January and February

Well, the weather has not been very cooperative in terms of our dinner meetings.  The December dinner meeting had to be cancelled because of snow and the same held true for the January dinner meeting.  Fortunately, we were able to conduct both business meetings those months and are ready for February’s business meeting on the 5th.

So far, we had 26 inches of snowfall in December and 16 in January.  And we have just started the shortest, but often the snowiest month of the year.  Keep your fingers crossed for the February 19th dinner meeting.

We do have one thing to report this month — we have started the OKS vision screenings in the area pre-schools.  President Mark Cotrupi, spent two short days at the Village Preschool in Center Harbor and screened 26 young children.  Good way to start 2018!  And we now own our own screener !!!!

We managed to also hold our dinner meeting for the first time in three months.  It was an Italian pot luck supper with lots of goodies — more than we could eat.  Since Valentine’s Day was the closest holiday to the dinner, Pat Keegan, the Lion Tamer, asked everyone  to wear red
Our speaker for the evening was Sara Fogarty who spoke to us about the Moultonborough Boy Scout Troop.

December 2017

The holidays are always busy and so are the Lions.

On December 1, we will be decorating the building for Christmas so that all who use the building can get into the holiday season for the entire month.

On December 2 Lions Joe and Pat, Dawn, Joanne, John, Pete, Bob and Betty sold raffle tickets for the last time before the 1:00 drawing for the $5,000 prize.  When the winning ticket was drawn by an elementary student from MCS, it belonged to a person in Massachusetts.  We  also be provided free vision screening at the Moultonborough Central School on that day to about 80 individuals.

We had two other vision screenings scheduled for the beginning of December:  Tuftonboro Central School on the 4th and the Holderness Central School on the 5th. Between the two schools 270 elementary students were screened.

On Friday, December 8 the Moultonborough Lions and the Inter-Lakes Community Caregivers hosted the second Cookies and Caroling afternoon from 1-3:00.  The amount and variety of the cookies was outstanding, baked by Lions and Caregivers. Check out the photo of all the cookies on the tables. Neighbors serviced by Community Caregivers and two area nursing homes enjoyed cocoa, cookies, caroling, led by Peter Allen, and a performance from a Moultonborough Academy choral group.  To the delight of all, Pete Strople donned his Lion suit and handed out raffle prizes!

Several Lions — Mike and Kate Lancor, Don Trudeau and his wife, Bobbi, Joanne Lau, Dawn Law, and Michelle and Jim Duddy rang the Salvation Army bells at the Plymouth Walmart.  Unfortunately bad weather canceled two other days of Lions bell ringers.

October Happenings – 2017

This will be a very busy month for the Moultonborough Lions

Meetings:  the board and business meetings will be held Monday, October 2 starting at 6:30 and 7:00 respectively.

Our usual dinner meeting has a different flair to it this month: On Monday, October 16, members of the Moultonborough Lions Club invited the public to attend a special lecture on “Black Bear Behavior” presented by wildlife rehabilitator Ben Kilham from Lyme, NH. Ben, his sister Phoebe and his wife Debbie have raised over 150 black bear cub orphans over the past 20 plus years!  Between Lions and guests, about 70 people attended the fascinating and informative presentation.

A social hour was held from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Moultonborough Lions Club on Old Route 109 in Moultonborough. Appetizers provided by the Lions and non-alcoholic beverages were available. Lions Club president Mark Cotrupi welcomed all attendees at 7:00 p.m. sharp. Ben’s hour long slide and video presentation began afterwards and he  stayed to answer questions.  Special thanks to Mike and Kate Lancor for inviting Ben and his wife.

Ben Kilham is licensed by the State of NH as a wildlife rehabilitator and has a special license to conduct research on black bears. He has been featured on NH Crossroads (NH Public TV), NBC Dateline, National Geographic Television, Discovery Channel, Good Morning American, The Today Show, and the list goes on. Ben is often called “The Bear Whisperer” and raises black bear cubs with minimum human contact so the bears retain their wild nature and can be reintroduced to the wild.

Ben received a B.S. in wildlife from the University of New Hampshire and a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Drexel University. Books authored by Ben include “ Among the Bears” and “Out on a Limb: What Black Bears Have Taught Me About Intelligence and Intuition.” Indeed, Ben is a nationally renown expert on the behavior of black bears.

Raffle:  Four Lions:  Ed and Sandy Meskys, Joanne Lau, and Peter Allen will be selling raffle tickets at Heath’s on Saturday, October 7, starting at 9:30.

