January 8: Leawood Lions Club Meeting at 6:00 p.m. Leawood City Hall. January 27: I-Lan Sister City Lunar New Year s Celebration. See story below.

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1 Visit our Website: Meeting Dates & Place: 2 nd Tuesday of each Month in the Oak Room, Leawood City Hall Leawood Lions Officers President Dr. Kevin Tomasu Past President Chris Wright 1 st Vice President Ken Green 2 nd Vice President Jim Rochel 3 rd Vice President Vacant Secretary Brian Harris Treasurer Tom Shearer Tail Twister Matt Roening Lion Tamer Rick Waldenmeyer LCIF Coordinator Tina Seeley Membership Chair Doug Westerhaus 1st Year Directors Vania Castro, Tina Seeley 2nd Year Directors Doug Westerhaus, Tom Willy Webmaster Dr. Burt Schreiber Dr.Schreiber@fairwayeye.com Newsletter Editor Tom Willy twilly@vanosdolkc.com January 2019 Leawood Lions Newsletter HAPPY NEW YEAR! January 3: Board Meeting at 6:00 p.m. Big Lion Kevin Tomasu s office, Hunter Family Vision, 4700 W. 135 th Street, Leawood, KS January 8: Leawood Lions Club Meeting at 6:00 p.m. Leawood City Hall January 26: Mid-Winter Rally & District Convention and election of 2019 Officers. See story below about Lion Vania Castro s candidacy for 2 nd Vice District Governor January 27: I-Lan Sister City Lunar New Year s Celebration. See story below. February 5: Board Meeting at 6:00 p.m. Big Lion Kevin Tomasu s office, Hunter Family Vision, 4700 W. 135 th Street, Leawood, KS February 12: Leawood Lions Club Meeting at 6:00 p.m. Leawood City Hall ** SEE REPORTS AND DETAILS BELOW ** Bring your collected eyeglasses to club meetings or drop them off in the Oak Room at City Hall. { } Page 1

2 NOTICES We are trying to close the books on 2018 Pancake Days. Our our two-day Pancake Days this year seems to have outperformed last year s traditional three days. Even though we haven t received all payments, it appears net income this year will exceed last year. A big part of our success was the commitment from all our members to sell ten tickets or donate $60. If you have not yet sent in your $60 combined contribution and ticket sales receipts (or the difference between $60 and what you did turn in), please send your contribution to: Treasurer Tom Shearer 8600 Broadmoor Overland Park, KS Upcoming Activities & Meetings January 3 Board Meeting: NOTE: this meeting is on the first Thursday of the month and will at 6:00 p.m. at Big Lion Kevin Tomasu s Leawood office -- Hunter Family Vision, 4700 W. 135 th Street, Leawood, which is just West of Roe at 135 th Street. January 8 Member Meeting: A special guest at this meeting with be Troop 10 Scout Harrison Powell who will report on his successful Eagle Scout eyeglass donation project at Blue Valley Schools. Also joining us will be Mallory Ozier with Johnson County Parks & Recreation, who will update us on their activities. Zone Chair and former Club President Vania Castro is a candidate for the position of 2 nd VDG for next year (( ). Lion Vania has been very active in our Club and in Lionism generally. Lion Vania would appreciate support from Club members at the District Convention. More information about the Convention will be provided by later or you can contact Lion Vania at (913) , or vaniac@live.com. January 27: I-Lan Sister City Lunar New Year s Celebration. The Leawood Lions have been invited to celebrate the Year of the Pig New Year at Ironhorse Golf Club on Sunday, January 27, This event is sponsored by the I-Lan Sister City Committee and the Mayor and City Council. The event begins at 5:00 pm with cocktails, Asian Cuisine and traditional entertainment. Cost is $35 per person and reservations are due by January 14, If you are interested in attending, please contact Julie Berger at (913) or I- Lan@leawood.org. Club Reports & News December 8 Breakfast with Santa: Leawood Lions Club members once again helped the City of Leawood bring seasonal joy to hundreds of children and their families at the Leawood Breakfast with Santa event at the Lodge at Ironwoods Park. January 26 District Convention Elections: A Special District 17-A Convention will be held on January 26, in conjunction with the Mid-Winter Rally, January 25-27, 2019, at the Four Points Sheraton in Manhattan, KS. Although the Mid-Winter Rally is a three-day event, the Special District Convention is only on Saturday afternoon from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. The Lions Crew ready to serve! { } Page 2

