This year the 5 day experience was held in Dallas. That first day there were people from all different lions clubs, various other service organizations, and local military personnel all there for one purpose to make their trip a easy and painless as possible. We works to get the families settled into their hotels, to ensure that family’s had their luggage and any other belongings. The family’s were placed on buses that took them to three down-town hotels and the buses were escorted by the Patriot Guard Riders who are a group of motorcyclist enthusiasts who ride for any number of military events.

On Saturday after the Plano Parade, I worked with a number of other lions serving lunch to the families at the the new Cowboy’s Stadium. Here the kids got to interact and get autographs from a number of NFL players. The also got to play a number of games including throwing the football with former and current NFL players, various bounce houses, and just having a great deal of fun. There was also entertainment from a number of country singers as well as the Lt. Dan band which was formed by Gary Sinise who played Lt. Dan in the movie Forrest Gump and worked through the USO to put on shows for our troops.

But the thing that stuck with me the most was talking to a family who came in shirts with a picture of the father they lost in Iraq. The son told me how glad he was to attend Snowball Express because he got to meet people who understood his loss and find men who were willing to play catch with him. This really brought home to me the reason for Snowball Express and cemented my desire to assist again when Snowball Express is hosted in Ft. Worth next year.

Click here to see pictures

I’ll add more when I get them!

Here is Sam presenting his winning speech, “Drug Abuse – Paradise Lost”, which he presented successfully at the Club, District, and State level competitions, earning scholarships totaling $4000.  And since he was only a junior, he gets to try again this year, hopefully to add to his scholarship winnings.

The club helped with volunteers at the ride, and we all had a good time. When I found out that they had enough volunteers, I just paid the entry fee and did the 5-mile ride (ok, I’m a wimp, but next year, I’ll go for the 10-mile ride). I did manage to finish fairly early, because I wanted to get back before it started raining. Lion Karen snapped this photo of me just after I got to the finish line. I took some pictures of her, but she didn’t send them to me (claimed they didn’t turn out or some other lame excuse — she’s just camera-shy). The weather held out for us, even long enough for me to run some errands for the ride organizers afterwards.

Lion Karen Marks is the member that got the club interested in helping with the Fun Ride.

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!

UPDATE: The parade was a great success! Here are some photos of the parade winners –

Best Musical Entry, Narrow Trail Cowboy Church

Best Use Of Theme, Democratic Party of Collin County

Best Float -- Conner Harrington Republican Women

Grand Marshal -- VFW Post 4380

Plano Senior High School student Samuel Scott has won top honors and a $3000 scholarship for his speech in the Drug Awareness Speech Contest during the Texas Lions Clubs State Convention in Lubbock on June 6, 2009. The Plano Early Lions Club sponsored him. Samuel will be entering his senior year at PSHS this fall. He was one of 7 contestants who were competing for the top prize. On January 10, 2009, Samuel won top honors, which included a $1000 scholarship at the Lion’s district speakers contest. In both competitions Samuel’s speech was titled “Drug Abuse – Paradise Lost”. To say that Samuel represented Plano well is an understatement. Al Brandel, President of International Association of Lions Clubs, presented the scholarship check to Samuel.

In the state contest, Samuel drew 7^th position to present his speech. This position, although it did not allow him to hear his competitors, meant he had more time to think about what might not go the way he wanted it to go. However, his performance was a winner. In fact, after the contest, he had several other Lions clubs from Texas asking for him to contact them.

There were 2 other contests at the Texas Lions Clubs State Convention. In addition to the Drug Awareness Speech Contest, there was an Outstanding Youth Contest and a Diabetic Awareness Essay Contest. Emily Pool from Ennis, Texas won the Outstanding Youth Contest, and Hanna Hoots from Morton, Texas won the Diabetic Awareness Essay Contest.

