GENERAL INFORMATION
Thank you for visiting the Lions Clubs of Iowa official web site. We hope you find these pages both interesting and informative. We will do our best to keep the information updated as much as possible.
If this is your first visit to our web site, there are links at the left of this page that will lead you to different areas of Lions involvement in the State of Iowa.
Also, if you are not currently a member of a Lions, Lioness, or Leo club in Iowa, please consider becoming a part of the world’s largest service organization. More information on being a member is under the “Membership” link at the left of this page.
Our Lion’s motto is “We Serve”.
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Efforts are now being aimed at starting clubs in Epworth, Oskaloosa, Polk City, Colfax,and Nora Springs . We are looking for a community in 9NW to have an outside consultant help in starting. If you know of an area for this please let PCC Roger Bublitz or State Administrator Gary Fry know. If you can help with any of these efferts please let the State Office know.
Great Plains Lions Leadership Institute!!!
The 2010 Great Plains Lions Leadership Institute will again be held at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake July 16-18. Applications are now available from this web site under Misc. Forms or from the State Office. Multiple District 26 Missouri has joined the Great Plains and will be sending attendees and faculty this year. Most of our Districts offer scholarships, so contact your District Governor for details. Any questions please contact PID Dave Stoufer, PID Del Brown or the State Office. Come enjoy an outstanding training session for life skills and Lionism.
Promoting Healthy Children Conference
The 2010 Promoting Health Children Conference will be held October 2, 2010. Information pertaining to that event will appear here later this Spring. highlights from the 2009 Conference are below. If you have questions about the 2010 event please contact the State Office of Lions Clubs of Iowa
Congratulations to all that helped with the 2009 Promoting Healthy Children Conference.
On Saturday, September 19th, a very successful fifth annual Promoting Health Children Conference was held at Family Directions of Iowa. The event was sponsored jointly by the Lions of Iowa, Blank Children's Hospital, and Family Directions of Iowa. This conference addressed important ideas for raising healthy children. This event is not only for daycare providers looking for continuing ed credits, but for anyone who helps in raising children: parents, grandparents, foster parents, kinship care providers, as well as the Lions of Iowa. This conference is part of Lions Clubs International Worldwide Symposium Series, to gather community members to discuss issues of relevance to women and families. As a result of this event, the Lions of Iowa hope to further our service to children and young parents.
This year's presenters were Bruce Buchanan from Wadle and Associates speaking on Behavioral Management, Julia Richards-Krapfl from Blank Children's Hospital speaking on All Kids Healthy (diet and exercise), Jacque Hawk from Mid-Iowa Family Therapy speaking on Parents as Teachers, and Gary Fry from Lions of Iowa speaking on Iowa Kidsight Program.
HELP YOUR IOWA LIONS FOUNDATION
We as Iowa Lions have an opportunity to help meet the needs of our Iowa Lions Foundation by making an individual donation. For a donation of $20 or more you receive an "I Gave" pin. This year's pin is gold and green. A new pin is issued each year with this being the fourth year. Pins from previous three years are available from the State Office. Contact your Iowa Lions Foundation Trustee or the State Office to become a donor to support the Foundation.
As we end the year and if you are looking for a non-profit charity to donate money, have you thought about donating to the Iowa Lions Foundation? The Iowa Lions Foundation is a 501c3 tax exempt non for profit corporation. Donations are tax deductible. For donations amounting to $1000 in a three year period, Warren Coleman Honorary Awards, can be awarded. If you are already a Warren Coleman recipient a progressive program now exists. For additional donations in $1000 increments pins showing your level can be obtained. For more information contact us at the State Office.
MEMBERSHIP TOTALS for 2009-2010 (thru December)
Membership Totals for 2009-2010, show the following numbers; 9EC -46; 9MC +19; 9NC +5; 9NE +12; 9NW -3; 9SE -16; and 9SW -10. Our total decline for the months of July through October was 39, which is down considerably from previous years. We had 133 Charter Members in four new clubs last year and have two new clubs so far this year. With all of us working together this year, we can show a positive number for the first time in years. "Everyone get One" is our goal.
EXTENSION NEWS:
Teams are available to come and work in any area to start new clubs. This is an exciting and rewarding part of sharing what we do in Lionism. If you would like to help start new clubs, let State Extension Chairperson PCC Roger Bublitz or SA Gary Fry know. We started 4 new clubs in 2008-2009. How many this year? Two so far and counting.
