NEW BUSINESS:

Strawberry Festival: 
May 24 and 25, 2008. Lion Jack Freer will need help setting up the tent Friday May 23, 2008 from 3:00 PM to about 6:00 PM. Lion Jack sent around sign up sheets for concession stand workers. Shifts are from 9:00 AM until Noon; Noon until 3:00 PM and 3:00 PM until 6:00 PM. Hey, don’t be afraid to pick a couple of shifts, many hands make light work. This is a successful fund raiser but help is needed to make it a winner.

Woody Car Show:
Lion Gary Valerio reported that everything is progressing very nicely. Lion Gary handed out the itinerary of the Woody Program and the Celebrate Commemorate Memorial Day schedule. He would like to have as many Lions as possible attend the dinner at Abigail’s at 6:30 PM Saturday, May 24, to honor the Mid-State Campbell employees. Contact Lion Gary for more details.

12th Annual Golf Tournament:
Lion Red Wadhams is back from Florida, welcome home. Lion Red will coordinate the tournament again. It’s time to get into gear for selling ads for the tournament. More organizations are scheduling tournaments with the same ideas in mind, so competition for ads is going to be tight. Cards with previous business donations are available at this meeting and the next. We are not limited to just these people for ads, new ones are welcomed.

SPEAKERS:

Speaker (11/1/07):
Our guest is Diane Draheim, Director of the House of Concern. The House of Concern is basically a food pantry which was started in 1969. Funding is mostly by donation, no state or federal funding provided. Some clothing and furniture is available for sale or emergency giving. These goods come from people and companies like Holliday Inn when they remodel. This would include furniture, drapes, pillows, bedding, etc. Qualifications were discussed, to be eligible to obtain help from the House of Concern. This was a very enlightening and informative program.

Speaker (11/15/07):
Our guest, Pete Lawatsch, started with an introduction to the Search and Rescue Program. Shirley Lawatsch handler of Obi Wan Canoga, a Rotwieller, trained in search and rescue situations. The training is extensive and expensive. Human scent can’t be used in the training even though the dog is looking for humans. A few of the problems in training is having the dog wear a life vest in water searches. The dog has the ability to pick up scents from humans 60 feet deep in water. The dog is trained to do cadaver searches. They were used readily during the 9/11 searches. The dog has padded booties to wear In searches where the ground it hot or acidic to the pads of the dog’s feet. That is one of his breathing and sweating areas. Shirley spoke of some of the searches they have been part of, fascinating. The seriousness of the dog’s work requires there be a lot of play time for the animal so he doesn’t get stagnant. Obi has won several awards for his work in search and rescue.

OLD BUSINESS: