District 105w donations, cheques made
‘Lions Clubs International District 105w’ marked on the back
‘LCIF Katrina’, to District Treasurer Lion David.
Briefing No. 8.
posted 6th October by Clement F. Kusiak
2005-2006 LCIF Chairman
Donations are pouring into
LCIF to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Every day we also receive numerous
reports of how Lions nationwide are assisting the relief effort. Hundreds,
if not thousands, of clubs have collected and transported goods, provided
services for evacuees, raised funds or even traveled to the
Gulf
Coast
to lend a hand. Here are just a few examples.
- A
14-person Lions Disaster team from
Nevada
and
California
loaded up pickup trucks and motor homes with food, clothing and
supplies, headed east to
Mississippi
and set up a central command post at the
Gulfport
Lions
Deaf
Center
. Quickly realizing that families in need had no way to come to them,
the Lions broke up into four-person teams and traveled deep into rural
areas to deliver supplies. Grateful recipients said the Lions were the
first relief personnel they had seen. The Lions, who had to battle
hordes of nasty mosquitoes, also helped the distressed residents with
debris removal.
- The
daughter of Past International Director Jack Weber persuaded her
students at a Long Island,
New York
, school to donate the funds they raised for Katrina victims to LCIF.
The amount is expected to be several thousand dollars.
- The
Waverly Lions Club in
Iowa
is gathering 1,000 pounds of construction-related tools and supplies
such as hammers, saws, nails and screwdrivers for a Lions warehouse in
Mobile
,
Ala.
, that is serving hurricane victims. Other clubs in the Waverly Club’s
zone were challenged to match that amount.
- Spearheaded
by the Liberty Lions Club, many Lions clubs in
Indiana
filled a semi-tractor truck with food, clothing, baby supplies and
toilet paper and had a trucker drive it to the Lions’ warehouse in
Mobile
.
- Lions
from District 2-S2 in the
Houston
area provided vision screenings for 3,000 evacuees at the
Reliant
Center
and the
George
R.
Brown
Convention Center
in
Houston
. About 2,000 of those screened were fitted with replacement eyeglasses.
LensCrafters and Wal-Mart partnered with Lions on the Lions Eyeglasses
for Katrina Evacuees Project. The Lions Eye Bank of
Texas
trailer is now being used to reach evacuees in other locations who may
need eyeglasses.
LCIF also is moving ahead
with assistance to those affected by Katrina. The steering committee for
hurricane relief arranged for a mobile eye van belonging to the Alabama
Lions to provide vision exams and dispense eyeglasses in
Mississippi
. Vision Service Plan (VSP) has generously agreed to provide optometrists to
staff the van (in addition to volunteer Lions), and the University of
Alabama-Birmingham is providing the necessary equipment. Uncovered expenses
will be paid for by LCIF from the US$200,000 Major Catastrophe grant it
previously awarded. Undoubtedly, this project will not only help people with
their eyeglass needs but also uncover eye disease in its early stage and
prevent blindness.
Lions also have provided
children in
Mississippi
whose schools were destroyed with a “school in a box,” a UNICEF kit with
school materials and supplies. Lions delivered 23 kits, each of which serves
80 children, to the
St. Martin
school district, which had two of its three schools destroyed, and Bay
Waveland school district, which has only one school open out of six.
The kits contain 39 kinds of school items including books, pencils, erasers,
scissors, chalkboards, plastic cubes for counting and a set of three
laminated posters (alphabet and multiplication and number tables). The kit
allows a teacher to establish a makeshift classroom almost anywhere.
The school superintendents
who received the kits “expressed their deep appreciation for our efforts
and asked that we keep them in our prayers,” said International Director
Howard Jenkins of
Mississippi
, who, along with Past International Directors Al Brandel of
New York
and Lowell Bonds of Alabama, spearheaded the effort to help the
schoolchildren. Jenkins and Bonds serve on the steering committee set up by
LCIF to coordinate Katrina relief. The school kit operation is the first
time the
U.S.
government permitted UNICEF to aid in an American disaster. Lions are one of
only four distribution organizations.
LCIF has received US$1.5
million to date from Lions for Hurricane Katrina relief. LCIF will use the
funds to address unmet needs of those affected by the hurricane including:
1.) providing shelters with
unmet substantial needs such as food, clothing, personal hygiene items and
bedding, 2.) offering health services such as eyeglass distribution, and 3.)
meeting needs of Lions camps and facilities housing victims of the disaster.
