A new audio program may help Club PR officers get positive PR in 2012.

Drawing on his Lions and other volunteer experiences  Bob has designed the series for organisations with small budgets but big marketing ambitions.

Bob is releasing one, 10 minute long episode each week between now and March through:

• The ITunes Store (search Not for Profit PR.)
• Pod bean http://notforprofitpr.podbean.com/
• Traffic on Maine blog at http://mainestreet1.blogspot.com/

The first four episodes, already out, will strike a note with many Club PR officers.  They cover why PR is critical for not for profits, communications fundamentals, working with local media and a how to guide for social media.  Future episodes feature topics such as word of mouth marketing, planning events, budgets, timetables and who should be on your PR team.

Bob belongs to the Lions Club of Kambah in the ACT and has been a marketing professional for over 20 years.  He has worked with some of Australia’s leading brands and since 2003 has run free PR workshops for 300 community organisations including presenting to Lions at national, district and club levels.

Jenny is one of 40 national ambassadors who have been recognised for their outstanding work in building strong and cohesive local communities. These local champions have been independently selected as the new People of Australia ambassadors following public nominations.

In 1981 Jenny Siv Phan Tew moved to Australia with her mother and two siblings and in two months secured a job as a healthcare interpreter.  She was 26 years old.

The decision to come to Australia was made following her father’s death in Cambodia.  Fortunately he had encouraged her to learn English and to embrace the best education he could provide.

Life was very different, she said.” I came here in September and it was cold compared to Cambodia and the sky was cloudy. I somehow felt sad and lonely and I had no friends at the time. 

Jenny worked hard to change that by establishing two successful businesses and becoming an integral member of the Western Sydney multicultural community, helped by her fluency in six languages.

In 2006 Jenny was appointed to the role of President of the Cabramatta/Cabra-Vale Lions Club and in her time as President has hosted numerous charitable initiatives and fundraising events and has organised and formed two Leo Clubs for whom she has remained an advisor and mentor.

Through her work, personal passion and ongoing commitment and support in promoting cultural diversity within Western Sydney and beyond, Jenny has been successful in integrating a harmonious enterprising and friendly atmosphere in the local community.

The Government’s multicultural policy, The People of Australia, recognises the breadth of our diversity and builds on our strong commitment to Multiculturalism in Australia.

As a new ‘People of Australia’ Ambassador Jenny and the other ambassadors now have a new platform to promote their good work and share their ideas and initiatives that can help inspire others.    They will also be able to provide advice to government and the Australian Multicultural Council which will assist and strengthen the government’s multicultural policy.

The 2012 ambassadors’ term commenced on January 18 and ends on 30 December 2012.

This year Bill mentions the address by his father, Mr Bill Gates Snr, to the Lions International Convention in Seattle, and compliments Lions Clubs International on its work.

“My father, William Gates, co-chair along with Melinda and me, continues to provide inspiration and guidance for a lot of our work. In June, he gave a speech to 10,000 Lions Club members who gathered in Seattle for their annual convention. The streets were closed for their parade, and then my dad spoke about the Lions’ impressive work fighting measles. Ten years ago, 2,000 people died from measles every day. Now, that number is down to 500. My father, who has always encouraged me, loved encouraging an arena full of people to keep saving children’s lives.”

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.  (Source here)

Lions Clubs International is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support a Lions-Measles pilot program in four African countries. The Foundation is providing $400,000 and LCIF is providing an additional US$300,000 and Lions are managing and implementing the projects. In supporting the pilot program, Lions join the Measles Initiative, a worldwide effort. The partnership helped vaccinate 41 million children.

For the full letter, please select this link here. Link to Bill Gates Annual letter.

As part of the Charter Night for Lions Club of Sydney Selective Inc. they are holding a very special event in order to welcome Dr Wing-Kun Tam, International President of Lions Club International and Barry Palmer AM, International Second Vice President to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

This is a great chance to meet and greet the first ever Chinese International President of Lions Club and the first ever Australian President of International Lions for 2014.  It would be appreciated if your club could come and support of this event.

If you are interested in attending you can reply to our District Governor Steve Coleman and Organising Committee Lion Pearl Lin, Lion Patrick Chok and Lion Jonathan Yee. 

Thank you for your great and continuous support in advance and look forward to seeing you there on 8th Feb 2012 at NSW Parliament.

