District Cabinet Report – 2022 February 11

You have been and are giving of your time and effort to the Lions. You joined Lions Clubs International for a reason.

You stayed in Lions for a reason. You are an example to many who are Lions and many who might become Lions.

In one sentence can you describe why you are a Lion? In 15 seconds can you explain why you are and still a Lion?

This is the well known short and ‘from the heart’ 15 second (elevator speech, one liner, etc) answer to what can be a question many of us don’t often consider or how we would reply if asked.

The most important part of membership < new members, retention> is listening to the answers to this question.  

In the public relation world, it is all about getting messages out. It’s also about receiving messages coming in. If there is a ‘break’ or disconnect between the two, there is a PR and organizational problem. 

Organizational structures in LCI are focusing on various means of developing and retaining members. It is recognized that membership is an issue and overall is not attaining desired levels. Public relations is targeted communication and Lions Clubs/members are one of our most important ‘publics’. 

How can this help and support Lions? 

Club Presidents and executive are committed to their clubs and Lionism. As a message to clubs and their members, it may be an initiative to ask all members this question at the start of a meeting. Devote some time to the answers. Remember these are 15 second or less answers.

Record the answers and/or ask club members to send them to the President/Membership Chair. These answers can then be reviewed at a club level and sent (raw data) to the Zone Chairs for forwarding to compile into information for use by Membership (GAT etc), PR and the analysis presented to District Cabinet.

The goal: Ground level unconstructed responses to a subjective question. To attract new members and retain current ones, we need to ‘base zero’ understand a geo-specific motivation….ie: Why?

This was previously done in a different format, (broadcast to District clubs).  As usual in survey aligned questions, response level was low however it was consistent. Attached are many of the responses as received. Names have been removed although you may recognize some (possibly even your own). 

Note that none of the responses placed the ‘joy of meetings’ as a reason….


Sample Responses (elevator’ style) 

Helping others gives me great satisfaction and the icing on the cake is the wonderful fellowship I have found being with other Lions.
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I want to give back to my community – so chose to join the club.
I have made many good friends by being in our club.
We also help one another out in times of need – by keeping in touch.
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For the mere JOY of it.  I enjoy the comradely , the smiles on peoples/children's faces that have been helped and being able to provide other people with the knowledge of the different program chairs I have had on the District Cabinet/MDCouncil.
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I am a Lions (and Lioness) so that I can hopefully help those that are unable to help themselves.
The opportunity to contribute to my community along with the interaction of other club members is very important and rewarding to me. 
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I AM A LION- because I want to live in a better commuity by providing Help for the needy, Guidance for the young and Services for the elderly.
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So I can give back to my community. Easier to give as a part of a great  large organization than being a single
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I became a Lion because I wanted to do something for my community and I wanted to a join a group of like minded individuals.
I know that other groups were around, but many of them had the idea of "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". I knew of Lions Clubs for many years, as Lions were sponsors of the Scouting group, of which I was a leader, in Whitehorse. The Lions there also had fun projects, especially at Rendezvous time (a winter carnival). I did join another group with religious affiliations but not Lions. When I moved to Kelowna, I found that the religious affiliation group was fine, but not enough. It took me several years to discover Lions, and that was through my wife joining Lioness. 
I am still a Lion as I find the original premise of doing something for good for my community still valid. 
I have learned leadership skills and enhanced other abilities by being in Lions.
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Hi.  I belong to a service club called Lions. We were once asked to become “knights of the blind”, a challenge we took on, plus a lot of other neat projects over the years.  May I share more with you?

Lions is a chance to serve and give back to your community and meet some great people while doing it. We do a wide variety of service projects and fundraising projects, but our main objectives are to help the blind and visually impaired. There is something for everyone in Lions!
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   A Lion is a member of a worldwide club and we are over a million strong.  We help people.  We fight blindness, diabetes, measles, hunger, if there is a need, we are there and we have fun doing it.  Come and join us. 
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Hi; My wife and i joined Lions a little over a year ago and  it’s the first time we’ve ever volunteered.
 One night at our Lions Bingo i showed up to help put the bingo machine away and on my way into the hall I noticed one of the cars had a flat tire.
At the end of bingo I asked who’s car it was and an older couple (Sounds funny because I’m 70) . came forward. I offered to change their tire and after going through their tools, found they didn’t have a jack. Fortunately our jack fit their car so I changed their tire while another Lion ( Patti Clouston) held a flashlight.

When i was finished, they Thanked me and asked why I’d helped.

I told them “Because I’m a Lion” and that our motto is ” We serve”.
Proud members of the Armstrong Lions Club