Donations to LCIF for
Hurricane Katrina from Aug. 29 to Nov. 30, 2005, are eligible for Melvin
Jones Fellowship recognition. To count toward an MJF, the donation must be a
single US$1,000 payment from a donor. The Melvin Jones Fellow does not have
to be named when the donation is made.
The relief efforts of Lions
and LCIF have resulted in many newspaper and radio stories. In some cases
one Lions’ project has led to multiple stories. Lions Tod Curtis and Frank
Stove from the Mount Prospect Lions Club near
Chicago
piloted a plane to
Slidell
,
La.
, to deliver 1,500 pounds of donations. The two Lions brought back with them
two evacuees who were reunited with their families staying at a shelter near
Chicago
. Lion Frank Salato handled the public relations and did a great job. At
least three newspapers and three radio stations ran stories.
You, too, can help
publicize the relief efforts of your clubs and districts. Our special Web
site on Katrina has a list of dos and don’ts in dealing with the media
as well as a generic press release.
The Web site also has a Help
Link to connect Lions who want to help with Lions in the
Gulf
Coast
. Lions in the
Gulf
Coast
: please regularly view this page and contact those Lions who can provide
the services and goods you may need.
Please continue to support
LCIF’s relief efforts. Clubs that accept monetary donations from the
public can forward those funds to LCIF. Be sure to provide us with the
contact information for the donors so LCIF can send them a warm
acknowledgement.
Lions in the
Gulf
Coast
are tremendously grateful for the assistance of other Lions. As just one
example, District Governor Ann Sanders of 8-L in
Louisiana
wrote to LCIF, “I thank God for all the Lions that have come forward to
help. I have had phone calls from all over the
U.S.
and was very glad to hear from them. I also have received e-mails from
across the ocean. God bless you all and all at International.”
I have one final piece of
news. Fortunately, Hurricane Rita was not as devastating as feared. But
there was widespread damage. LCIF has approved or will approve shortly
several US$10,000 Emergency Grants to allow Lions to distribute vouchers for
food, clothing and medicine.
Yours in service, Clement
F. Kusiak, 2005-2006 LCIF Chairperson
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing No. 7.
posted 18th September by Lion Michael Kennedy, Louisiana to DG Lion Jim
Dear
Lion Jim
Thank
you for your voices of concern. Truly, all of the Louisiana Lions were
in shock for some days as we either fled to havens of refuge or, for us not
in the path of destruction, found homes for those in the hurricane path. Indeed,
we are still in the crisis mode. Many of us in
North
Louisiana
have
several families living with us. The standard hurricane shelters are
overloaded by the staggering volume of refugees from this event. It
was several days before we could discover where the separated family members
had found haven. Some have still not been connected with their family
members.
The Councils of Louisiana,
Alabama
, and
Mississippi
are
working this week to organize our own relief efforts, first to our own LION
families and then to the rest. Our efforts are hampered because so many
of our Lions in the effected areas are scattered across the nation. So
many multiple districts in the US and Canada have offered to help that we
have organized Three staging areas for the truckloads promised before
distributing to the needy shelters: One is at our La Lions Camp in
Leesville, LA, Another in the Baton Rouge Area where a large population of
victims are housed, and still another in the Lafayette area. The
Lions of Louisiana are concentrating on the NON-RED CROSS Shelters and those
in the overloaded homes. Until the search and rescue operations by the
Government have ceased, there is limited access to the disaster areas and
nothing can be done in these areas. These areas are off limits.
The
initial and likely ongoing needs include purchasing and distributing bedding,
clothing, toiletries, bulk food for shelters, and vouchers for those living
in homes. I say likely ongoing because this will not be the usual
couple of week cleanup and everybody will go home after the hurricane
If you can imagine living in a shelter with many, many other families,most
of which you do not know, you have some idea of the new lifestyle that
they face for the near future. Imagine taking in 3,4 or 5
families into your home and your grocery bill exploding! We are
working with a
Texas
vendor
to provide some 60 mobile homes/manufactured homes for some of the
families. Building pads must be prepared. This Resource Identification
task is proving to be a major task. The
Baton
Rouge
area
is the new home for many evacuee's, but thousands of evacuees are in every
city in
Louisiana
and
east
Texas
.
