The Cranbury Lions Sixth Annual Golf Outing will take place
at the Peddie Golf Course in Hightstown on Monday, May 17, 2004. As in the past, a single golfer will
pay $125, which will include a golf cart, greens fees, lunch, dinner, awards
and prizes. Non-golfers may attend the dinner at a cost of $30 per person.
Lunch will be burgers, ‘dogs, chips, beer and soft drinks; dinner, with a
two-hour open bar (5:30-7:30 – beer and wine, only), will be steaks, B-B-Q
Chicken, and ziti, with salad. This is our biggest fundraiser! Each member of
the Cranbury Lions is asked to try to bring in at least one golfer and one
advertising sponsor. Applications are available at the regular meetings or from
the Golf Committee (Lions Doug Pearce, Walt Caldwell, Jon Goldstein, or Bob
Virgadamo).
The State Convention will be at the Doubletree Hotel in Somerset
on Friday and Saturday, May 14-15,
2004. Any member who wishes to attend the banquet or other events
may contact Lion Tom Reilly for a schedule, and the costs of attendance.
Although any number of members may attend the convention (all or in part), with
a total of nearly eighty members, the Cranbury Club is eligible to send sixteen
“officials” to the Convention (8 voting delegates and 8 alternates). The Club
will pay the Saturday entrance fee for any member who volunteers to attend.
Please contact President Ray, ASAP, if you would like to attend as a delegate
or alternate.
The Cranbury School Drug Free Fair, sponsored by Lions
Quest will be on Saturday May 15th. Any Lion that can spend some
time manning the Lions’ Booth at the Fair should contact Lion Richard Stannard,
or sign up at the May 5th Meeting.
The nominations period for our Student Affairs
Scholarships and Awards has been closed. The Student Affairs Committee is
choosing this year’s recipients for the Stan Thomas Award, and the Todd Beamer
and Doc Tudor Scholarships; recipients will be notified and announced in next
month’s Jargon. The awards will be given at the June 2nd meeting.
Tickets for the Annual Super 50/50 have been distributed
to each member. Lion Henry Behnke advises that additional tickets can be
obtained from him, upon request. This is one of our sustaining fundraisers, and
members are asked to sell ALL the tickets they are supplied with, and are
encouraged to sell as many more as possible. As usual, the drawing will be held
at the Memorial Day Parade.
And, speaking of Memorial Day, Parade Chairman Bob
Wood will need volunteers for Parade Day, and Lions Jon
Goldstein, Doug Pearce, and Richard Stannard may need assistance with sprucing
up the float; sign-up sheets will begin circulating at the May 5th
meeting. As usual, the Club will host the Post Parade Ceremony at Memorial
Park, immediately following the parade, and provide cold drinks for the parade
marchers as they finish up; beverages will be in the Firehouse.
We have the dates for our annual visits to the Trenton
Thunder. The Thunder have, once again, granted us a spot on their 50/50
calendar. The game is Thunder v. Mets on Friday, June 25, 2004. For the uninitiated, there are some
300+ organizations applying for 71 spots (home games) in the 50/50 line-up.
This will be our fifth year as a 50/50 recipient. The Club will need at least
six volunteers to sell 50/50 tickets at the game, but the more volunteers we
have, the more tickets we can sell. Volunteers who sell tickets need not be
Lions, but must be over 18. All volunteers are admitted to the park free and
will be given vouchers for a hotdog and a beverage.
Our Annual Trenton Thunder Game Club Outing will be on Saturday, August 14, 2004, between
the Trenton Thunder and New Britain,
the double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Tickets are $10, each and are
now available. Sign up sheets will begin circulating at the appropriate time,
but members are encouraged to sell as many tickets as possible to friends and
relatives early on so that additional seats can be obtained if needed.
Update on Updike – As previously reported, the
Township Committee has given the Cranbury Lions Club a “Letter of Intent”,
advising that as soon as the property is actually deeded over to the Township,
they will turn the Updike barn over to the Lions. Additionally, Sharbell
Construction, the current owner of the property, has advised that they may
provide us with a donation, in form or substance, for the project. ALL Lions
are asked to promote this project to friends and neighbors in an effort to
promote community awareness, not only of the project itself, but of the fact
that we are approaching our 75th anniversary. Fundraising efforts
will begin as soon as the property is deeded to us, which may be as early as
this month, May 2004. Lion Dave Shaffer, our
Technology Chair, has updated the Barn Project on the website. Project Chair
Mike Kaiser and his committee are trying to insure that the barn project is
reported on in the Cranbury Press as often as possible. Updates will be placed
in the Jargon as the project moves forward.
In preparation of this project, the Board is trying to
determine what our storage needs are, exactly. Every member who has any stored
paraphernalia – the float, signs, boxes of records, historical documents,
pancake breakfast equipment…anything – should make a list of the items
and give the lists to Lion Bob Virgadamo or Lion Mike Kaiser, so
proper planning can be done.
A Message To All Cranbury Lions
For some reason, this year’s meeting attendance has been
unusually low. As Lions, we have agreed to help the community through
fundraising and volunteerism. In the past, our members have volunteered,
directly, at meetings. With attendance down, so is our volunteer corps. We
realize that the dynamics of our Club have changed and members have more
demanding roles with careers and family, but the Board has asked that all
members make every effort to attend as many meetings as possible throughout the
year.
Reminders
Please remember that the Coupon Collection Project is still
active. Please deliver your cut manufacturer’s coupons to Lion Chris Thompson
at the meetings (or to Lion Bob Virgadamo, if Chris is unavailable), or drop
them off to one of the collection boxes in the Library or the Town Hall. Remember
that this very worthwhile project will cost each of us a mere 10-15 minutes per
week. And, let us not forget that these coupons are being collected to help
military families overseas, and that “We Serve”.
Frank Marlowe has been our Program Chair for a few years
now, and has done quite an excellent job lining up speakers for our bi-monthly
meetings. You can all imagine how difficult it can be, finding speakers that
will be of relative interest to all our Members! We all come in contact with someone
interesting on a regular basis. When you do, or if you have any suggestions for speakers,
please give Frank a call, or e-mail him at marlowe@cranburynj.com . Additionally,
any member who has a suggestion for interactive discussion nights, may give
their suggestions to Frank, as well as any Board member.
It is important that we increase our fundraising capability
without requesting money from our small community over and over again. With
over 300 commercial locations in our immediate area, the website is one of the
easiest and best fundraisers we have. We ask every member to please try to
bring in at least one advertiser per year. Refer all advertising leads to
Lions Joe Addonizio, Dave Shaffer or Bob
Virgadamo.
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 Lion Dave Cook to activate the “phone tree”, so that all members
may be notified.
Member Pick-Up
Ed Lawson (5 S. Main), Max Mesner (Rossmoor)
Lion Don Jo Swanagan
has volunteered to be the “permanent” pick up driver for Lion Bob
Lion Dennis Kennedy
has volunteered to be the “permanent” pick-up driver for Lion Ed
Lion Joe Addonizio
has volunteered to be the “permanent” back-up driver for both
