The Stanley and Boyd Lions Clubs hosted District Governor Brian Dulmes and his wife Lion Barb, for his Annual Visitation on Febraury13. The joint meeting was held at Debbie’s on Broadway. Before dinner attendees said the Pledge of Allegiance and the Lions Dinner Prayer. Stanley President Dave Jankoski welcomed attendees and especially the District Governor and his wife.

After a delicious meal, District Governor Dulmes, who is from neighboring Cadott, presented his message. He noted that the theme for his year of leadership is, “Sowing Seeds of Volunteerism.” He shared several examples of clubs working together and encouraged asking non-members to work along side Lions on community projects. He shared that one of the most rewarding aspects of being the District Governor is traveling around the District and seeing the work being done by Lions. He stated two of his goals are having clubs working together and to that end is calling for a District Wide Day of Service on Wednesday, June 7. He encouraged all Lions to keep their eyes open in order to know their community needs. Lastly, he noted that it is often difficult to relate to work done by Lions Clubs International, to which a part of Lions dues go. He then provided a very recent example of the donation of $300,000, to help the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. Finally, the District Governor distributed a flier and invited attendance to the District 27 E-1 Convention, that will be held on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1, at Sleep Inn – 29 Pines, near Eau Claire Following the District Governor’s presentation, his wife Lion Barb provided attendees with a report on the work of the Wisconsin Lions Foundation (WLF) of which she is a board member. WLF is dedicated to improving the lives of the young and older folks. Their work focuses on five areas: 1.) Vision Screening – 37,532 school kids vision screenings were done in District 27-E1 last year and the referral rate for further evaluation was at around 10 percent. 2.) Hearing – Lions collect used hearing aids, and help with providing those in need of a hearing aid, if they can’t afford one. 94,402 hearing aids were collected last year. 3.) Diabetes Education – An estimated 1.5 million people are diabetic and don’t know it. Lion Barb brought a new booklet, “YEAR ONE WITH TYPE ONE,” that will again be distributed to schools in Stanley and Boyd and Moon Library in Stanley. 4.) Eye Glass Collection – During the last fiscal year, 919,543 pairs of glasses were collected by Wisconsin Lions and 130,054 pairs were shipped for distribution in various parts of the world. It was noted that many free glasses were distributed to refugees from Afghanistan when they were at Fort McCoy. It was also noted that the inmates at the Stanley Correctional Institution read the lens strength and categorize the glasses so they are ready for distribution from the Lions Camp at Rosholt, where they are warehoused. 5.) Lions Camp Rosholt – Last summer there were 23 campers from Lions District 27-E1 who attended Lions Camp and a total of 633 statewide campers were served. Separate camp sessions are held for those with juvenile diabetes, those with sight difficulties, and individuals with challenges. The deer hide collections done across Wisconsin contribute income to the operation of Camp Rosholt each year.

Prior to adjournment, Lion Dave Winkler was called upon to provide a final report on the Annual Deer Hide Collection that took place at Express Mart (369) and Inge’s Custom Meats (200) in Stanley and Boyd Catering (64) in Boyd. This season, due to the generous donations from area hunters, 633 hides were collected, which will bring $3,500 for the operation of Camp Rosholt. Lion Winkler thanked the hunters for their donation of hides, and also thanked his fellow Lions who helped with the collection and transferring of hides to Thorp for shipment. President Jankoski announced that any Stanley Lions, who want to attend the District Convention to let him know, as registration has to be in soon. Jankoski and Lion President Denny McQuillian of Boyd, closed by thanking District Governor Dulmes, and his wife Lion Barb, for their attendance and the 33 Lions and guests from Stanley and Boyd who were in attendance.

Following the meeting, the District Governor conducted a Chinese auction for a beautiful handcrafted cribbage board he made. He successfully raised $140 that he will be donating to four entities – the Lions Pride Endowment, Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin, Leader Dogs for the Blind, and Lions Club International Foundation.

The next meeting of the Stanley Lions Club will be held on Monday, March13. The next meeting of the Boyd Lions Club will be on Wednesday, March 15.