Employment
is one of our major concerns for these people and is one of our focus
areas of relief. From a human dignity standpoint, if anyone wants to
work we will try to find them the opportunity.
Short term emergency grants from LCIF have already been distributed.
LCIF is working with the Councils from LA, MS and AL for the next
Mid-Term series of Grants and soon, after rebuilding has begun, the Long
Term series of large rebuilding grants. The rebuilding phase
will begin in about 90 days and is likely to last 12-24 months.
Again,
thank you, our Lions friends, for your concern and
sympathies. And thank you for your continued support of LCIF.
Michael
Kennedy, IPCC
Secretary to the Council
Multiple District 8 -
Louisiana
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing No. 6.
posted 15th September by DG Lion Jim Hamilton
Fellow
Lions. We cannot fail to be touched by the terrible devastation caused by
hurricane Katrina in the Southern USA. Thousands
have been left homeless and face an uncertain future, an unknown number have
lost family and friends to this disaster.
We
have the opportunity to help our American cousins by supporting the LCIF
appeal. My
earlier message to you all, was now is the time to go out and shake
tins and buckets, let the public know that we as Lions, care for those
suffering from this staggering catastrophe. Help LCIF, support the local
Lions of the region, do what Lions do best, helping those in need. Much has
been stated about the USA being a prosperous country, however, this does not
stop us as Lions aiding fellow Lions in the mammoth task ahead of them and
their commitment to relieve suffering.
Progress on LCIF efforts will continue to be posted on this website.
Please
note that all contributions to this appeal should be made through our
District Treasurer, this will enable us to keep a check on District
contributions. Cheques are to be
made payable to ' Lions Clubs International District 105w' endorsed LCIF
Katrina.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing No. 5. posted
14th September by Clement F. Kusiak, 2005-2006 LCIF Chairman.
Despite suffering damage to their own homes and
communities, Lions in the states devastated by Hurricane Katrina are
reaching out to those most in need. Lions are responding to the tragedy with
an untold number of service hours and with great concern and compassion.
I also am pleased to tell you that donations for Hurricane
Katrina relief are eligible for Melvin Jones Fellowship (MJF) recognition.
LCIF’s normal policy is that MJF recognition is not allowed for designated
donations. To encourage donations for Katrina victims, the LCIF Board of
Trustees amended this policy. Donations sent to LCIF for Hurricane Katrina
relief from Aug. 29 to Nov. 30, 2005 (postmarked by Nov. 30), are eligible
for MJF recognition. To count toward an MJF, the donation must be a single
US$1,000 payment from a donor. The Melvin Jones Fellow does not have to be
named when the donation is made.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing No. 4.
posted 14th September
by Clement F.
Kusiak, 2005-2006 LCIF Chairman.
Reports are coming in
almost hourly to LCIF on the relief efforts of Lions. Following is the
latest summary of how Lions and LCIF are helping hurricane victims:
Lions
in
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
Alabama
and
Florida
are staffing shelters and
collecting funds, food and supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims, and LCIF
is mobilizing support and providing funding for Lions on the ground in the
affected areas. Lions from around the
United States
and as far away as
Germany
and
Thailand
are donating money to LCIF.
LCIF
awarded a US$200,000 Major Catastrophe Grant within days of the disaster.
LCIF is focusing its short-term relief in three areas: 1.) providing
shelters with unmet substantial needs such as food, clothing, personal
hygiene items and bedding, 2.) offering health services such as eyeglass
distribution, and 3.) meeting needs of Lions camps and facilities housing
victims of the disaster.
LCIF
also has awarded seven US$10,000 Emergency Grants for Lions in the affected
areas to issue vouchers for food, water and clothing to hurricane victims.
LCIF
Chairperson Clement Kusiak has appointed a steering committee of four
leading Lions from the four states most affected by the tragedy to serve as
liaisons between LCIF, Lions in the disaster areas and Lions who want to
help.
LCIF
will soon set up a special Web site (www.lions-katrina.org) on Lions’
hurricane relief effort. The site will include a Web-based Help Link to
connect Lions who want to volunteer time or donate goods with Lions in the
affected areas who are staffing shelters or otherwise helping victims.
Lions
in heavily damaged Districts 8-S and 8-N in
Louisiana
evacuated their homes as did
the general population. Louisiana Lions in 8-L, several hours north of New
Orleans and generally not directly touched by the disaster, are helping to
take care of thousands of displaced people who left New Orleans and other
places before the hurricane hit.
