Past Events 2018-2019 #3

 

A Wonderful Honor

Earlier in the year I received an email from Cindee Tine of Middletown. It seems her 13 year old daughter, Emma Lemieux wanted to collect used eyeglasses for the Middletown Lions Club. That in itself was a wonderful thought. However, Cindee and Emma lived in Middletown and Emma went to the Independent Day School in Middlefield. It is not correct for any Lions Club in one town to perform an activity in another town where there is a Lions Club such as the Middlefield Lions Club.

As the President of the Middletown Lions Club I contacted President, Marc D'Amato of the Middlefield Lions Club and explained the situation to him. He thought this project that Emma wanted to undertake was a good one and gave us the green light for Emma to collect used eyeglasses for our club.

I contacted Emma's mother, Cindee and told her that we got permission for Emma to collect used eyeglasses at her school on behalf of the Middletown Lions Club. Now you have all of the background information.

Besides all of her school work and other committments in school and at home Emma collected 23 pairs of eyeglasses for our club. To some people that might not seem to be a lot of eyeglasses, but to all of the members of the Middletown Lions Club, that was WONDERFUL!

We included Emma's collected eyeglasses in our official count for the year which was 554 pairs.

At our April 16th monthly dinner meeting I proposed to our club that we honor Emma for the great work that she had done on behalf of our club. Emma, her mother, Cindee Tine, and her father, Troy Lemieux were invited to our May 21st monthly dinner meeting so we could meet Emma and her family and properly honor her.

Emma and her parents came to our May 21st monthly dinner meeting and we bought them all dinner on us, and devoted our "New Business" to honoring Emma. While everyone was finishing up their dinners I had gotten up and picked up a beautifully framed certificate that I was going to present to Emma. In my sports jacket pocket I had another gift for her.

I had Emma and her family stand while I made the presentations. I first presented Emma with the framed certificate. Everyone could tell how proud she was to receive it. Her parents looked on with great joy as well. I told Emma that many young teenagers seem not to have time to help others and that Emma should be very proud of herself for what she had done. Everyone in the club applauded Emma and her hard work. I then told Emma that I was presenting her with a special gift that we normally present to visiting District Governors. I presented her with a bronze lion statue. Emma looked delighted and so were her mother and father. In fact the entire club again broke out with more applause because we were all delighted.

 

After the presentations to Emma I sat down and gave her the floor to tell all of our members more about herself. When Emma was done all of us gave Emma a big round of applause once again.

It was clear to everyone that evening that Emma Lemieux was a very bright student with many interests. It was also so very evident that she would have a great future ahead of her.

 

Eyeglass Extravaganza

On Saturday, April 27, 2019 District 23C held its 8th Annual Eyeglass Extravaganza at McCook Point Park, in Niantic, Connecticut.

The weather was sunny, cold and windy but that could not dampen the spirits of everyone who was there including runners and walkers for another District event which was taking place on the boardwalk, the Journey for Sight.

VDG Frank Row was overseeing this event with the assistance of PDG Ken Tucker. Ken's grand daughter, Katelyn was the official score keeper - keeping track of all of the pairs of eyeglasses that were counted. My wife, Terri Geltman and I were eyeglass counters for the event.

Many clubs had previously counted and separated their colected eyeglasses. The remainder were counted by us.

 

The event this year took in 28,700 pairs of eyeglasses. They were driven to the Lions Eyeglass Recycling center in New Jersey by PDG Ken Tucker and VDG Frank Rowe. In 8 years of the Eyeglass Extravaganza lions in District 23C have collected 172,532 pairs of eyeglasses that will help so many peoplein other countries.

 

 

Two of our other members braved the cold, 1st Vice President, Martin Knight and Treasurer, Richard Pelletier selling candy as part of our club fundraiser.

 

St. Baldrick's Brave the Shave

On Sunday, April 7, 2019 the District 23-C in conjunction with the St. Baldrick's Foundation put on the 5th Annual Brave the Shave event at the Mystic Hilton, in Mystic, Connecticut.

VDG Diana Grise and PDG Ken Tucker were the event officials from District 23-C. There were a good number of people involved working on preparing for this event for a good number of months.