AND on Friday, October 27 Lions Eileen and Bob Zewski, Mark and Sarah Cotrupi, Pat and Joe Keegan, Bob and Betty Purdy, Peter and Judy Strople, Larry and Linda LaPointe, Sally Sibulkin, John Menken, and Mike Lancor, stuffed raffle tickets and letters into 1848 envelopes.  The process began at 9 with cider belly donuts and ended at noon with pizza.  We are hoping for high yields from this mailing as we were only able to do four selling dates at Heaths this year.  Remember it is not too late to get a ticket if you don’t receive any in the mail.  We will be selling them until minutes before the drawing for the $5000 prize at the Holiday Fair at Moultonborough Central School on Saturday, December 2.

July 2017

The annual Town of Moultonborough Fourth of July parade and “picnic” was held in perfect summer weather.  Once again, the Moultonborough Lions ordered, set up the hall, cooked hot dogs and hamburgers, served food, and cleaned up afterwards.  One of these years, we really need one of those clickers to find out how many people actually come through the line and get their free meal (the Town pays for the food and the Lions do the rest).  We tried a new line set-up and managed to fit many more people inside on the line, away from the heat.  Thanks to Mark, John, and Peter for the new traffic flow plan.

Special kudos for being jacks-of-all trades and tireless workers to: Peter and Kathy Allen, Dawn, Joanne, and Mark, and Mike and Kate Lancor from pre-start to finish moping !!!!! And to Jeni for not only coming back but for bringing such good-looking help. For our cooks Mike, Bob and Jack and our tireless runner Marion.  And of course, we would be lost without the Strople clean-up crew.  And thanks also to those with other, multiple responsibilities:  Sally, Sandy, Christine, Pat Strickland and Joe.  All in all 20 members of the Lions Club (plus some family and friends), put in a little over 55 hours to make this annual event a continued success.

Scholarship Dinner:  On Monday evening, July 17, the Moultonborough Lions invited all 14 of the scholarship winners and their parents plus the winners of the Annie Up Fund scholarships and their parents to the dinner meeting (delicious pork roast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, beets, green beans and gravy).  Afterwards, each of the nine Moultonborough Academy students who attended stood up and told us which college he/she would be attending and their possible college majors.  We had 54 people at the dinner..

 

Also at the meeting, Joe Keegan received a Treasurer’s Plaque for his years of dedication to keeping the Club finances straight

Roadside Trash Pick Up:  On Tuesday morning (July 18), after quite the thunder, lightening, and pouring rain of the night before, seven Moultonborough Lions (Mark and Sarah Cotrupi, Michelle Duddy, John Menken, Jenni Williams, Sally Sibulkin, and John Menken) cleared the section of Route 25 from the Center Harbor Town Line sign to the Moultonborough Town Line sign.

June Book Donations

On Thursday, June 8, Lions Club members Kathy, Peter, John and Sally distributed 267 hard-cover books to each Moultonborough Central School student in grades Pre-K through 6, their teachers and one copy of each book to the library.

It was so heartwarming to see the students immediately open their books and start looking at the pages or reading, including the kindergarten students who were pointing to all the words they already know how to read.  The enthusiasm and smiles are why this is our second year in a row of doing this.  Also of significance is passing on the love of books and reading to the next generation.

Look at the joy in the slideshow below…

Then on Monday, June 12 the Moultonborough Lions donated 138 hard cover books to all the students (K-6) in the Tuftonboro Central School.  Mark, John, Peter and Kathy Allen and Sally talked about how the Lions serve — and many of the students remembered us doing the vision screening earlier in the school year.  In the fourth grade classroom, the teacher, Mr. Bloomer,suggested that the students bring in no longer used eye glasses from home to school to be collected by the Lions.

The major credit for this year and last year’s book donations goes to John Menken for being the liaison with all three school, ordering the books, arranging for times to go to the schools, and for literally doing most of the heavy lifting — of boxes and boxes of books.

February into March 2017

In spite of all the snow at the beginning of February, we managed to hold both our February meetings and all but one of the Tuesday night Bingo events.

In case people have not heard, on January 24, Governor Chris Sununu proclaimed 2017 to be the Year of the Lion in NH, recognizing the many services provided by Lions Clubs across the state.

READING IN THE SCHOOLS:  On four separate days in February, the following Lions read to students in grades K-2 at Moultonborough Central School:  Joe and Pat Keegan, John Menken, Mark Cotrupi, Peter and Kathy Allen, Dawn Law and Sally Sibulkin.  In March, we will have a special treat in store for us — on four Wednesdays in a row we will be read TO by the Kindergarten students.

