The Jungle Jargon

MEETING SCHEDULE

October, 2009

October 6 - Board of Directors Meeting - 7:30PM, Boy Scout Room (Town Hall)

October 7 - Spouse Meeting - 7PM, The Grape Escape; Dinner: Beef Stroganoff

Program: the first of three meetings held at TGE for the Club Wine Project - "The Crush"

October 21 - Regular Meeting - 7PM, Cranbury Station; Dinner: Chicken Parmigiana

Program: Police Chief Ed Kahler will give us an update on activities and changes in the Cranbury Police Department since the last time he spoke to us and provide information about personal and home safety.

November, 2009

November 3 - Board of Directors Meeting - 7:30PM, Boy Scout Room (Town Hall)

November 4 - Regular Meeting - 7PM, Cranbury Station; Dinner: Broiled Salmon

Program: David Stewart of Cranbury is a research engineer at Ocean Power Technologies.
He will talk about the generation of electricity from ocean waves, a promising source of non-polluting energy. Dave will explain how power is derived from waves, describe the electricity-producing buoys that have been developed and discuss the status of prototype power generating systems that have been installed and the future of the technology.

November 18 - Regular Meeting - 7PM, Cranbury Station; Dinner: Roast Turkey

Program: Marie Lockhart of Puppy PALS 4H Club, will describe the foster home aspect of raising the dogs and how these foster "parents" train the puppies in a way to prepare them to "go to school" at the Seeing Eye Dog School in Morristown; she will bring a puppy or two) to show the levels of skill, and she will ask if anyone would be willing to become a "foster parent".

Things To Know

We'd like to remind all members to PLEASE, share the Jargon with your Spouse, so that our events may be better scheduled on your personal or family calendars for better attendance and participation. Please Note that Spouses are not only invited to attend all meetings, but to become Members under the Family Membership Initiative. In any event, Spouses are wholly encouraged to attend quarterly "Spouse Night" meetings. Our next Spouse Night is scheduled for October 7, at The Grape Escape.

As a reminder, the Club requires that all Members wear a Lion Vest when we are at a fundraiser or Service Project, and normally, we have vests in stock to sell to Members (straight cost). However, we have depleted our stock and need to order vests. If you do not have a vest or wish to order a vest in an additional color, please contact Club Secretary Bob to place your order. You may also order a baseball cap in the same or contrasting color. Vests are $40 (S-M-L) or $45 (XL, 2XL); hats are $12. Ladies Cut for vests is available.

VIP - VIP - VIP - Treasurer Dean Koehler has brought a problem concerning Member Dues to the Board of Directors. Apparently, we have a number of delinquent members; some by only a quarter (3 months), some by much, much more! Our Club dues are invoiced and payable, in advance, each quarter, so that we may pay International, State and District dues which are based on our membership numbers; we also need to pay our normal, as well as any special, administrative costs as they occur. We can only do that through the prompt payment of dues. The BOD would like to remind every member that dues are due and payable upon receipt of your quarterly invoice. If you have not yet received you Membership Card for 2009-10, it is an indication that you are at least two quarters delinquent in the payment of your dues. The Board requests all delinquencies be settled by the end of October, so that no further action need be taken. The Club would like to thank all members who have paid their dues in accordance with their membership agreement.

Unfortunately, our attempt to host a PorchFest wash rained out. We'd like to thank Lion Andre and Rosemarie Mento for offering their home, and perhaps we can try it again next year - perhaps earlier in the season!

In spite of the weather - it didn't really rain - Cranbury Day was held on September 12, and Co-Chairs Jeff Grundy and Pat Meehan, were out there with their cadre of volunteers. We would like to give a giant Attaboy to every volunteer, especially those that slaved over the grills for 5-6 hours! It appears that the ice cream cart needs some work, so we are looking for a volunteer that can clean it up and take the necessary steps to see if it needs any kind of mechanical check-up. Contact Lion Pat.

It would appear that a laurel and hardy handshake goes out to Program Chair Lion Christine Thompson and her crew as they hosted the Golden Agers Luncheon on behalf of the Club, in September. Christine advised that there were enough cakes, so we'd like to thank our Lion bakers; she also advises that Teddy's meatloaf was it's usual hit and Matthew Sager's musical program was a huge success. Thanks, Christine.

