Plano Early Lions Roar!

Posted by Lion Howard Harkness

Now that I’m no longer president of the club, I should have a little more time for other things — including being more active in some projects that I had to delegate to others last year.

One item I really look forward to is passing along the button that says “Everything’s my fault this year!” to Lion Gordon Settle when I see him on Friday. I’ve already reassigned the president@planolions.org email address to him. Lion Gordon is a real go-getter, and I will be working to make his presidential year better than mine was.

The next big thing coming up is the Independence Day Parade, which is hosted by the PELC each year. This will be the 3rd year since we took it on. Unfortunately, the economy has hit us hard, too — so the parade will be somewhat smaller this year.

Which may not be entirely a bad thing. Saturday is likely to be really warm, and it will be good to be done before the heat of the day gets really out of hand. If you are planning to come out to watch it, be sure to cover up with sunscreen, bring plenty of water, and wear a brimmed hat!

We had a grand time at Collin Oaks last Tuesday. Yours truly, the PELC webmaster and president, showed up with fiddle in tow, and spent a little over a half hour playing a variety of tunes for the men’s group.

I’ve talked to several of my violin students, and we are planning to show up and do Christmas carols for the December service project. Any other interested Lions are invited to show up — especially if you can play an instrument, or even just sing. The festivities start at about 6pm on the 3rd Tuesday.

I spent some time on the phone this week with our esteemed secretary, Lion Ken, who has just helped his mother-in-law move into an assisted living center. Back when I was trying to be an insurance agent, one of the things that I learned about nursing homes and retirement centers that that over half of the residents of the typical nursing home do not get a single outside visitor from the time they check in to the day they die. There are several retirement and nursing centers in Plano, and these provide us with many opportunities to serve our community. These projects will not require a lot of money — they require something much more precious: our time. Lion Ken will be asking several of us in the near future to put together a regular project at Collin Oaks Assisted Living Center to help with activities once a month.

Lion 1st VP Bill Keyburn has been busy lately! In addition to working on the Texas Hold-’em Tournaments, he has discovered an opportunity to serve our community in the Patriot Golf Day. Their website is: http://www.usga.org/news/2007/august/RooneyFeature.html and information on this year’s national observance at Http://usga.org/news/2007/july/2007_56.html

It’s a bit late to participate this year, but all members are encouraged to stop in the Superstore or Ridgeview Ranch Golf Club to see what it’s all about and how, perhaps, we could become involved next year.

If you know of any un-met community needs that we as Lions could address, please let us know!

…Or as Lion Tom put it, the Phoenix Rising from the Ashes. We have a very promising lead on a site. The best part is that the site under consideration will greatly reduce our costs and the level of effort we will have to invest. If you want to learn more about this, you are just going to have to come to the BOD meeting on February 16th.