StepAhead Australia Limited*  -   Conference Summary 2011

(*Lions Australia partnership)

From Lions PR – Diane Michael

StepAhead Australia’s Annual Scientific Conference was held at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne on 30 November and 1 December 2011.

As their marquee event for the year, it proved to be an outstanding meeting gathering together a world-class faculty of researchers who are at the cutting edge of research with speakers from North America, Argentina, Italy, Thailand, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

As in other years the theme of the conference was on treating and repairing the chronic injured spinal cord.

From their  official report:
‘Behind this theme is reflected our understanding of spinal cord injury and where the biomedical research community sits in regards to its knowledge of what occurs following damage to the cord. Remarkable advances have been made in the last decade towards our understanding of the structural, biomedical and genetic changes that occur after injury to the mature brain and spinal cord. This now puts us in the envious position to intervene to improve outcomes and develop meaningful treatments and even eventually cures. We now feel that we are able to approach this complex problem in the same manner in which an engineer approaches an engineering problem. The tools and knowledge have accumulated to the point where we now have the means to design and apply approaches that will allow us to re-engineer the damage spinal cord.’

FACTS & FIGURES

Spinal cord injury affects approximately 20,000 Australians, with approximately 300 new cases each year (2008: 137 paraplegic and 136 quadriplegic new patients).  Spinal cord injury patients suffer loss of motor function (movements of arms and legs), loss of autonomic function (control of bladder, bowel and sexual function) and secondary problems such as chronic ulcers and infections.

The mean age of injury is 19 years with five out of six being male patients.   The psychological cost to the patient is often devastating and the incidence of suicide amongst SCI patient is five times higher than the general population.

The cost to the patient’s family is often overwhelming and the rate of marital break-up is reportedly up to 50%, significantly higher than that of the normal population.

The cost to society is profound.  In Australia, (2008) health care costs for SCI is approximately $2 billion or 2% of total healthcare expenditure. These costs are borne by State Government (44%), individuals (40.5%) and Federal Government (10.6%).  Lifetime costs are $5 million per case of paraplegia and $9.5 million per case of quadriplegia.

Despite this desolate situation, the application of funds to find a cure for spinal cord injury is minimal.  Australian Government grants for SCI research (total NHMRC research funding 2000-2008) represents 0.7% of the total research budget whereas, research on all cancers, which account for 5.8% of health care budget is funded to a level of 22.5% of the total federal research budget.  That is, on a pro-rata basis to total health care costs, research funding for SCI is one tenth of that spent on cancer research. Funding of research into SCI by major pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies is also minimal.

A consequence of this deplorable situation is that patients suffering from chronic SCI have become the prey of stem cell tourism.

After the Conference some of the attendees spent time at the beautiful farmhouse of StepAhead founders George and Barbara Owen where they formalised the creation of new collaborations and friendships that will stimulate and jump-start new avenues of research directed towards repairing the chronic injury spinal cord (photo above).

“Today we need dogged researchers who will prove the value of new therapies in spinal cord injury. Thanks to their efforts today, our grandchildren will look back and be aghast that there was once a time when a spinally-injured person was told that medicine had nothing to offer them,” Dr.George Owen.



*Lions Clubs of Australia

Dr George Owen the founder of StepAhead, approached a Lions Club in 1999 looking for a donation to help the fledgling Spinal Cord Society of Australia Inc. in its search for a cure. This Club was so moved that it not only donated to the cause, it took the story to a larger audience. Within 12 months Lions had created the Lions Australia Spinal Cord Fellowship as a National project of Lion, giving all 1400 Lions Clubs across Australia the opportunity to raise funds for research into spinal cord repair.

Lions Clubs individually conduct many and varied activities in an effort to raise funds for this project including. Sausage sizzles, Trash & Treasure sales and Fun Runs.  These events along with the national recycling effort involving the collection of aluminium can ring pulls are just some of the ways the Lions Clubs of Australia raise more than $100,000 per year in support of StepAhead.

NB:  Over the last five years, StepAhead has also successfully raised  additional funds in Australia and forged a network that includes some of the world’s leading spinal cord researchers and clinicians. It is recognised by the Federal Government as the peak body responsible for coordinating research into chronic spinal cord injury.