The Board of Directors and the Membership have approved another Wine Making Club Project at The Grape Escape (TGE) in Dayton. We will produce a barrel of Suisun Valley (California) Cabernet, which promises to be a rich Cabernet Sauvignon, with full fruit notes of blackberry, currant and cassis. It will be "drinkable" within a year of bottling and will improve with age over the next 5-7 years, if cellared properly. Please note that at this writing the barrel is already more than half sold; a 12-bottle case of wine is priced at $120 each ($10 per bottle); $60 for a half case. This is a direct cost; there is no fundraising for the Club. Members may split a case with other members. We will hold our October 7 meeting at TGE for the Grape Crush. Case sign-ups are being accepted. This is a regular meeting - you do not have to purchase wine to attend! If you did not sign up on the reservation sheet, or more information, please contact IPP Mike Kaiser or PDG Bob.

It's Pumpkin Carving time again! Event Chair Lion Dave Cook is putting together another fun evening of pumpkin carving for children at the Cranbury School on Friday, October 23, from 7-9PM. Lion Monty Hagerty is putting a crew together to serve cider and donuts. If you can volunteer to help either Dave or Monty, please contact them directly.

For quite a few years we have been "threatening" to have a fundraiser with a twist: an Adult Halloween Party. If we can find a barn, this may be the year. Watch your e-mail and the Cranbury Press; as soon as we are able to confirm this event, will start publicizing it.

The New Jamesburg LEO Club at the Jamesburg Home for Boys is still "in process", but hopefully moving forward! A program for the school has not been finalized, as Jamesburg needs to get approval from the State. We will be kept informed as to the status of this proposal. A LEO Club must be chartered by a Lions club, but due to security precautions, most, if not all, of the Club's advisory work will be done off-site, with an on-site employee/advisor who will work with a "Contributing Club Contact". Our newest Lions, Fay Kobland and Tim Demarest, have volunteered as the LEO Advisors, so that we can "hit the ground running" when the project finally comes to fruition.

We are also proud to announce that Lion Fay Kobland has volunteered to be the District 16-D Liaison to the Jamesburg Committee. Congratulations, Fay, on your appointment.

Our new LEO Club advisors have asked if they could try to start additional LEO Clubs in both the Cranbury School and the Princeton High School. The Board of Directors has approved this project, and asks that members - especially members with school age children - offer their assistance in these projects.

The USA/Canada Leadership Forum was held from September 24-26, in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a great place for a Forum: everything was easy to get to, transportation was as smooth as glass, the seminars were terrific and informing (as usual); the speakers were fantastic. Everyone that attended had a fun time and would recommend it to everyone else! Don't believe me? Ask President John or Lion Mike Kaiser, who attended this year - or Lion Alex or Lion Rick who attended in recent years.

The Forum continues to be the best thing that Lions International does for the individual Lion, and so many members would find benefit there, if they decided to attend, especially those who would like to help us bring the Club into the 21^st Century. You can "recharge your batteries" next year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and perhaps win a Harley Davidson Motorcycle. The "early bird" price of the Forum will be $240 (until June 30^th - pricing will be reconfirmed at a later date). Future Forums will be in Anchorage, AK (2011), Tampa, FL (2012), Overland Park, KS (2013), and just announced, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2014).

The Forum is always a good investment - and a lot of fun. Applications (for Milwaukee) will not be available until January, but if you have any questions, contact 16-D Forum Chair, PDG Bob Virgadamo, or go directly to the Forum website at https://usacanadalionsforum.org/memphisnews1.pdf.

Our Annual Golf Outing will be on Thursday, October 15, at the Peddie Golf Course. Apparently, we are still in dire need of Golfers! All Members are being asked to promote the Golf Outing and to try to bring in as many golfers as possible. For an application, go to the link on our website (www.cranburylions.org), or see Lion Ray Dickey.

