Community events, finances, and membership. Highlights: an approved donation to the Helen Keller race, welcomed new members, awarded scholarships, planned to shred event with clothing drive, and more.
River Grove Lions Club Meeting
Community Center
Call to Order 7:01 p.m.
Attendance: Tracy, Keith, Harold, Lisa, Kristy, Ralph, Brent, Kurt, Marcelo, Ron, Jack,Terry, Margie Dave K, Tom
Guest: JR McLaughlin, new member candidate
Secretary’s report: March minutes previously shared
Mt to approve by Ron, Second by Lisa: All in favor
Membership secretary: per Lisa: donation summary - Lisa indicated that she has a list of all our regular donations throught out the year and the Helen Keller race had been listed as in June but she just got a notice. She also referenced other upcoming donations to clarify what we are still donating to and she will update each month if any regular donations are upcoming or would be due.
Lisa would like to order more envelopes of the letter size and Lisa will contact Jack at manor press to place another order
$$. Mt by Ron to approve a sponsorship donation to the Helen Keller Race on April 30,
2023 for $125 and second by Kristy - all in favor
Treasurer’s report: per Kristy
General $32,930.28
Humanitarian $2,851.62
Park fund $12,464.00
Per Margie – RG Trustee Ben Ramirez made a donation to the club of $100.00 Edward Jacobson who lives across from the Moose lodge donated $100.00
Per Kristy - the RG Fire department benevolent fund will be making a $250 donation to the park fund
Tracy will send out thank you’s to Ben and Edward
Membership report - per Ralph: Welcome to our potential new member attendee JR McLaughlin who was introduced; JR has lived in RG for the last 13-14 years, has a daughter in college and he would like to get involved
Motion by Ralph to accept JR Mclaughlin and second by Kurt as a member -all in favor
Ralph reported that there are a couple of other potential new members but no apps received yet, One has low vision and had to go on disability and ralph is working with a few others and will keep the club posted.
Information Technology: per Lisa - she has been updating the website and has the Easter bunny visit on the site, she added district convention photos as well as pics from the St Paddy’s event and she will continue to update the site as necessary
Humanitarian: per Marcelo: He has bills from the eye doctor but Marcelo will give them the PO Box so their often can mail the bills to the club.
School liaison - per Kurt, scholarships were awarded last night, thanks to Lion Ron for making the presentation for our club, and to Ralph and Lisa who also attended with Kurt.
Per Dave K: We received 13 applications and thanks to the committee for reviewing the applications this year’s scholarship recipients:
Daniella Diaz $1000 - she wants to be an engineer
Gabriella Salud $500 and she wants to be an aviator or mechanical engineer
Jakub ziolko $500 wants to be an aerospace engineer
Jakob spoke with Ron to thank our club and Ron let Jakub know that invites will go out to attend our Club’s summer event in early august
Per Kurt:
The Color run for both schools are ready to go:
May 6 at 930 for RG school at RG School
May 11 for Rhodes with an all girls club at triton college, 10am to noon
Both are expected to be well attended events and RG school has 98 kids running and our sponsorship is covering the t-shirts for the kids.
$$ Motion by Kurt that we place a half page ad in the RG school student paper for $400.00 and we can advertise our Save the Date info for the August Summer Event as well as membership generally, second by Tracy, All in favor
Sensory path: per Brent - PW is very busy this week getting other facilities ready in the village, May 13th is planting day in town at 9am at the Village hall and any Lions volunteers will be needed to help plant perennials s at the path
There was an issue with the Blue tooth picking up other playlists but that will get fixed, the security upgrades are still being worked on but company has been making add ons
Summer event in August - committee meeting to follow
District report: Per Ralph, Harold and Ron: it’s been quiet since he convention; the Helen Keller walk is scheduled for the April 30 and on following the walk, the Willow Springs Club is hosting a “pork chop”. There will be one more District foundation meeting before the end of the fiscal year
Per ralph - ralph is selling sweepstakes tickets for the foundation and we need delegates to support Lion Austin who is running for international director. Interested Lions who can on May 21st in Springfield would be much appreciated. Austin has been a true and dedicated Lion and he can’t move on without in person delegates attending to vote - we have 10 eligible delegates plus Ralph and Harold who are eligible to vote automatically as a PDG, Ralph will check on the time of the vote.
Per Ron - he attended a state convention previously and is willing to carpool with any attendees and reminded all that Austin’s competition for the office of international director is from the Springfield area, so Austin needs his supporters to make the trip. Convention is at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel; Margie added that travel by train is also and option and is convenient to the hotel.
Old Business: None.
New Business:
Bunny visit: Joe Paldo stopped in but left before the meeting started; per Keith, Ralph was the Easter bunny this year - they no longer have a preschool so we likely won’t need as many baskets for next year - Keith reported that they are building a new facility on their campus - we have been making these donations for decades and all agreed we should continue the program.
Shred Day: planning is in progress. Per Margie - Shawn needs a flyer to work from and Lisa will get her something to work with - we have new state reps in the town as well, Kristy said that Gina has been requesting the donations from the elected officials and Brent will look into this further - event starts at 8 am June 17th – discussion on whether to include a clothing drive this year.
Mt by Kristy and Second by Jack to include the clothing drive: all in favor
1st Reading of the 2023-2024 Slate of Officers
Per Ron – the past presidents committee met and they agreed to increase the number of directors from 4 to 7; the slate is as follows:
Installation Dinner: Incoming President Jack has set Thursday, June 29th (which is a
Thursday because Wednesday is unavailable). 6:00 pm for cocktails and dinner at 7:00pm
$$ Motion Keith to approve a $200 deposit for the installation dinner at Mazzini Verdi and second by Kristy; All in favor.
President’s report:
Hala Kahiki dinner is next month and multiple RSVP notices have been sent
Nine and Dine - on June 7th at THE golf course and dinner will be afterward at River Café with the menu to be determined
$$. Motion by Tracy to make a 250 deposit and Second by Tom; All in favor
RG Lions Merchandise store - Per Margie, Lion Jeanne Silvestre’s daughter has set up a limited time shopping site with Lions merchandise for order. Shop while it is open
Good of the Club:
Kristy had a phone conference with Dave G re the Village Summer fest, she runs the bar and there is a tip jar each evening: Thursday will go to Leyden food pantry, Friday to RG baseball, Saturday to RG Rockets, and Sunday to RG Lions for the park
**Please contact Kristy to sign up for shifts behind the bar.
Per Brent - Friday the 28th is Arbor Day at Thatcher woods park and we will be planting 4 trees for anyone who wants to attend; this program helps the Village to maintain its “Tree City” designation; the event starts at 10 am
Per Terry – the Triton car show is April 30th
Mt to adjourn by Brent and Second by jack: All in favor
8:04 pm