The purpose of the event was to raise money to help find cures for childhood cancers. Many of the people volunteering to be shaved had pages on the St. Baldrick Foundation's website so that donors could make donations in their names. There were teams, individuals, and other groups formed to see who could raise the highest amount of money for the children.

It was a privilege for me to be on the committee as the Shavee Recruiter and Recognition Coordinator. I was also proud to be one of the many shavee's.

The event took in $26,290. My goal was to raise $500. I raised $441. I thank the many donors for the event and the people who donated on my behalf.

We were entertained by a three-piece band with a singer until the opening ceremonies at 1pm. There were a number of presentations to DG Laura Rowe, VDG Diana, and PDG Ken Tucker. A number of others were also given certificates

A number of parents who lost young children to childhood cancer this past year spoke to everyone and thanked the St. Baldricks Foundation and everyone participating in the days events.

There were 8 barbers volunteering their time to shave many heads of men, women, and children.

I was not planning to have my head shaved, just my mustache and beard. But after hearing from one mother who had lost her young son to cancer this past February, hearing that tore on my heart-strings. I looked at my wife, Terri and told her everything was coming off! (Hair-wise that is).

While I was sitting in the barber chair preparing to be shaved, my wife Terri went over to the young mother who had lost her son and told her that I was shaving everything off in honor of her son.

 

 

 

 

We thank everyone who volunteered, all of the shavees, all of our entertainers, and all of the money generated by everyones generousity!

 

Melven Jones Fellowship Banquet

On Saturday, January 26 the Melvin Jones Fellowship Awards Banquet was held at St. Clemon's Castle in Portland, CT.

This year's MJF Banquet included many Lions Clubs from all three Districts of Multiple-District 23 which includes District 23-A (Fairfield and New Haven Counties), District 23-B. (Litchfield and Hartford Counties), and District 23-C (Tolland, Windham, Middlesex, and New London counties).

It was amazing to see so many Lions receiving these awards.

What made this years Melvin Jones Awards Banquet so special was that three members of the Middletown Lions Club were honored.

 

 

 

 

 

Middletown Lions 90th Gala

On Friday evening, January 25th the Middletown Lions Club celebrated in style at the Inn At Middletown. We celebrated our 90th Anniversary with a great Gala.

Almost six months of planning and hard work with assistance from a bunch of wonderful friends made the evening so sweet. We had sixty-one guests that evening who all agreed it was a blast!

We had a round head table which included: our District Governor, Laura Rowe, and husband 2nd Vice District Governor, Frank Rowe, Past International President Jimmy Ross and his wife Velda, International Director, Mark Lyon and his wife Lynn, Council Chair, Hilary Kumnick and his wife Laurie, and President of the Middletown Lions Club, Howard Geltman and his better half, Terri who is our club Secretary.

As club President I welcomed everyone to our celebration. I then turned the program over to our Master of Ceremonies, 2nd VDG, Frank.

 

 

 

The photo above is of the beautiful 90th Gala cake before it was cut.

 

 

prior to the start of the evening's program guests could purchase tickets for our tea-cup raffle. Many wonderful donors provided raffle items for the evening. Below is a sample of all raffle items that evening.

 

 

Kiddies, Costumes, and Candy!

Saturday, October 20, 2018 the Middletown Lions Club once again participated in the Middletown Parks and Recreation Department's Halloween on Main Street from 12 to 4pm. We had a table on the south green near all of the excitement.

The Main Stage was directly across from us. The "bouncy houses" were to our left, and a petting zoo was nearby. There were many contests for the children, a singing and dancing group, and a magician later in the afternoon.

Five of our members were present at this event: President, Howard Geltman, Secretary, Terri Geltman, Treasurer, Richard Pelletier, Lion Tamer, Sandra Reynolds, and Lion Tammy Heckstall.

The children along with the adults were very happy with all of the candy, pencils, and other items we gave out. We gave out approximately 400 pieces of candy. The candy that we had left over would be given to the Middletown Senior Center for them to enjoy.

 

Back to Top