Lions Australia Spinal Cord Fellowship

Lions Australia

StepAhead Australia

Brooke Snow took out one of 5 first prizes for her idea to get more young people involved in community service. Brooke‘s idea is to partner with the Atherton Lions Club and others in order introduce as many students as possible to local community organisations in the area. She has envisaged a program which she will call Community Connect.  Her plan is to assign students from each year level in the school to a community group. Her hope is that they will not only attend regular meetings and recognise the inspiring work of the members, but also become active members themselves.

You can read the full story here.

Brooke making her Youth of the Year presentation in Launceston - April 2011

Of course, Lions who attended the Launceston Convention will know Brooke who was the Queensland Youth of the Year winner for 2011.  After the Youth of the Year win, Brooke was revved up to make a difference in her community, and the Schools First competition was the next step.

Schools first provides financial recognition of success in establishing effective school-community partnerships; and financial support to build stronger school-community partnerships. One of the newest element of the Schools First Program is to acknowledge young people with great ideas on how to build partnerships between the school and the community.  The winners receive a prize pack including $2,000 to implement their plan to build great community partnerships.

Atherton Lions Club President Terry Clark spoke highly of Brooke and her work, and is absolutely convinced that Brooke and the Club will make the project work next year!  Look forward to many more young people getting involved in the Atherton Club next year.

Congratulations Brooke and the Atherton Lions Club and our thanks to NAB who sponsor the Youth of the Year program that inspires more than 2000 young people around Australia each year.

The concept is about a place where older men, and ones far more clever than me, come together to build, fix and create things. In doing so, they pass their skills to interested young men and sometimes young women who join them. The thought is, in this environment it’s not just passing on essential concepts like the uses of a ring spanner or router; it’s also about mentoring, support, communication and engagement.

Hopefully it’s not demeaning to suggest its a little like that 1990′s television show where the project at hand leads to some broader relationship problem-solving.

This concept resonates closely with Lions Clubs that have always been about getting together to work hard to help others, and along the way building relationships within the club and the clubs extended family. Through the bond of shared work and the satisfaction of achievement, we build relationships and in Lions Clubs we rely on those bonds of friendship when our own members need help.

Many clubs are getting involved with Men’s sheds for these very reasons – either in developing their own, or supporting sheds in the community. Lions members are often known for their practical skills and abilities, so you are very likely to find Lions participating actively in the local Men’s sheds.

So Men’s sheds are about using practical skills, helping others, fun and recreation – and most importantly about building a strong bridge between young people and older people within the community.

To find out more about Lions and Men’s sheds, have a look at our new e-brochure here!

Click here to see our Men’s Shed E Brochure

You are starting on a journey that will give you extraordinary satisfaction, help you build networks and contacts in your business and personal life, create wonderful stories and experiences and enable you to build lifelong friendships.

Lions Clubs International is an Association of community-spirited people in 206 countries, from myriads of diverse cultures, of women and men of all ages, who subscribe to a simple code of ethics.  We all want to make our community a better place to live, work and grow.

Lions Australia has a proud history of achievement and helping the most needy in the community.  Think about disasters like Cyclone Tracy, the Black Saturday bushfires and the Queensland floods – Lions were there helping in practical ways.  Think about the Bionic ear, the Cervical Cancer vaccine – Gardisil, Fred Hollows – Lions were there in the early days funding research and health strategies long before they became household names.  Think too, about the local parks, monuments, sporting centres and facilities built by your Lions Clubs; built by people who saw a need and got down to the job of meeting that need, with their ideas, skills and labour.

You have some questions?

One of the first things you will notice when you meet many Lions is that they are often humble and quiet about their achievements – this is why we are such a well-kept secret.  It also means you might be wondering about what it means to be a Lion.  Of course you can ask your local club members, but we know that sometimes you want to quietly review things before taking that first step.  This blog can be your first port of call.  Read through these materials and follow the links, and feel free to ask some questions that aren’t answered here.

1. How much time is involved?

Lions is a “Community Service” organisation.  One of our motto’s is that we “make things happen”.  Local achievements are always satisfying and that’s why we volunteer.

This means that we DO want our members to participate in meetings and their fair share of community service activities. Lions say that family comes first, then work, and then the Lions Club.  Of course you need to think about your capacity to participate, but for most of us, a couple of hours of television time traded for community service is a worthwhile experience.

2. Aren’t I too young for Lions?

Like many volunteer organisations, we rely on a core group of retired people who have time, skills and networks to helps us achieve our goals, but that’s changing.  Lions needs younger working people to help us do all those humanitarian projects that government can’t do.

