“Smiles and Service”

Congratulations to the outgoing and incoming Officers and Board members of the Oak Cliff Lions Club. I offer my thanks to the outgoing officers and directors who have also served us so well. I offer my special thanks to President Wayne Meachum for his dedicated service to our Club. Our Club is better because of his personal efforts, sweat from his hands-on work and his imaginative ideas.

The upcoming year will be filled with even more smiles and even more service opportunities. We'll stress membership growth and membership retention, greater fund raising and a higher level of community service.

We can look for an increase in prestige and public awareness of our Club, as we teach our neighbors about the fun that we have and the service that we offer as Oak Cliff Lions in our Lions district, city, state and nation. A higher profile will result in great benefits to our Club in having a larger, active membership.

We will work on some recently begun projects, such as spring fund raising, a new public relations effort for print media, Internet and cable TV, our seeking of grants from the Lions Club International Foundation to benefit our favorite causes, as well as planning for a one year celebration of our Club's 75th anniversary which will occur in three years.

We will again have our Extravaganza and the camaraderie that it brings this November. The show will be new and prizes for the winning tickets will be exciting. We will resume honoring civic leaders with our annual Humanitarian award. Our Club directory will be published shortly.

Everyone knows that our meetings "couldn't be more fun", but we will make them even better by adding a surprise event at our meetings. Offerings will include comedy, talent, prizes, games, make-new-friends events, special themes/food and the like. You won't want to miss now. Look for an increase in service opportunities, as we will debut pet projects, the opportunity to spend a few hours performing community service each month. You won't believe how fast that you can make new friends by serving with your fellow Lions. In addition, we will have frequent social events, with major ones at least every 3 months. Any Lions who have been especially hard working and can exceed certain standards will earn a 100% Oak Cliff Lion Award, and we will honor those super Lions in a special manner next spring.

We must be visible to the youth in our community, future Lions. We will raise funds for our Endowment Fund, the earnings of which provide college scholarships to worthy, college-bound high school seniors. Look for our sponsorship of a Leo Club, which exposes our youth to Lionism. We must reach out to other groups near and far. That can be accomplished by sharing ideas or twinning with another Lions Club.

We will keep you abreast of and involved in District 2-X1 activities, so that our Club, which is the largest in the District, can resume its leadership role there. With knowledge of the District's workings, you will find their service projects compelling, working with Lions from other clubs invigorating and you will want to serve on their committees, boards and positions of leadership.

With this varied agenda, we will smile and serve together.

Best wishes for a great year.


Yours in Lionism,
Robert Hirsh, President 2001-2002