“I’ve
never seen anything like this in my life and I never want to see it
again,” said District Governor Ann Sanders of 8-L. “People came here
with only the clothes on their back. We have babies who need diapers and
food.”
Lions
in her district have quickly collected at least several thousand dollars so
far to assist the refugees, said Sanders. Lions from
Connecticut
,
Massachusetts
and
Maine
have called her to offer
help. The Lion from
Maine
who called is coordinating a shipment of two 18-wheelers
of supplies. A Lion from
Lafayette,
La., is driving over with a car full of meat.
Lions
are assisting at improvised non-Red Cross shelters that have sprung up.
Lions also are helping out at larger venues such as the gym at
Louisiana
State
University
in
Shreveport, which is holding some 2,000
displaced people.
Some
Lions have opened shelters in their capacity as a state or government
employee. Vice District Governor Dinah Landry of 8-O is housing 500
displaced people in Cameron Parish, where she is head of the Council for
Aging.
The
Louisiana Lions Children’s Camp in Leesville is housing and feeding 114
people who fled north from
New Orleans
before Katrina hit. Half of
them are Lions themselves. Just because they are displaced does not mean
they are forgetting about their identity as Lions “They’ve kept busy.
They’ve cleaned the campgrounds,” said Ray Cecil, camp director.
“They’re refugees who’ve lost their homes and livelihood but they’ve
been busy the whole time they’ve been here.”
Lions
are filling the unmet needs they come across. The Opelousas Club and
Carencro Club in
Louisiana
are helping people get drug
prescriptions filled. The Grandlake-Sweetlake Club has helped churches put
together packages of necessities for people at shelters.
Vice
District Governor Nancey Farr of 8-N in
Louisiana
toured several shelters to
assess the need. She discovered that the
Judson
Baptist
Church
in Watson had been converted
into an instant maternity ward with 12 babies after agreeing to lend a hand
to Woman’s Hospital in
Baton Rouge
. Another church operating a
shelter built makeshift wooden showers outside the church and still another
church shelter with 700 people was being visited by a doctor who was
treating patients with embedded roofing nails.
At
Faith
Family
Church
in Watson, Farr discovered
that 80 people were forced to sleep on pews that were unceremoniously pulled
together. Farr arranged for food for the shelter residents and called a
judge-friend to recruit young people to unload the trailers.
“I
could just go on and on about the things I saw and the people that I spoke
to,” wrote Farr in an e-mail. “Their faces, their stories … make you
thank God even more often than we normally do.”
The
ability of Lions in the devastated areas of
Mississippi
to offer aid to others has
been partly limited because of damage to their own homes. “Most of us have
to clear debris around our own homes, clean out freezers of spoiled food and
take care of other household duties that could not be addressed during the
power outages,” Raymond Roberts of Brookhaven, Cabinet Secretary of
District 30-I, wrote in an e-mail to LCIF. Gas shortages and loss of
communication services also has made it difficult to launch a coordinated
relief effort, he added.
Still,
the Brookhaven Lions purchased $250 worth of paper plates, cups, napkins and
toilet paper for two local shelters and gave children at four shelters
oversized coloring books it had been selling as a fund-raiser. The Wesson
Lions Club has been staffing a shelter at a community college set up for
emergency electrical power workers.
Gregory
Crapo of
Gulfport
, Cabinet Secretary for
District 30-N, reported to LCIF that “basically [there is] nothing left to
this area. Very few homes and businesses survived. The majority of our
schools and churches have been destroyed. Many parents are already
relocating to get their children into school before it is too late. There
are no prospects for jobs because there are no businesses left.”
Yet
Crapo said he and others remain undaunted. “Each day is a little better as
power comes back to those buildings that are still standing,” he told LCIF.
“I know the Lions are coming. We are getting contacts via various means
from Lions and clubs all over the
U.S.
wanting to help. The local
Lions are helping individually through the Red Cross and personal
volunteering at the hospitals and distribution points.”
The
Mississippi Lions state office asked clubs to purchase chain saws. “We
figure one person can clear his home and then pass the chain saw on to the
next person,” David Barham, council secretary, wrote in an e-mail to LCIF.
Lions
in
Alabama
are focusing their efforts on
the coastline area where 3,000 homes were destroyed. “Everyone keeps
hearing about
New Orleans
and
Mississippi
and it’s like nothing
happened in
Alabama
. But it did,” said Council
Chairperson Rick Berry of
Enterprise
,
Ala.