The February dinner meeting, started at 6:30 with a social half hour followed by a Pot Luck dinner. There was more food than even double the number of members who attended could consume. Everything was delicious, but from what I heard, the favorite dish was the minestrone soup created by Larry LaPoint’s wife. The appetizers prepared by Don Trudeau’s wife were also a hit as well as three decadent desserts.  Actually, everything was delicious!!!

Unfortunately, we lost a fellow Lion in February — William Schultz.  Bill had been a Lion for 29 years and served on many committees, was president of the club, and exemplified the Lion Motto: We Serve.

We also finally purchased a new raffle wheel for our raffle sales.  The old one finally broke down.  The new one is gold —  like the pot of goldIMG_2820

at the end of the rainbow

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which leads us into more March happenings:

March 5: Meet the Candidate Night at the Lions Club, beginning at 6:30

March 6: Board and Business Meetings. Board starts at 6:30; business meeting at 7:00

March 9: Vision Screening in Thornton  and Distributing new books to all the students at Sandwich Central School

March 10: Remembering Annie Forts – UP Fund-raising celebration. This will be at Church Landing from 7-10pm. Tickets are $25/person or $45 for two and can be purchased online, at George’s Diner or from Don Trudeau.

Sunday, March 12: District 44H Cabinet Meeting in Nashua.

March 20: Dinner Meeting (back to the regular 6-7 social hour time)

March 24: Blood Drive at the Lions Club (9 am – 2 pm)..

December 2016

Well the snow finally appeared, and even though it is just the 7th of December as I write this, we Lions have been busy:

We (Mark, Joe, Pat K, both Peters, Sally and Marion plus one member from the Women’s Club — Barbara Koehler) decorated the Club for Christmas on Friday the second of December so that all can enjoy the lights and wreaths and tree for an entire month.  Forgot to take a photo,but hopefully all of you will see it and the Christmas Dinner meeting on Monday, December 12 (remember to bring in a book — for children 6 months to 18 years — to be donated to CHAD at the January Mid-Winter Convention).

Then there was the Holiday Fair at the Moultonborough Central School.  It was our last day for the raffle.  Thanks to the sales skills of Bob and Betty Purdy, Joe and Pat Keegan, Dawn Law, Joanne Lau, Don Trudeau, and Peter Strople we took in  $1,312 in sales that day!

I so want to title this photo:  “Please let me draw MY ticket; I’m really concentrating and not looking.”

unnamed-2The winning ticket was drawn at 1 pm by Christine and was a gentleman from Topsfield, Massachusetts who has a summer home on the Neck Road near Kona .  Thanks to all who purchased tickets we will be able to continue giving several good scholarships to college-bound students.

President Mark and Secretary Sally did vision screening at the Fair for the second year in a row.  We screened 65 children with 7 referrals to see an eye doctor.

Friday, December 9, we celebrated the first (hopefully, annual) Cookies and Caroling at the Moultonborough Lions Club from 1-3 pm.  Peter Allen,second vice-president of the Lions and on the Board of Directors of the Inter-Lakes Community Caregivers, proposed a joint venture between the two service organizations.  Peter is a retired music teacher and has been hosting cookies and caroling in various forms over the years.  Peter also provided the music sheets for everyone, played the piano, and asked Christmas trivia questions.  The Community Caregivers provided items for raffle and the Lions baked the cookies — which filled four tables!!!!!  Approximately 50 “neighbors” were in attendance with about 20 members of both the Lions and Caregivers.  A Great time was had by all.  Check out the slide show below.

And thanks go out to four Lions members — Mike and Kate Lancor and Eileen and Bob Zewski — who spent four hours in front of the Plymouth Walmart ringing the Salvation Army bells.

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What we are up to in September — and it’s quite a bit…

Raffle sales:  we are having two in September on the 3rd and the 24th.  Let’s support this effort to  fundraise for scholarships and other community service projects.

VISION SCREENING:  President Mark has been busy contacting schools and creating a schedule for us to screen school children in the Lakes Region.  On September 12, six Lions (Mark, John, Sally, Peter and Kathy Allen, and Don) spent the morning at Gilford Elementary School.  We screened 339 children and four adults in two and a half hours with the fantastic spot screener shown below…

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On Friday, September 23  Mark Cotrupi, Kathy Allen, and Don Trudeau once again performed vision screening at Moultonborough Academy during Picture Day.

On Saturday, September 10, twelve of us had a fun time playing mini-golf at the Community Caregivers Fundraiser event.  Three Moultonborough Lions even got a hole-in-one each.  Of course, we did not score well enough to win a trophy, but the important thing was contributing to a good cause and the camaraderie of our TWO TEAMS.

Fall cleaning of our newly adopted cabin at Camp Pride on

Saturday, September 17.

 

Four Lions — Lloyd Conery, Mark Cotrupi, Jeni Williams, and Dawn Law (with her husband, Steve) — spent the morning painting the exterior trim, cleaning out the gutters, polyurethaning half the floor, as well as cleaning the windows and screens.  They also took down the curtains to replace them next spring.    Dawn is pointing to the window cleaning can which was donated by Paul Atwell of WURTH.

At the Dinner Meeting on September 19th we enjoyed a delicious chicken parmesan meal.  The speaker, Moultonborough Academy student, Matt Anderson, engaged us all by talking about his trip to Normandy and showing slides of his trip there with his history teacher and the week before, researching in DC.  Matt researched a NH soldier who was buried in Normandy.  HIs contest essay (relating why he loves history so much) was judged one of the top 15 in the US and was what earned him this honor and experience.

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August with the Lions

Almost 90 individuals—Lions and guests, 13 members of the Sandwich Dog Club (plus 7 dogs and a lop-eared bunny), and 38 guests from three of the area nursing homes (Mountain View, Golden View, and Forest View) had a great evening at Monday’s August dinner meeting.

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Rainbow colored tables were filled with people enjoying appetizers and song during the social hour. Special thanks to Lion Peter Allen for the idea of the sing-a-long, for getting printed copies of the songs, and for playing the piano so masterfully.

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After the dinner (hot dogs and hamburgers cooked by Lions Mike, Jack, and Sam and the food line manned by Lion Christine and her daughter and Lion Kathy), masterfully served by many of the Lions, the Sandwich Dog Club walked around with a bunny to pet and then performed with their dogs both indoors and out.

 

For additional entertainment, Pat Keegan asked us all to wear “crazy” hats. Below is a group photo, followed by a slide show of our August parade of hats (while we did parade for our judges from the nursing homes, these photos are of individuals).  Check out the slide show following the group photo.

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Also, three Lions:  Jeni Williams, Patricia Strickland, and John Menken attended the August 16 District 44H Cabinet meeting.  Pat brought the glasses we have collected to donate:  160 pairs of glasses plus 48 pairs of sunglasses.

A VERY Active May

Moultonborough Lions have been and will continue to be busy this month.  Lions Mark and John screened another 50 or so individuals with the OKS (Operation Kid Sight) vision screener.  Lion Dawn and her husband sanded and varnished the picnic table and benches at Sutherland Park.  And Lion Marion Powers spent hours weeding and then planting new annuals.

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Lions Pat Strickland, Jeni Williams, and John Menken attended the State Spring Convention.  And so far this month over 150 people have enjoyed playing Bingo on Tuesday evenings.

And six Lions (John, Marion, Sandy, Dawn, Jeni and Sally) with some family members went to Camp Pride for the first time to do some Spring clean up.  The weather was not that promising so we got bathroom and bunk cleaning duty.  On May 21 and 22, more Lions added their cleaning and painting skills to get the camp ready for summer:  Lloyd, Larry (and his wife), Peter and Kathy Allen, Peter and Judy Strople, and Don Trudeau.   Very worthwhile service!!!!

Also at the May dinner meeting we hosted the Board of the Annie Forts Up Syndrome Foundation.  Lynn Leighton, president of the Board, gave a brief talk about how the Foundation funds scholarships for students majoring in Special Education, leadership/self-advocacy programs for families with Downs Syndrome children, and therapeutic riding for handicapped individuals.

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Then Mike Lancor talked about Annie Forts and her family and the start of this Foundation.  Unfortunately, neither Lion Annie nor her parents were able to attend, but her sister and brother-in-law were at the dinner.

And then there was more reading to elementary students at Moultonborough Central School.  Over three days, Lions Don, Sally, Joe, Pat, Peter and Kathy Allen, Christine, Jeni, Dawn, Mark and Eileen spent quality time in the school library reading to students in grades K-2.

Finally we collected $900 for the blind on our date of choice White Cane day, Saturday, May 28 thanks to the organization and care of Pete Strople, (not only did he provide sunscreen and water and set up both Heath’s Hardware and Supermarket, he worked four hours/two shifts — and collected carts from the parking lot).  Other Lions involved were Joanne Lau, Don Trudeau, Ed and Sandy Meskys, Judy Strople, Peter and Kathy Allen, Carole and George Englehart, and Sally Sibulkin.  The Scouts that worked were absolutely fantastic.  We could not have raised as much money without them.

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Doesn’t the new sign look great!