(L to R) Lions Competition Chair Danny Leake, Emily Pool, Samuel Scott, and Hanna Hoots

DeAnne Rogers, the Project Chair for Plano Early Lions Club’s Speaker Contest, had high praise for Samuel. She could see that the time and effort Samuel put into his presentation was very evident during the competition. DeAnne was able to attend the state convention and witness first hand Samuel’s presentation.

The Plano Early Lions Club has 42 members and meets on 1^st and 3^rd Saturday each month at 7:30AM at Southfork Hotel, Plano. Lions clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the Plano Early Lions Club, please contact Jack Durnin at 972-596-5791 or email at jack.Durnin@planolions.org.

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with nearly 1.4 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in 193 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. For more information about Lions Clubs International, visit the Web site at www.lionsclubs.org.

The Plano Early Lions Club hosted parade award recipients at their meeting on January 3, 2009. This year marked the third year that Plano Early Lions Club members ran the Plano Children’s Christmas Parade. According to Parade Chairman, Ken Gleason, this year’s parade had over 2000 people marching, plus those in the bands, drill teams, cheerleaders and ROTC units. Truly this was a “Children’s” parade! Ken thanked the Methodists Men’s Club for the help they provided, as well as the Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK) for their assistance during the parade.

Awards went to the following organizations:

· Lil’ Ocelets YMCA Adventure Princesses for “Plano Santa Award” Image 1. Accepting the award was Don and Lindsey Bouvier and Jeremy and Riley Thompson.

· Prestonwood G.P.S. Girls for “Best use of Theme” Image 2. Accepting the award was Doug Goodrich and Brandon Carmichael.

· Plano West “Mighty Wolf” Band for “Best Walking Unit” Image 3. Accepting the award was Shiv Venhatasetty.

· YMCA Trailblazers and YMCA for “Best Overall Float” Image 4. Accepting the award was Mike Krieger.

· Parkway Hills Baptist Church for “Grand Marshall Award” Image 5. Accepting the award was Beth Simmons.

· YMCA adventure Guides & Princesses (3^rd Grade Ladybugs, 2^nd Grade Rainbow Flowers, and Kindergarten Superheroes) for “Chairman’s Award” Image 6. Accepting the award was Dan Utley.

· Plano Senior High School Band Boosters for “Most Decorated Bus” Image 7. Accepting the award were Kim Rhea, Elise Castellanos, Terry Castellanos, and Mike Barishman.

Saturday’s competition was held during the Lion’s mid-winter convention. Here both Samuel and Ali did a great job of representing Plano. Samuel Scott won first place and a $1000 scholarship, plus the opportunity to compete at the State Convention later this year. Samuel is a junior at Plano Senior High School who would like to attend the University of Texas.

Second place went to Ali Mavrakis, also representing the Plano Early Lions Club. For his efforts, Ali was awarded a $750 scholarship. Ali is a student at Plano West High School who also wants to attend the University of Texas.

Lion Tom Richardson

(note: This was actually entered last year, and I just now noticed that there was an unpublished entry! — Lion Howard/Webmaster)

DeAnne Rogers, the Project Chair for PELC’s Speaker Contest, had high praise for both students. She could see that the time and effort both Ali and Samuel put into their presentations was very evident during the competition. DeAnne has invited all PELC members to come to the Finals Competition next week to cheer on their entries.

Sam Scott, District Speaker's Contest Semifinalist

(Left) Samuel Scott’s speech coach is Cheryl Potts. Scott would like to attend The University of Texas. He is a member of the National Honor Society, runs cross country for Plano Senior HS and is a Plano Teen Court Attorney.

Ali Mavakis, District Speaker's Contest Semifinalist

(Right) Ali Mavrakis would also like to attend The University of Texas upon graduation. He was a Speech and Debate Quarter Finalists in Foreign Speaking at State. In addition to speech and debate activity, Ali is a member of the National Honor Society, Student Congress and Model UN Junior Vice President. While at Jasper HS he was President of STAND (Students Taking Action Not Drugs). Nancy Lewis is Ali’s speech coach.

Congratulations to both of our semifinalists, and good luck at the Mid-Winter Conference!