White Cane Days are coming! The Board of Directors has approved a White Cane Collection Drive on October 23 & 24. The BOD would like to remind all members that the White Cane Drive is the quintessential Lion's Fundraiser, and in addition to raising charitable dollars, provides us with much needed visibility in town. Our last White Cane Collection, under the direction of Lion Jeff Grundy, netted over $900. Lion Jeff is asking for two hours of your time on either Friday or Saturday - more if you can spare it. We always hear the same "complaint", but all we can say is, no one likes shaking a can, but if there are two or three of us at any given location, we can still enjoy ourselves while we raise a few bucks - and while it's true that your two hours might only bring in $20 ... it could also bring in $100. And the more of us that are out there, the more visible we are to the public, which in turn, helps us raise the money we need to raise to complete our mission. Lion Jeff Grundy has a sign-up sheet going around at meetings, so please sign up for a date and time. If you are unable to make the meetings, please e-mail or call (609) 655-4999.

The new fundraising effort at Gil & Bert's Ice Cream Shoppe, is scheduled for Saturday, October 10. We will set up at the back of their (side) patio, and sell homemade brownies and cookies, and all proceeds will go toward local projects. There is a sign-up sheet going around at the meetings, or, if you can't make the meeting, e-mail or call (609) 409-9656 or e-mail .

By The Way: the September 16 meeting was dedicated to an interactive discussion among the membership on new ideas for new service projects and fundraisers; it was supposed to be led by Tail Twister Peter Turner, but Peter was ill and Lion Fay Kobland led the discussion. Fay did a great job of running this symposium, and as a Club, we came up with quite a few good ideas for the future. The ideas were brought to the Board of Directors at the October Board meeting, and we will report the results. Every member had been encouraged to attend this meeting to air 'grievances' and/or discuss new ideas to make meetings less "stodgy", and to make old projects and fundraisers more modern, while bringing in new, more "up-dated" projects. We would like to thank those who attended the meeting and provided their feedback; those of you who didn't attend, why are you still complaining?

Coming Soon...

The Cranbury Lions are planning to hold a new and exciting fundraising event that we hope will be able to be repeated every year - or at least every other year, for years to come. Our new Casino Night Fundraiser is being planned for February 2010. Details will be available shortly. However, as time and MANPOWER are of the essence here, anyone interested in working on the is fundraiser should contact PDG Bob or IPP Mike Kaiser, ASAP.

Habitat For Humanity is preparing to begin a new 'project house' in Hightstown; the BOD and Membership have approved a "Service Day" to help with this project. Discussions will continue after we have obtained additional details.

Membership - Membership - Membership

As we've said so often, membership is the key to our survival! New members will rejuvenate existing members and help to keep us ALL young-at-heart, active, and viable! President John is asking ALL members to assist Membership Chair Jon Goldstein in attracting and bringing in new members. Some of our members have said that the reason it took so long to become Lions was that no one asked! Ask your friends and neighbors if they would like to give a little of their time to serve and to give back to the community, while having a good time doing it with new friends. If every one of our 67 members asked just one person to join and only 25% of those people joined this year, we would increase our membership by 17 people! To get information about membership options or to obtain membership applications contact Membership Chair Jon, Secretary Bob, or President John. In any event, we MUST begin a proactive campaign to bring in new Members and keep our Lions Club from being Cranbury's "best kept secret".

...And Attendance...

President John is asking EVERY Cranbury Lion to provide suggestions on how we might be able to make the meetings more appealing to a broader range of the membership, in an effort to build a stronger Cranbury Lions Club. Since attendance is such a problem, there must be a reason or reasons; please provide your suggestions to President John directly. We can't fix it until we know what's broken!

Reminders

Do you know of an interesting speaker? You may be an interesting speaker! Please advise Program Chair Frank Marlowe with any and all suggestions for speakers at our meetings to: .

Any member who learns of the sickness or death of another member, or in a member's family, or any other similar incident or emergency, should contact Lions Frank Marlowe (Chair, H&W) and/or Dave Cook ("phone tree"), and/or Bob Virgadamo (e-mail notifications) so that all members may be notified as soon as possible.

Member Pick-Up - Ed Lawson (5 S. Main)

Lion George Smith has volunteered be the "permanent" pick up driver for Lion Ed; Lion Frank Marlowe has volunteered to be the "permanent" back-up driver. Drivers: if you cannot make your pick-up, please notify President Mike as soon as possible. Riders: please notify the assigned driver if you cannot make a meeting