It’s worth remembering that so many of our grey-haired, active volunteers started with Lions in their thirties, and have managed their family and working life along with a healthy dose of community service.  Think about why they are still Lions and still active.

It’s because a Lions Club can be fun, friendly and incredibly satisfying.

3. Paying to volunteer! What’s that about?

Any volunteer organisation needs to provide services and support to its volunteers – training, insurance, promotional materials and the like.  As a democratic organisation, we also have some costs associated with our decision-making processes at International, National and local levels.

Did you know that when a member of the public donates money to their local Lions Club, every cent goes to where it was promised?  The club doesn’t take even 1%.  Compare that with other organisations.

Lions are immensely proud of the fact that we don’t take public donations to cover our operating costs – and its one of the reasons for our reputation in the community.

That’s why members pay a small amount in dues.

4. I’m a little bothered by the formality at the Lions Club meeting.

Some of the things about the way a meeting is run are to meet the rules of the Association, or the legal requirements of the organisation. Others are part of the “rituals” of the organisation and its history, and the existing members are used to this way of operating.

Lions Clubs are democratic organisations though, and other than meeting our legal and procedural requirements, there is no reason why other things can’t change if the members wish them to. Lions Clubs are apolitical and not religious.

5. What does the Club actually do?

All Lions Clubs subscribe to our Code of Ethics, and are part of an International Organisation, but set their own program independently.  They can support projects that are operated at an international, national and district level – and can create and operate their own projects.  You can browse the national website to find out some information about these projects.  We all know that we work best at the things we love to do, so an important question to ask the club members is “what projects do you do?” and “who do you help”

If you have a passion for a project, there is no reason why you can’t try to persuade your Lions Club to support it.

6. Are Lions Clubs for women too?

Lions Clubs are for everyone – men and women, people from different cultures, and anyone over 18 years of age.  Lions Clubs recruit for skills, ideas, interests and labour.

Sure there are some clubs that haven’t invited women to join, (fewer and fewer), but with more than 1400 clubs in Australia, there is every chance that we can find a club for you.

We value the contribution of women in our organisation – great leaders, skilled business people and consummate networkers.

7. I applied to join a club, but wasn’t accepted?

Lions Club membership is by invitation.  Your club has a long history of working together, has particular projects they deliver, and a unique style.  Like any close group – a family, a work team or a bunch of school friends – perhaps there wasn’t that “meeting of the minds”. In many communities there is more than one club, so if you have skills to offer and subscribe to our ethics, visit another club.

8. How do I join a club?

The first thing to do is to contact your local club, or if you don’t know who they are you can find out on the National Lions website. The next thing is to take your time.  Attend a few club meetings, find out about the work of the club and meet the members.  Hopefully you will have a long and happy association with Lions, so you need to make sure that the club will work for you. If things work out, you will receive an invitation to join.

9. Can I bring my kids to Lions events?

Lions encourages family involvement, and this is something you should discuss with your club when you are thinking about joining. Many Lions members have brought their children to club meetings, fundraisers and other activities – it’s a great way of teaching them about their community.

Lions also has many programs for older children like our Leo Program, Youth of the Year and Youth Exchange.

9. Tell me more!

The best source of information will be your local Lions Club, but if you want to read more, or discuss your thoughts with the Lions online community, here are some places to start.

• Lions Australia Home Page
• Lions International Home Page
• Lions Australia Facebook Page
• Lions Australia Blog You are here!
• Lions Clubs International LinkedIn Group
• Tweet Lions Australia

Lion Steve Andrews with National Chairperson Peter Clarke

Many Lions Clubs are great supporters of Black Dog Ride; the brainchild of motorcyclist, and West Australian Lion; Steve Andrews. Black Dog Rides raise awareness and community discussion of depression, so popularised by Sir Winston Churchill as his “Black Dog”.

On Thursday 3 November 2011, Council Chairperson Peter attended the cheque presentation of the proceeds from the most recent Black Dog Ride, to the Black Dog Institute at the University of NSW that leads research and therapy into the depression and related illnesses.

A whopping cheque for $161,000 was presented to the Institute, the proceeds of the last Black Dog ride that saw 300 riders journey from the Sydney and Perth to rendezvous in South Australia, before heading to Alice Springs. This extraordinary effort from Steve and his team was supported by around 40 Lions Clubs who provided hospitality and fundraising support in the towns along the way.