NEW WEB SITE!
Thank you for your patience as we completed the new design for the state and district web sites. The task is now complete and you can begin updating your club and/or district web sites effective immediately.
The procedures to do these tasks have changed, please contact the state office to get your club and district login information, userids and passwords to accomplish your task.
Again, due to the many complaints of privacy concern, almost all member information beyond your first and last name have been removed from the site. There are no email addresses, mailing addresses or phone numbers in the site.
Thank you again for your patience, we hope you enjoy our new look. If you have ideas or comments, please contact your district IT representative to present to the advisory committee.
CONDENSED HISTORY OF LIONS OF IOWA
Current designation for Lions Clubs of Iowa is Multiple District 9, or MD9. The original District 9 included Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Eastern Wisconsin.
The first Lions Club in Iowa was the Sioux City Host Club, organized June 6, 1918. The Des Moines Host Club was formed in 1920, and is the oldest continuous club in Iowa.
Lions State Conventions are held each year, and the first was in Cedar Rapids in 1921.
Also in 1921, William Westfall of Mason City was elected District Governor, and in 1926 Lion Westfall was elected Lions International President. He is the only President ever elected from Iowa.
In 1927, Iowa and Nebraska were split into two Districts.
In 1928, the Lions International Convention was held in Des Moines, Iowa.
1942 was the first Key Breakfast ever held.
A Leader Dog representative attended the State Convention for the first time in 1950, and the delegates adopted the program as one to donate money to.
Through the years, there have been several Lions who have served as Lions Clubs of Iowa State Secretary. Art White was selected as the first State Secretary in 1953, followed by Art Fogarty in 1958. In 1964, his replacement was Dean Moore, and Bernie Zinsli became State Secretary/Field Rep Extension in 1972. Lion Bernie traveled Iowa, Nebraska, and part of Illinois helping establish new Lions Clubs. 1982 brought PDG Dale Anderson to the Lions State office as Secretary, and in 1991 PDG Matteo Cardella became Secretary. PID Gary Fry became State Secretary/Field Representative in 2003. As with Lion Bernie, PID Gary is also involved in chartering new clubs in the State of Iowa, plus his duties as Secretary.
In 1954, the Iowa Lions Sight Conservation Foundation (ILSCF) was started in Des Moines. This is the fund and grant making arm of Lions Clubs of Iowa. In 1978, with hearing as a new project, the name was changed to Iowa Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation. In 1994 the name was shortened to “Iowa Lions Foundation”, the current title.
As part of Foundation services, a Mobile Screening unit for detecting Glaucoma was approved in 1963 and placed in service in the fall of 1965. Iowa Lions were pioneers in the nation for providing this type of service through Lions Clubs. In 2005, after 40 years of continuous service, this screening service was discontinued.
Another segment of the Iowa Lions Foundation is the Iowa Lions Eye Bank. Established in 1955, and a part of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, the Eye Bank collects and disperses corneal tissue for corneal transplants and for research. The Iowa Lions Eye Bank became a charter member of the Eye Bank Association of America in 1962. for over 54 years eye tissue was transported by the Iowa State Patrol. Today most of the tissue is trasnported by Lion volunteers.
In 1994, Lions of Iowa were hosts to the USA/Canada Leadership Forum held in Des Moines.
“Coming to Your Senses”, a screening program to detect vision problems in youngsters age six months to four years, was established in 1999, and continues to be an excellent service. On July 1, 2007, this prgram's name was changed to the current "IOWA KIDSIGHT". To date over 200,000 children have been screened in Iowa alone with over a million being screened across the United States.
Redistricting from 9 Districts in the state to 7 took effect July 1, 2007. The new district designations are: 9NW, 9NC, 9NE, 9EC, 9SE, 9MC, and 9SW.
The Lions of Iowa are comprised of 384 individual clubs with a combined membership of just over 10,000 Lions. Iowa is one multiple district (MD9) of Lions Clubs International , which has 45,000 clubs in 205 countries or geograph-ical areas. There are 1.3+ million Lions worldwide who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world.
Known for working to end preventable blindness, Lions participate in a vast variety of projects important to their communities. These projects range from cleaning up local parks to providing supplies to victims of natural disasters.
The state office is located in Ames and is overseen by Council Chairman PDG Judy Hankom.
mission statement:
To empower volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding through Lions clubs
