District 36R held the states first Lions Clubs International Extension Workshop the last of August. Under the direction of District Governor Cy Kauffman and the District’s Expand the Horizon Team Extension Chair Art Rotter a plan was created to start new clubs in Jefferson and Brownsville/Halsey. LCI sent 2 Extension Coordinators to help with the project, Lions John and Wanda Barnett from Arkansas.

The project was an amazing success. On the first day of training/recruiting, training in the morning, recruiting in the afternoon, evaluating in the evening, 25 dedicated Lions from around Oregon showed up to help start the new clubs. This routine went on for 3 days, from 9am till about 8pm. At the end of the 3 days there were 18 new Lions signed up in Jefferson and 15 new Lions signed up in Brownsville.

 

The Jefferson club had their first meeting on September 2nd. Six more community members signed up for a total of 24 Lions in the club. At the second meeting 4 more civic minded members signed up for a total of 28 club members. Jefferson is off to a great start. They are already planning their charter night.

 

The Brownsville area currently has 15 new Lions ready to start and are working on getting another 5 members to have their own club.

 

All the Lions from around the state that participated deserve a special thanks for their efforts. A few of our “above and beyond the call” Lions were Lions Gary and Carol Tate, Lion Art Rotter, Lion Dennis Tichenor, Lion Jo Hallam, Lion Chuck Ponder, Lion Mary Fechtel, Lion Betty Levenhagen, Lion Jack Stoops, Lion Otto Stadeli, Lion Dan French, Lion Cindi Clark, Lion Charley Tate, Lion Cal Hudspeth, Lion Mo Jaffer,   the District R Expand the Horizon Team, and many others.