The Lions Roar...serious and fun information from the Westerly Lions Club

As your new King Lion, I wanted to thank all of the members of the Westerly Lions for the amazing reception I received upon my installation.  

District 42 Governor Elect Francine Murphy-Brillon did a wonderful job with both the installation of Officers and the Induction of 3 new members into the club.

The new officers for the 2011-2012 year are as follows:

Dan Marantz, King Lion

Angie Smith, 1st Vice President

Bob Hatfield, 2nd Vice Presidet

Paul Doyle, 3rd Vice President

Jared Beaulieu, Secretary

Paul Nunes, Treasurer

Jeniffer Campo, Tail Twister

Nick Stahl, Lion Tamer

Gary Latz, Membership Chairman

Our Board of Directors, Michelle Pendola, David Rivera, Hap Rocketto, Frankie Algiere, Ken Sorensen, walter Pawelkiewic

As I stated during my remarks, I have 4 major goals for this year, and I am sure with the dynamic members that we have, we will surpass all of them.

1) Have an even greater positive impact on our community through increased financial and member support.

a. Be sure that you, our members have a rewarding experience as a Lion.

2) Kick off the Westerly Leo Club in conjunction with the start of the school year

a. The youth of today are our members tomorrow.

3) Help our successful committees and their chairs plan for making succession to future chairs seamless.

a. The more we can involve our members (new and old) and make it easier to take over an event, the longer this winning streak will go on.

4) Continue increasing our membership

a. When I joined in 2005, we were 70 members strong, now we are over 120 members invincible. Growth is good!

I am planning on doing a lot of communicating with our members in person, on the phone and thru all of the electronic methods available to us.

And as the last item on my 1st blog post, I have to give a huge Thank You to our Immediate Past King Lion, Joe Iacoi for the incredible job he did during his term. I look forward to the challenge of having success like Joe.

The Lions have reserved a spot in the Columbus Day Parade here in Westerly on October 10th, at 1pm.We would love to have a large number of Westerly Lions to march in the parade to shrine as always--Community Awareness. We can also use some volunteers to help!

We are in Division 3, Unit 10.  Parade Marchers should be there by noon. Behind WHS. Hope to see you there!

23rd Annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest. Sponsor a Lions International Peace Poster Contest and join clubs worldwide in sharing children’s visions of peace with your community. Click the link below for more information and to download an order form.

The Westerly Lions is hosting their annual Insight picnic at the Westerly Yacht Club on August 4, 2010. Over 40 Lions will cook and serve salad, home-made "chowdah", corn on the cobb, barbeque chicken, and watermelon for the visually impaired.

This annual event is put on in conjunction with INSIGHT, an organization who envisions a world in which people are valued for who they are, not for what they see. 

In June of 1925, Helen Keller challenged Lions to become "Knights of the Blind in the crusade against darkness". The Lions accepted and today sight programs remain one of our defining causes.

Earlier that same year, the Westerly Lions Club was formed, and will be celebrating their 85th anniversary this coming January.

The Westerly Lions Club proudly inducted 2 new members this past month. Ken Decker, an energy salesman (sponsor Paul Nardone) and Raymond Roy, General Manager of the Westerly Sun Newspaper (sponsor Joe Iacoi.)

Click this link to see the photos:

http://www.westerlylions.com/Photosmay232010

President Message—July 2010

“We Serve.” That is the Lions Club motto!   

On Behalf of the Westerly, Rhode Island Lions Club, I would like to welcome you to our Club Website for my year as the 2010-2011 Club President.

My vision of the coming year is to maintain and improve the quality and increase the interaction of our programs in our community, zone, district, state, national and Lions Club International. Lions Club International is the world’s largest secular service organization, founded in 1917 by Mr. Melvin Jones, with 45,740 clubs and more than 1.3 million members in 743 districts and in 203 countries around the world. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, USA, the organization strives to meet the needs of communities on a local and global scale.

Our Club was chartered in January, 1926, and since that time, our Club has been involved in many projects that have benefited the citizens of the Greater Westerly Area and local charity organizations.

My Goals and Objectives: Work on and improve the Present, Plan for the Future, with a reflection on the Past. Let us have a responsible and enjoyable fellowship year with more Lions becoming really involved in service. That is the lifeblood of any organization; work on retention and grow our membership to new levels.

I have started to plan for our Westerly, RI Lion’s Club 85^th Anniversary in January, 2011. So let us all lead with a Lion’s quote, “Working together for a better tomorrow”.

I am proud to be the President of such a fine civic minded organization as the Westerly Lions Club. If you have a mind to do some good for the Community, the Westerly Lions Club is for you. We will continue to help those in need not only in our Community, but elsewhere as well.

I  “Thank”  Immediate Past President David Urso, for all his leadership and direction he has given daily for our growth and District reputation he worked for us all in 2009-2010 and the support and encouragement he has extended to me as I begin my year as your Club President.

In conclusion, I am looking forward to working with our Officers and Board of Directors and each of our members and hope to lead us to a great year we can remember and be proud of. “WE SERVE”

Yours in Lionism,

Joseph J. Iacoi

Club President, 2010-11