.  This week is dedicated to mentoring, empowering, and engaging youth through community service and is designed to inspire the next generation of volunteers.

Most clubs are involved in youth programs throughout the year from helping at a youth event to teaching bicycle safety to cleaning gardens.

August is a time to host a project that engages youth in your community.  It's not too late to sponsor a Peace Poster contest or organize a new Leo Club or just invite youth to serve alongside you in a hands-on project.  The Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions club offers free coffee and pastries as parade participants wait in the staging area.  The Boy Scouts take the thermos of coffee and pastries around to them.

Here's some more ideas:

1. Organize a youth forum to highlight topics that youth have identified as critical community issues.
2. Designate a portion of club funds to be used for youth-led service projects.
3. Implement the Youth Camp & Exchange Program in your district.
4. Establish a mentor project with tech-savvy youth to teach older adults technology skills.
5. Organize a job fair to help young people identify their career goals.

We Serve!

#Lions100

Getting Your Fingernails Dirty

Ballyhoo Lions Club recently finished a project with the school children (Engaging Our Youth). They cleaned and graded their oriental garden.  This was an 8-hour community service project.

#Lions100

We Serve!

Legacy Projects in MD49A

It's exciting to see what legacy projects clubs are coming up with in MD49!   So far the following clubs have reported legacy projects:

Level 1:  Raising your Community Visibility

• Eagle River Sleeping Lady Mountain Lions has selected their annual Easter Egg Hunt that the town looks forward to each year.  
• Copper River Basin Lions has selected two situations where they provided financial assistance for eye exams and eyeglasses to two individuals.  
• Soldotna planted a tree.
• Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions planted a tree.

Level 2:  Provide a Community Gift

• Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions brought back the USS Juneau Presentation Silver where it resides at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.
• Eagle River Sleeping Lady Mountain Lions selected their annual Valentine Dinner Scholarship event.  

Level 3:  Make a Community Impact

• Eagle River Sleeping Lady Mountain Lions selected their Tree of Giving over Christmas.  

As you can see, Legacy projects come in all forms.  What you need to remember when making your selection is that Legacy projects are visible gifts you make to your community that commemorate our Centennial and create a lasting legacy of your service contributions.  Your Legacy project will serve as a reminder of just how important your club is to the community.

Promote Your Legacy Project: Your Legacy Project is an opportunity to showcase your project and club to the community. These tips can help you maximize this great PR opportunity:

• Dedication Ceremony:  Host a dedication or ribboncutting ceremony and invite your community and media to attend. 
• Social Media:  Share your project on social media and ask your community to share photos at the site of your Legacy Project. Use the hashtag #Lions100 on all your Centennial posts. 
• Local Media:  Send out a press release or ask a reporter to help tell your story. 

Report Your Legacy Project:  Be sure to report your Legacy Project using the MyLCI Service Activity Report, under the Community and Culture activity type. Clubs can earn a special banner patch, and select projects will be featured on the LCI website, social media and LION Magazine.

Here's some ideas for each level to get you started:

Level 1:
Raise Your Community Visibility 

• Post new Lions signs 
• Donate a park bench 
• Dedicate a statue 
• Sponsor a fountain in a local park 

Level 2:
Provide a Community Gift

• Refurbish a park or playground 
• Build a footbridge over a busy road 
• Fund resources for the visually impaired 
• Donate a vehicle to a community organization

Level 3:
Make a Community Impact

• Build a clinic 
• Expand a library or school 
• Develop a training center 
• Equip an area hospital

#Lions100

We Serve!

A Crimson King for the VFW

Gardening is good for what ails you.  Dirt under the fingernails.  A sore back.  It's all good.

Today a few of us gathered for some laughs, a good time, and planted a tree at the local VFW/American Legion Post while at it!  

Glacier Gardens donated this exceptional 8' Crimson King Maple tree so we could honor our veterans.  

Lion Donna Hurley spearheaded this project along with Lion Tom Dawson who's a member of the Post.

This is a Centennial Legacy Project, Level 1!  #Lions100

#Lions100, Protecting our Environment

We Serve!

Lion Nancy Norton

Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club

Fish Fish and More Fish!

The Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.... The rainbow being the Alaska Seafood Company in Juneau and the pot of gold being fish and wild game that had been processed but never claimed.

Pastor Tari receiving a week's supply.

Every year tourists come to Juneau and fish and hunt but often leave their sport-caught fish and wild game behind.

Their loss is the Mendenhall Flying Lions gain.

This season we received 40 cases of canned fish and approximately 1,500 pounds of frozen fish and wild game that was re-distributed to food pantries around town.

Recipients of our distribution included Southeast Alaska Food Bank, Helping Hands food pantry, The Glory Hole (kitchen for the homeless), and Shepherd of the Valley Church food pantry.

For the past eight weeks, two Lions would load up frozen fish and deliver it in time for that week's pantry hours.

Thank you Lions Tom Dawson and Hari Dev Khalsa for your dedication and efforts to feed the hungry.  #Lions100, Feeding the Hungry

We Serve!
Lion Nancy Norton
Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions