Service From The Heart!

Sunday began with a 6:30 wakeup (really sleeping in). We shared coffee and a bagel with Marvin & Diane, and then headed for the New York School for the Blind, where they were to have a PDG meeting and then a cabinet meeting. It was a beautiful sunny day, and about 60 degrees, so we enjoyed a little time outside, while waiting for someone to come to open up the school. We both went in to catch the PDG meeting, which only lasted a short while.

They took a break between meetings, during which Lion Diane asked me if I’d like to go with the ladies to tour the candy shop nearby. I was game, so went along with them. It was pretty interesting, even though nothing much was going on as far as actually making candy on a Saturday. We looked around the store after the brief tour, and I found some dark chocolate & cinnamon hostess wafers to buy. Diane said she’d like to get something for Debra, so I pointed her in the direction of the dark chocolate with mint.

We still had time to kill, so we went over to Tom Horton’s for an iced tea and conversation. Most of the ladies were Lions, so we shared ideas about how they could generate revenue for their Camp Badger. I told them how we had been to Camp Friendship for the Leo Forum, and they had a group of scrapbookers their at the same time. They jumped at the idea of getting their group together to do quilting there, and it evolved from there to making quilts as a fundraiser for the camp. I have no doubt that they’ll be very successful at it, what a great bunch of energetic, dedicated women!

We got back to the school by noon, when lunch was scheduled, but the cabinet was still meeting, so we killed time in the museum room until Marvin & John came out. They had the usual display of old Braille writers, Moon Type, and New York Point, and we took the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of a residential school.

Lunch was outside in the picnic shelter. The grilled hot dogs & potato salad brought us flashbacks of Baal nights past. The dogs were perfectly burned, so we loved it! Then it was goodbyes and off to the airport with PID John & Lion Bernie. More goodbyes, and an easy trip through security and to the gate for an on-time flight. Life is good!

It was a nice smooth flight to Cleveland, although I must say that the Embraire jets are much noisier in the back row right next to the engines. The Cleveland airport is also much busier than it was Friday, but it looks like our plane to Minneapolis is on time.

We made it to MSP smoothly, and the shuttle was ready and waiting when we got to the pick up spot. We stopped for a burger and blizzard at the DQ, and were’ home by 8:00pm. Just enough time to unpack and start getting ready for the Florida trip on Tuesday!

Saturday was a 6:00 wakeup. A continental breakfast was set up in the meeting room, so we had coffee and a “bread product” as we like to say. The first order of business was the Memorial Service. The service had a nice touch that we had never seen. A member of the club of the deceased Lion came forward to place a carnation in a vase, and say the name of their deceased Lion, some adding short comments as well.

Following the Memorial Service were two testimonials about “When I really became a Lion”. The first one was a blind young man who told of how the Lions had helped him by purchasing technology, allowing him to fulfill his dream of going to college. The second was from an older Lion who was moved by the service he was able to provide to others as a Lion.

Next was the buffet lunch, after which Debra gave her speech. As usual, she did a good job speaking from the heart. I don’t think the speech is quite as a good a fit with IP Wirf’s theme of “Move to Grow” and the Gingko, as it was with “Miracles Through Service” and “Everyday Heroes” that IPIP Al spoke about, but it was well received nonetheless. We’ll try to tweak it for next week. Debra presented her certificates and bags after the speech, and then DG Marvin, and other Lions, presented awards. We also exchanged gifts with the Governor and First Lady.

After a short break, PDG Thom from Ontario, Canada presented on how “Lions Make Their Communities Better”. His mantra was “I’m good! You’re great! We’re Lions!” People got into the chanting pretty well. He had examples of clubs in his district in towns ranging from very small to quite large. Each had found ways to serve their community and grow their membership.

The other presentation was about New Technologies. Lion Matt is the District Technology guru, and webmaster for a local radio/TV station. He did a great job of presenting the basics of “Social Media”, and explained why Lions need to be on board.

Debra then had a brief Q&A with the assembled Lions. There really weren’t many questions, but one Lion did express concern about Campus Club losses counting against the District Governor.

After about an hour’s rest back in the room, we boarded a schoolbus for the half hour trip to Albion. The anniversary dinner was way out in the middle of nowhere, but when we got inside, we found a beautiful, large room complete with strings of lights arcing from the very high ceiling to the walls, a gas fireplace at the far end past the dance floor, a full bar, and a head table about 20 yards long. They had a guy playing on the keyboard, mostly old songs from about the time of the chartering of the club, but when he started playing “Color My World”, I had to get Debra to the dance floor. That was the song they were playing on our first date, that led from one thing to another, and here we are 27 years later.

We visited with several club members and guests, and then were called to the head table. Dinner was steak and chicken with green beans & almonds, and baked potato. There wasn’t much of a program. The club president introduced DG Marvin, who introduced PID John, who introduced Debra (they seem to be big on introductions in the east). Debra gave her anniversary speech customized with events from 1924 (which is always interesting) and club activities that she had gleaned with her conversations with the president and others. They seemed a bit of a tough crowd, but several people did come up afterwards to tell her how good they thought her speech had been. Debra also got an opportunity to hug two 50+ year Lions. PID Howard Conroy was there with his wife, Sylvia (what a nice couple – still sharp as a tack), as well as a Lion from the Albion club who had been a member over 60 years. He was a bit frail, but still well able to be an inspiration to us, and I’m sure many others. We did have to assist him out to his car, as he was quite unsteady using his walker.

The trip back to Batavia and the Holiday Inn was pretty quiet, but several of us went up to the hospitality room. This time we solved problems and talked about their contested election for endorsement for International Director over a Coors light. Debra & I left around 11:00 or so, but we came to find out some of them were there until 1:30 weighing the strengths of the two candidates.

As I write this, we are on the plane heading for Cleveland, with a connection coming to Rochester, New York. Everything went very smoothly this morning: wake up alarm went off at 4:00 am, we were in the car shortly after 5:00, and to the airport a little past 6:00. We just have the carry-on luggage, so there was no hassle at the airport. I still don’t know why more people don’t use the “expert traveler” line through security, there are never very many people there at all.

We arrived a little early in Cleveland, and made the connection to Rochester without difficulty. It was only about a 45 minute flight, and we were there by about noon. DG Marvin & Lion Diane, PID John & Lion Bernie, and VDG Greg & Darlene all met us at the airport. It was just a short drive to the “Beale Street” Café, where we had lunch. Debra had a bowl of French Onion Soup, and I had the chili with cornbread (their specialty). Everything was really good; the chili had just enough zip and was loaded with ground beef and beef hunks along with red beans, and the cornbread lived up to the advance raves we had gotten from Marvin & Diane.

We drove from the restaurant to the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (AVBI). We got a great tour from Tracy, who showed us their production area where they cut and package all the post-it notes used by the US and NY Governments. They also had a sewing line, a rehab center, a low vision clinic, a call center, and Goodwill store. They have all the Goodwill stores in the area, where they employ many blind and visually impaired people. They are looking to expand the call center, and may be pursuing an LCIF grant

From AVBI, we drove to Batavia where the conference was being held. We got to our room and had about an hour to settle in before DG Dennis & Lion Diane knocked on the door to take us down for dinner. Dinner was very nice, I had the Prime Rib & Debra had the Chicken Parmesan. Dessert was an assortment of bars, which of course we sampled all three. The lemon bars were the best!

As always seems to happen, we came across people we had met somewhere before. First was Lion Enrique, from Cuba. He’s a great lion about 83 years old, who was a classmate of Fidel Castro. He had been a lawyer in Cuba, and got out the day before they closed the airport when Castro took over. We never could place exactly where we had met him, but it must have been an LCI convention or a forum somewhere.

Then a gentleman came up to Debra, and remarked that they had met. Debra said he looked familiar, and then he mentioned Leader Dog. It turns out we had sat next to him and conversed on the trip to Leader Dog when both were District Governors. Debra remembered him, and our conversation, as soon as he mentioned his name was Jim Rice. His wife is Pat, and we know a Pat Rice in Faribault, so the connection was immediate. We had a great time chatting on and off with both of them all weekend.

After dinner, we went to the hospitality room, where we lasted until about 9:30 or so, solving the problems of Lionism over a glass of scotch, before heading up after a long day.