The
Alabama Lions dispatched one of their eye vans to the coast to do screenings
and eyeglass recycling for hurricane victims. A second eye van will serve
the needs of displaced people who are in shelters in the middle of the
state.
The
Dothan,
Ala., area has 4,000 refugees,
most of them from
Mississippi, said
Berry. At one shelter, Lions are
helping to feed 80 to 100 people each night. Lions in 34-I sent a truckload
of water and supplies to
Mississippi
. Anticipating the donation of
goods, Lions in
Alabama
have secured in advance a large storage space at a
Wal-Mart building in
Mobile. “Lions here are at work. We’re doing everything we
can,” said
Berry
.
Lions
in the affected states are using the LCIF Emergency Grants to issue vouchers
to victims to purchase food, water and medicine. Government and civil
resources are stretched to the limit in rural areas especially, and Lions
are filling in gaps.
Supported
by LCIF, the
Texas
Lions
Eyeglass
Recycling
Center
will distribute eyeglasses
and offer eye care services to evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston and
other nearby shelters. Fourteen Lions will work with the Houston
Ophthalmological Society on the project.
“I
cannot express my appreciation enough to the Lions who are supporting us in
recovering from this disaster,” District Governor Robert Andrepont of 8-O
wrote in an e-mail to LCIF. “LCIF was very helpful and timely with
processing my grant application. I have received e-mails with promises of
support and prayer from around the world. I cannot tell you how much we
treasure our fellow Lions' thoughts and prayers.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing
No. 3, posted 2nd
September by DG Lion Jim Hamilton
You
may assume that the fund is an LCIF one. We can now go out with our
tins and shake our buckets, remembering always that every penny donated will
be spent on helping those in need and will be spent by
Lions in the locality who know what is what.
This is the most serious natural disaster to hit the
USA
in modern times. Let us remember the help
we in this country have had from LCIF and give our American cousins all the
help and support we can.
I am sure that the public at large will want to give generously.
In Lionism
Lion
Jim (DG)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing
No 2. posted 6th September by
Clement F. Kusiak, 2005-2006 LCIF Chairman
Latest
News on Hurricane Relief
Lions in the affected states who have not been displaced themselves are
feeding people at shelters, providing necessities such as toothbrushes and
bedding and collecting funds to buy food and water for those at shelters.
Lions from around the
United States
and far as far away as
Germany
and
Thailand
are collecting supplies and
donating money to LCIF.
Lions
in heavily damaged Districts 8-S and 8-N in
Louisiana
evacuated their homes as did
the general population. Louisiana Lions in 8-L, several hours north of New
Orleans and generally not directly touched by the disaster, are helping to
take care of thousands of displaced people who left New Orleans and other
places before the hurricane hit.
"I've
never seen anything like this in my life and I never want to see it
again," said District Governor Ann Sanders of 8-L. "People came
here with only the clothes on their back. We have babies who need diapers
and food."
Lions
in her district have quickly collected at least US$3,500 so far to assist
the refugees, said Sanders. Lions from
Connecticut
,
Massachusetts
and
Maine
have called her to offer
help. The Lion from
Maine
who called is coordinating a shipment of two 18-wheelers
of supplies. A Lions from
Lafayette
,
La.
, is driving over with a car full of meat.
Lions
are assisting at improvised non-Red Cross shelters that have sprung up.
Lions also are helping out at larger venues such as the gym at
Louisiana
State
University
in
Shreveport
, which is holding some 2,000
displaced people. Lions also are feeding and clothing 160 Lions from
southern
Louisiana
who fled north and took
refugee at Louisiana Lions Children's Camp in Leesville.
Some
Lions have opened shelters in their capacity as a state or government
employee. Vice District Governor Dinah Landry of 8-O is housing 500
displaced people in Cameron Parish, where she is head of the Council for
Aging.
The
ability of Lions in the devastated areas of
Mississippi
to offer aid to others is
limited because of damage to their own homes. "Most of us have to clear
debris around our own homes, clean out freezers of spoiled food and take
care of other household duties that could not be addressed during the power
outages," Raymond Roberts of Brookhaven, Cabinet Secretary of District
30-I, wrote in an e-mail to LCIF. Gas shortages and loss of communication
services also has made it difficult to launch a coordinated relief effort,
he added.