Steve writes on the Black Dog Ride website:

“Black Dog Ride began as one man’s personal quest to complete a solo motorbike trip around Australia to raise community awareness of depression. In Australia, each year around 1,000,000 adults and 100,000 young people live with depression. More than 50% will not seek treatment”

When those sorts of numbers are involved, it means that there will be few Australian families that won’t be touched by this devastating illness.

Australian Lions have an impressive record in the community health space, with leading strategies in drug and alcohol awareness by our Australian Lions Drug Awareness Foundation, support of research into eye health by the Lions Save Sight Foundation and our new Prostate Cancer Research and Therapy Program, to name only a few. Many of our 19 Lions Districts have contributed to health research in their respective stats for decades.

I have no doubt that Lions Clubs will continue to support Steve in future rides to build awareness and fund research into this illness.

Congratulations to Lion Steve and his team.

When Lions has a new task to be done, we call for our members to put their hands up. Almost every job in our organisation is carried out by a volunteer! Whether that be direct community service, training and leadership, publicity, or management; we are lucky to have talented and generous people that devote their time and committment to continuing the good work of our Association.

So where do young people fit in? The question of course, is ‘where DON’T young people fit in’. Its great to have legions of loyal and skilled members who have been with us for decades – they are the engine room of our organisation. They know us through-and-through; how to administer a club, how to get a project going, how to quickly mobilise in an emergency, and who to talk to in the community to make things happen. This is an extraordinary resource that we ought to celebrate.

We also know that if we don’t fill the younger ranks of our organisation, in the near future we will struggle to match our past achievements.

Newcastle University Lions Club Branch and Jesmond Lions Club

Our new, younger members don’t simply bring their labour. They bring their expertise, ideas, creativity and networks; that will not only help to grow and develop Lions, but ensure that our brand of community service remains current and relevant within a continually changing community.

There is a lot of interest in developing our Leo movement; and this is something we ought to encourage. In Australia we are very lucky to have many clubs that are active in developing Leo clubs around Australia. Leos are one of the ways more experienced Lions teach and share with young people the core principles of our organisation – about the benefits of giving-back to the community, about civic pride and about giving generously of your time to benefit those most in need. We ought to feel positive too, based on the real-world experience of our clubs that are developing Leo clubs, that young people DO want to contribute. They are also very good at it because ‘looking after your mates’ is a very important and fundamental part of that stage of our lives.

We also should acknowledge the growing contribution of our younger Lions (some of whom are also Leos).

I read this wonderful story, in the Townsville Bulletin, shared in the District 201Q2 newsletter, about one such contribution.

Lion Laura Batts

“With three percent of their members over the age of 65, Laura Batts
is a rose among Townsville Lions Club’s membership ranks.

The 23-year-old uni student has been involved in the club
for as long as she can remember, but as the youngest member, she wants to get
more youngsters on board.

She will today join her fellow volunteers at Centro Shopping

Centre, outside Kmart, to try and increase the number of people involved in the charity club.

Lions membership chairman Trevor Gray said it wasn’t just
younger people, but men and women of all ages, who were needed at one of the 17 Townsville based clubs, two of which are Leo clubs, for members aged under 30, plus an all-female Lioness club.

…and Ms Batts said she wouldn’t give up her time spent with
the organisation for anything.

Alexis Gillham”

One of our realities is that Lions used to be a younger persons organisation. Many Lions started in their 30′s and have given a lifetime of service to their communities. It remains very possible and achievable for us to become what we once were. An organisation of young Australians and an organisation where our family life is inter-mingled with our Lions life.

As we encourage more younger people to join our organisation, the challenge will be for us to change it to become relevant and engaging to those newer members. It’s no secret as to what that new type of club is likely to be like:

• less ritual
• less formality at meetings
• more acknowledgement of new contributions
• fast-tracking of younger members into leadership positions
• more diversity in age and culture.

What always remains, is the core part of Lions work, those things that led us all to join. An organisation that is practical and community-service focussed, that is friendly and fun, that works to help the most needy in the community.

Are you a Lion, a Leo or interested in membership development. We welcome comments below.

Rob Oerlemans
Executive Officer
Lions Australia

Photograph courtesy the Townsville Bulletin