USS Juneau Presentation Silver: Legacy Project

Many many years ago, the children of Juneau, Alaska, and other locals, saved their lunch money in order to purchase a silver punch bowl to present to the USS Juneau.

Engraved Silver Punch Bowl

The Presentation Silver was put into storage before the USS Juneau was sent to war in 1942 and was only recently located with the help of Senator Lisa Murkowski, the U.S. Navy, and Lion Donna Hurley of the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club.

The Presentation Silver

It is now on loan from the U.S. Navy and has come home to rest where it will be on display at the City Museum for the next ten years.   The Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club and the City Museum had an "Unveiling Reception" recently for Alaska Legislators and local dignitaries and a second reception open to the public.

How it all began:  

When Lion Donna Hurley started this journey many years ago.... this journey being her interest in the USS Juneau.... I suspect she didn't have any idea where it was going to take her.... All it took was for one person to ask, "whatever happened to the Silver Punch Bowl?" and this project was born.  It was like a starfish with many different legs.  It just kept growing.

First there was the USS Juneau Remembrance Ceremony in November on the docks of Juneau.  It was a blustery day when we honored and gave respect to the 697 sailors and crew that perished at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942 when a Japanese torpedo hit the USS Juneau CL-52 and sunk it.  LCDR Richard Halbig told the story of the day the USS Juneau was torpedoed and sunk HERE.

The Empire wrote the first article, USS Juneau Returns Home.  From there, the story has gone global. Google USS Juneau and see what you find.

We started advertising the Unveiling Ceremony on February 8.

Captain Eugene Bailey and his wife, Juanita, arrived in town on February 11 to join in the festivities. Captain Bailey was the Captain in 1996 on the third ship named USS Juneau.  He was in Juneau in 1987 when the USS Juneau Memorial was dedicated.

Captain Bailey and his wife, Juanita

Then there was the social at the Buoy Deck for active military and veterans.  We were honored to have International Director Lewis Quinn in attendance where he addressed the military.  It was a great evening of remembering and making new friends.

International Director Lewis Quinn

Then the Unveiling of the Presentation Silver.  First was a private reception for legislators, city assembly, and other dignitaries.  Parents brought their children as this was a piece of history.  Representative Gruenberg talked about his involvement in 1987 when we had the first USS Juneau Memorial service.  More remembering that awful day on November 13, 1942 when the Japanese torpedoed the USS Juneau and sunk it.  After eight days of being in shark-infested water, only ten survived before being rescued.

 

And, last, was the reception we held for the public on Valentines Day, February 14.

The Story has been told.  The Presentation Silver has been shown.  Juneau has a big piece of its history back home.  #Lions100 Legacy Project

Lion Nancy Norton
Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions

Lunch at the Glory Hole

As part of the World Wide Week of Service, Fight Hunger and Poverty, the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions provided and served lunch at our local emergency shelter.

Lions Tom Dawson, Mukhya and Hari Dev Khalsa, and Donna Hurley

Lion Donna Hurley was the lead on this project and did a super job!  Our menu was simple but delicious:  baked King Salmon, balsamic rice, peas, Hawaiian rolls, and applesauce and peaches for dessert.  

Lion Tommy Dawson

A huge thank you to Jerry's Meats for giving us a good discount on fresh caught winter King!  

Lions Hari Dev Khalsa, Tom Dawson, and Mukhya Khalsa

We served about 30 men and women, some coming back for thirds!  And who could blame them!  We had planned for many more so had plenty to spare.  

Lions couldn't remember if we've ever served at this homeless/emergency shelter before so it is a good "first" and one I hope we consider doing over and over again.  

We Serve!

Lion Nancy Norton
#LIONS100

WRapping Party (Sharing the Vision)

I spared you all....

I was going to write a Rapping song.... you know.... wrapping.... rapping....  

Zone Chair Edward Hotch at our service!

But the tune was only in MY head so I thought it best to just TELL you about our fantastic wrapping party today!

Lions Mike Norton, Janice and Eward Hotch, Ted Burke, Soapy Lingle and Donna Hurley

Eyeglass wrapping party that is!  This is what 1,466 pair eyeglasses and cases look like!  

Lions William Andrews, Ted Burke, Soapy Lingle, Donna Hurley, Sasha Soboleff, Mike Norton, Janice and Edward Hotch

Members from the two Juneau Lions Clubs, which comprise the Joint Sight Committee, gathered fairly early this morning for a special breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs, prepared and served by our Zone Chair Lion Edward Hotch.  What a great way to Serve!

We had been accumulating eyeglasses since about April and it was time to send them on their way!

Later this week they will be put on a barge to be shipped to their destination:  the Aurora Borealis Eyeglass Recycle Center in North Pole, Alaska.  

Once there, they will be sorted, cleaned, repaired, and categorized for re-distribution around the world.  Some might even be returned to our community to someone in need.  

The Joint Sight Committee has eyeglass collection boxes at all eyecare centers in Juneau.  We also collect from other locations around town, like the Moose Lodge, Gastineau School, and Surplus Property.  

We also have an annual Recycle for Sight collection drive in October where members of the community are invited to bring their unwanted eyeglasses for deposit.  We take single lens, bifocals, trifocals, reading glasses, sunglasses, etc.  We also collect lenses that are out of the frames as well as eyeglass cases.

Lion Ted Burke

If your place of business would like an eyeglass recycle box or have eyeglasses to donate, contact any member of either the Juneau Lions Club or the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club.

And finally..... 1,466 pair of eyeglasses/cases.... 15 boxes packed and ready to ship.... 9 Lions....  

Lions Edward and Janice Hotch, William Andrews, Sasha Soboleff, Ted Burke, Donna Hurley, Soapy Lingle, Mike Norton

A huge thank you to Lions William Andrews, Donna Hurley, Soapy Lingle, Ted Burke, Edward and Janice Hotch, Sasha Soboleff, Mike and Nancy Norton for their service today.

This story submitted by the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club
#Lions100

Recycle for Sight Drive 2015 (Sharing the Vision)

The Capital Area Lions Joint Sight Conservation Committee.... more commonly known and referred to as the Joint Sight Committee.... had their annual Recycle For Sight drive on Saturday, October 10, at the Nugget Mall.

We have eyeglass collection boxes set up in every eyecare center in Juneau but this is a time when we ask people to really search through their dressers, desks, glove boxes, drawers, purses, etc., and bring all their unused and unwanted eyeglasses to be recycled.

After all, they aren't doing anyone any good stuffed in a drawer somewhere when they can do so much good elsewhere.

For you see, after we collect all your unwanted eyeglasses, they are shipped to the Aurora Borealis Eyeglass Recycle Center in the North Pole.  This is a Lion-run project where they sort by type of eyeglass (i.e., prescription, single lens, double, triple lens, sunglasses, readers, etc.), clean, repair, categorize, AND ship approximately 40,000 pair of eyeglasses to Alaskans and others in need world wide.

So next time you get ready to throw an old pair of eyeglasses away because they are outdated, take them to any eyecare center in Juneau for recycling.  Or wait until our annual collection drive in October of each year.

By the way, this year we collected 245 pair of eyeglasses!  Thank you, Juneau!

This year we also took our PlusOptix vision screener to have available should anyone want their eyes screened.  We screened 7 with no referrals.  Not bad.

For more information on this program, contact Mike Norton, Chair, at mikennancy@gci.net.

Thank you for helping make this drive a success!

This story submitted by the Juneau Mendenhall Flying Lions Club.
#Lions100