Still,
the Brookhaven Lions purchased $250 worth of paper plates, cups, napkins and
toilet paper for two local shelters and gave children at four shelters
oversized coloring books it had been selling as a fund-raiser. The Wesson
Lions Club has been staffing a shelter at a community college set up for
emergency electrical power workers.
Gregory
Crapo of
Gulfport
, Cabinet Secretary for
District 30-N, reported to LCIF that "basically [there is] nothing left
to this area. Very few homes and businesses survived. The majority of our
schools and churches have been destroyed. Many parents are already
relocating to get their children into school before it is too late. There
are no prospects for jobs because there are no businesses left."
Yet
Crapo said he and others remain undaunted. "Each day is a little better
as power comes back to those buildings that are still standing," he
told LCIF. "I know the Lions are coming. We are getting contacts via
various means from Lions and clubs all over the
U.S.
wanting to help. The local
Lions are helping individually through the Red Cross and personal
volunteering at the hospitals and distribution points."
Lions
in the affected states are using the Emergency Grants to issue vouchers to
victims to purchase food, water and medicine. Government and civil resources
are stretched to the limit in rural areas especially, and Lions are filling
in gaps.
Supported
by LCIF, the
Texas
Lions
Eyeglass
Recycling
Center
will distribute eyeglasses
and offer eye care services to evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston and
other nearby shelters. Fourteen Lions will work with the Houston
Ophthalmological Society on the project.
"I
cannot express my appreciation enough to the Lions who are supporting us in
recovering from this disaster," District Governor Robert Andrepont of
8-O wrote in an e-mail to LCIF. "LCIF was very helpful and timely with
processing my grant application. I have received e-mails with promises of
support and prayer from around the world. I cannot tell you how much we
treasure our fellow Lions' thoughts and prayers."
Lion
leaders in the affected states are meeting over the next few days and plan
to devise a more coordinated response to the tragedy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing
No 1. posted
1st September 2005
by LCIF Chairman
The devastation caused
by Hurricane Katrina in
Louisiana
,
Mississippi
,
Alabama
and
Florida
is deeply troubling. Our hearts go out to
those who are suffering and face an uncertain future. We are acutely aware
of the struggle for clean water, food and shelter, to say nothing of the
need to be able to return to work and school.
LCIF will do all it can to help victims recover their lives. LCIF has
awarded a US$200,000 Major Catastrophe Grant to help victims. I also have
approved emergency grants for districts affected by the hurricane. Three
US$10,000 emergency grants have been awarded for Districts 8-O, 8-S 8-I in
Louisiana
. I expect many emergency grants to be
approved very soon when district governors are able to contact us.
LCIF has set up a designated fund for Lions and others who wish to
help the hurricane victims.
All donations for Hurricane Katrina count toward a club’s and
district’s giving totals. (Donations from
U.S.
residents also are tax deductible.)
However, these donations are not eligible for Melvin Jones Fellowship
recognition.
As with other large-scale disasters, I am sure Lions are eager to
assist victims in various ways besides donating funds. To help facilitate
the expected volunteer efforts of Lions, with the approval of the executive
officers, I have appointed a steering committee of four leading Lions from
the four states most affected by the tragedy to serve as liaisons between
LCIF, Lions in the disaster areas and Lions who want to help.
These four Lions are:
-
International
Director Robert Eichhorn,
Metairie
,
Louisiana.
-
International
Director Howard Jenkins,
Columbus
,
Mississippi.
-
Past
International Director Lowell Bonds,
Hoover
,
Alabama.
-
Past
International Director E. Robert Lastinger, Wesley Chapel,
Florida.
I have asked Past
International Director Bonds to oversee the steering committee for the
purpose of coordinating short-term and long-term assistance for the
hurricane victims.
Please keep in mind that they may difficult to reach, at least
initially, because of disruption in services in the disaster areas as well
as their heavy workload. Please keep trying to reach them.
We are aware that in past disasters of this magnitude goods often are
collected and shipped to a disaster area that are not needed and ultimately
are not used. So please refrain from collecting items until more about
immediate needs is known.
You should also know that International President Ashok Mehta has
issued a statement on the hurricane on the Lions’ Web
site. Please take a minute to read his words of consolation and
encouragement.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those in the affected areas. Thank
you in advance for any assistance you can provide.
Yours in Service, Clement F. Kusiak,
2005-2006 LCIF Chairperson
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