Category: President’s Message

Greetings Lions, In my role as your International President I have been very busy trying to be the best representation of you that I can possibly be. In the day-to-day I am often absorbed with the details of my schedule – who I’m talking to, what we are discussing, how our efforts can strengthen Lions. […]

Greetings Lions, Creating a successful club is similar to growing any business. You begin by outlining a mission, creating a plan, and putting that plan into action. It takes hard work, but when you succeed, you can step back and see the beauty in what you built. When Lions ask me what is the key […]

Greetings Lions, People are natural storytellers. Consider the constellations. Nearly every culture in recorded history has made a story out of the stars. These stories enabled our ancestors to use the night sky to navigate, pass on oral histories, and to make sense of their world. This is still how we use stories today. Lions […]

Greetings Lions, In Busan, March is the time of year when everything starts to warm up a little. Animals come out of their dens, birds venture further from their nests, and people begin strolling around the streets, enjoying the reprieve from a long winter. There is an energy in the air as everything begins to […]

Greetings Lions, How does a stream become a river? It begins as a trickle of snow melt at the top of a mountain and flows downward, picking up more water as it runs, joining other streams. It wears away rock and soil as it flows, carving a path and shaping the landscape until one day […]

Greetings Lions, Out of all the diverse talents Lions possess, one in particular seems to be consistent across clubs and constitutional areas: the ability to turn difficult situations into opportunities. Now that we are well into 2021, more than a year since the first lockdowns began, many clubs have adjusted to a new normal. The […]

Greetings Lions, The two years that I have had the great honor of serving as your international president have been some of the most memorable and meaningful of my life. It’s inevitable that one goes into this role with a set of expectations about how it will be, but I can surely say that my […]

Dear Lions, We often talk about the power of working together. We know we are stronger as a club than as individuals. When I became a Lion, I knew I was joining something bigger than myself. I felt honored and excited. I felt like it was the natural extension of my life’s work. It gave […]

Dear Lions, It’s been a while since I’ve walked the halls of the Boys’ High School in Brooklyn, New York, where I went to school, and a lot has changed since I graduated. In the seventies it became the Boys’ and Girls’ High School and relocated to a bigger campus on Fulton and Utica. But […]

Dear Lions, As anyone who is close to me knows, there is nothing more important to me than family. Family first. That’s my motto. When someone tells me they can’t make an event because they have a family obligation, I tell them, “Yes, of course! Go be with your family.” Quality time with our loved […]

Dear Lions, As a Lion, one of my favorite projects during this time of year is serving food to those who don’t have enough to eat. And one of the things I think about a lot when I do this is how important it is to serve from the heart. Now, I can go to […]

Dear Lions, I love the month of January because it brings such a sense of hope. A new year, a new start. While we are in the midst of a busy season of service as Lions, I like to pause and reflect on the calendar year—the one that is coming to a close and the […]

Dear Lions, Once upon a time…remember those magic words? They have the power to instantly transport you to another place and time. That’s what stories do. They stop time and enable you to imagine other worlds. When I was young, I loved to read stories about baseball players and listen to my grandmother tell stories […]

Dear Lions, I have always believed that you take care of the things you care about. That’s why I keep my home tidy and my plants watered. When something is damaged, I fix it. I know that if I don’t do these things, my house won’t be the place I want to call home. The […]

Dear Lions, I have never had much of a green thumb, but I know the importance of gardening. I know we will reap what we sow. And if we don’t plant the seeds of kindness and love, we will not see the glow of peace. Every year we ask students to show us what peace […]

Dear Lions, What do you do with your free time? I believe that how you spend your free time can change you. Most of us are so busy racing through the day that it becomes easy to let those free moments slip through your fingers—whether it’s aimlessly scrolling the internet or spending too much time […]

Hello, Lions! I’m proud to be from Bird Island. I’m proud to be a son and a father. But I’m most proud of my role as a Lion. Here in Bird Island everyone knows us. It’s a small community and our club has made our presence known in many ways, most prominently by building a […]

Hello, Lions! There’s one thing better than watching a great team in action—being on the team! There are few things I love more than pulling on a jersey, grabbing a glove, and taking my place on the field. It’s hard work, it requires dedication, but it’s also just so much fun. Of course, I’m talking […]

Hello, Lions! In Minnesota, even though December is cold and dark, our hearts are never more warm and filled with light than they are during this time. It’s in December that we share meals with loved ones and find ways to connect with friends we haven’t seen all year. We look for ways to give […]

Hello, Lions! It’s amazing but not at all surprising to me when I meet a Lion who has served for five or six decades. Lions are the most dedicated people I’ve ever known. We live to serve, and we know our actions have real impact. But if we are to make a lasting impact, we […]

Hello, Lions! Learning how to lead is one of the perks of being a Lion. We invest in our Lions to ensure that you have all the opportunities you need to become effective leaders in service, in your communities, and in life. But don’t mistake having a title for being a leader. You could be […]

Hello, Lions! I can’t believe my year as your international president is already coming to a close. But when I look back at the places I visited and the many faces I saw, I am humbled by the sheer scale of the work we do as Lions. We’ve had such incredible success! As we bring […]