Friday, February 27, 2009
We left Faribault shortly after 6:00 am. this morning and drove to St. Cloud where we met Bob & Deb Harms and Greg & Kathy Langbehn at the Holiday Inn. We left our car there, and all rode in Greg’s van. We stopped for lunch in Hillsboro, ND, split fish sandwich and fries. The fries were pretty good, but the fish wasn’t anything special.
DG Greg’s Garmin gps system took us on a “shortcut” via an unpaved, snow and ice covered, windblown ”secondary road”, but nevertheless we got to Dauhin, Manitoba about 7:15 pm. and checked in to the Super 8 motel. People were hungry, so we went across the parking lot to the McDonalds for a bite to eat. I was feeling very dizzy and lightheaded, and a little nauseous, and thought maybe I needed something to eat. It didn’t help, so Debra and I stayed back at the hotel while the rest went over to the Ukranian Center for their “hillbilly” social. Laying down helped my dizziness, so we stayed up in bed watching “Miracle On Ice” on the TV.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
I was feeling much better in the morning. We went over to the Ukranian Center for breakfast. It was eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and toast. I didn’t want to risk more nausea, so I mostly ate the toast with peanut butter. The morning session consisted of presentations about Lions’ projects. Dale Johansen and Aaron and Carrie Nikerson presented about Project New Hope, doing their usual great job of providing an insight into PTSD and outlining how the camps can really help returning veterans. It seems things are a bit different in Canada, and once a vet indicates they might have PTSD, they are grounded and/or forced out of the military, loosing many benefits. Their biggest problem then is getting the Canadian vets to come forward and seek the help they need. Carrie and Aaron are going to be moving to Alberta this summer; we’re really going to miss seeing them at MD5M activities. They’ll be at the Forum and at the LCI Convention in Minneapolis though, so at least we’ll be able to see them then.
Other presentations were about the “No Child Without” program to provide medi-alert bracelets/necklaces to school children, and the “Journey For Sight” snowmobile trek to raise money for Lions sight projects. That’s an amazing ride, they raised over $70,000 this year alone, and over a million since inception.
The highlight of the morning was their speech contest. They had five students in three grade categories who presented some really good 4-6 minute speeches. ID Debra, ID Art Marson, and CC Deborah were asked to judge the speeches, and had a difficult time ranking them.
Lunch was buffet style with borscht, sandwiches and dessert. The borscht was great! It had some small beans in it as well as nicely sweet beets. The luncheon speaker was a man who had a Canada Guide Dog. He gave an interesting presentation about his experiences, and PDG Bob Robinson filled in the details about the Canada Guide Dog program.
The business meeting was after lunch, but back at the Super 8 motel. DG Wayne ran a very efficient meeting. They elected 3 Vice District Governors and a DG for next year. After a short break, there was a reception for ID Art and Lion Jo at the hotel, and then back over to the Ukranian Center for the banquet. Dinner was buffet style, highlighted by cabbage rolls and porushkas. I also had hand carved roast beef with some very good horseradish sauce. ID Art’s remarks were very good, focusing on President Al’s theme of “Everyday Heroes providing Miracles Through Service”. He used a storytelling method that was very effective at bringing the themes to examples everyone could identify with. The evening entertainment was a country/old-time band for dancing. Everyone seemed to have a great time.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
We got everything packed in the morning, and headed over to the Ukrainian Center for church and breakfast. Church was very informal and participatory. Breakfast was a repeat of Saturday. We said our good-byes during breakfast, and hit the road before they started the Necrology service.
We stopped for lunch at Culvers in Grand Forks. Had bacon cheeseburger and concrete turtle malt — yum! Made it back to St. Cloud by around 8:00, and home at 10:00 pm. A couple of 13 hour days in the car, but a very nice convention weekend with our friends in 5M13!