3 Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army: Our signature annual volunteer campaign has just been completed. We enjoyed quite a mix of weather this year; sometimes on the same day! getting and keeping us organized. Thank you also to all the Site Coordinators, who included Lions Chris Wright, Don Shultz, Brian Harris, Jim Rochel, Tina Seeley and Tom Shearer, and Scout parent Lisa Ann Sugimoto. Mike, Emily, Josh Clauden ringing for good This year we manned the buckets at 2 locations (Wal-Marts at 117 th & Metcalf and 133 rd & State Line) every weekend from November 23 through December 22. We had considerable volunteer help from Troop 10 Scouts and families as well as from community friends, in addition to our Club members. It takes a community of effort to get the job done! We don t know financial results yet, but we do know we donated 342 hours of volunteer work and helped a lot of people. We collected more than $8,500, but we have not yet received the data for the last two weekends at 119 th & Metcalf. We continue to work toward the One Million Dollar mark, building on the total in excess of $918,365 the Leawood Lions have collected over previous years. Kansas Lions Awarded 2019 Leadership Transformation Grant: Kansas Lions, together with its partners, Blue Valley School District, Shawnee Mission School District, Leawood Chamber of Commerce, and the City Lions Tom Willy & President Kevin Tomasu in action of Leawood, have been awarded a Leadership Transformation Grant by the Kansas Lion Tina Seeley was Chair of our Bell Ringing Leadership Center (KLC) in the sum of $50,000 in Campaign again this year and did an admirable job scholarships for leadership trainings. { } Page 3

4 KLC is a non-profit organization committed to fostering leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous Kansas communities. The Leadership Transformation Grants affirm the KLC s commitment to foster a culture of leadership in organizations and communities throughout Kansas. In the past four years of these grants, KLC has awarded 145 grants, trained 5,000 people and invested $4 million in Kansas organizations and communities. If you would like to help with our Club s vision screening, please let Lion Kevin Tomasu (ktomasu@hunterfamilyvision.com) or Lion Burt Schreiber (drschreiber@fairwayeye.com) know. If you know of a school or church or other organization you would like the committee to contact, please let them know. Eye Glass Collection Update: Chairman Brian Harris reports that we collected 5,114 pairs of glasses this year (July November). Troop 10 Scout Harrison Powell has collected 1,178 eye glasses as part of his Eagle Project. There are three ways to get glasses to Lion Brian: 1. Drop them by Leawood City Hall and put them in the Oak Room storage closet. If you do this please or text / call him ( ) and tell him you have done so. 2. Bring them to Board or Member Meetings. Lion Vania Castro, PID Ed McCormick and Lion Linda McCormick during the Strategy Workshop Leadership Transformation Grant on October 15 th, 2018 at the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita. Leawood Lion Vania Castro created the successful grant proposal, with a strong collaborative effort from other stakeholders, to serve Kansas Lions and the Leawood Lions Club community at large. Lions from across the state of Kansas are eager to benefit from KLC s principles and core competencies by empowering participants to take appropriate risks to build a transformation culture and ultimately improve our communities from a status of Good to Great. 3. Contact him to arrange a pickup point that is convenient for both. He is fine with dropping by your home or business. Board Meetings Reminder: Scheduled Board Meetings are usually held on the 1 st Tuesday of each month. Every Club member is welcome to attend. Please let the Big Lion know if you are coming to a Board meeting to ensure proper room set-up. Committee Chairs should submit their reports prior to the meeting and if an oral presentation is desired that should be noted. Shirts: Lion Tom Willy will be ordering Leawood Lions polo shirts again. Let him know ASAP if you are interested and what size you want or if you have questions. Club Vision Activities: Why join the Leawood Lions? Youth Vision Screening Update: This year ( ) we have already screened 2,939 at 10 schools and a Health & Wellness Fair. The next screening is: Bishop Miege Wednesday, January 16 th, at 9 am (172 students) The Leawood Lions Club is a service organization that has been active in our community since During that time hundreds of men and women have devoted time and resources to work together to promote the betterment of our community -- and beyond! { } Page 4

5 One of the strengths of being a Lion is our association with Lions Clubs around the country and around the world through LCI (Lions Clubs International) and especially the international charitable arm of Lions LCIF (Lions Clubs International Foundation). Our contributions to LCIF and dues to LCI help build a network of fellowship, growth and achievement. Please check out the website for a more extensive list of what LCIF is doing today: Leawood Lions Club members are proud of the Club s many program achievements, which include: Member News: Members Mending and Repairing: Keep these members in your thoughts and prayers: Lion Joe Charmella; Lion Rick Waldenmeyer; Carolyn Schutty (Lion Chuck Schutty s wife); Elizabeth Skillman (Lion Bob Skillman s wife). + sponsorship of Scout Troop 10, girls scouting Troop 10 affiliate, and Cub Pack Annual bellringing for the Salvation Army s charitable programs, with our cumulative collections reaching close to One Million Dollars. + Tens of thousands of dollars donated to eyesight operations and prescription glasses through the Kansas Lions Sight Foundation. + Hundreds of thousands of donated eyeglasses collected and sorted for charitable use abroad. + Thousands of children screened for vision problems using vision screening machines. + Tens of thousands of dollars in college scholarships given to worthy High school students to recognize both community service and academics. + Tens of thousands of dollars given to local food pantries during the darkest times of the great recession. National, State and District News is readily available online at websites and via social media. Check out LCI s new updated website and the new Resource Center at LCI: LCIF: State: District: { } Page 5