Bellringer limps over $26,000 mark; board notes

Here we are on January 7, and with $1,500 contributed recently by local firefighters, our Bellringer Fund surpassed $26,000, according to Lion Dennis Tesch. He added that Mike's Car Wash has yet to make its annual donation.

That report was given at today's board meeting, which also saw Dennis Peters sharing stats on the 2015 Fall Fling Dinner Auction:

8 Lions were responsible for 64% of the auction donations;
6 members collected 58% of the donations from businesses.
34 members made or collected donations.
34% of the auction items were collected by committee members.
7 members sold tickets.
4 members solicited sponsorships.
31% of our annual budget is from our auction.
60 bid numbers were handed out.
55 people bought something.

There will be a special board meeting at 11 a.m. on Thursday, January 21, to discuss if there will be an auction this year, and if so, who will chair or co-chair the event. If you're interested, please attend.

Karl Ostheller reported on our four Leo Clubs:

Our newest club is at Kingston Middle School (6-8th graders) where 68 students expressed interest in the club and attended one meeting. Ostheller is filling out an organization report to send to Lions International with $100 check and a list of the 40 students who make up the charter list. These are students who attended at least three meetings. The student-designed T-shirts look fabulous!

At Kingston High School, there are 6-10 students in the Leo Club. They organized a successful blood drive this past fall, and have their second set for March. They are planning on buying $50 worth of items for Project Connect, in addition to asking for donations for the hygiene kits.

Poulsbo Middle School Leo Club collected 20 big bags of clothes for the Fill the Bus campaign. They meet every other week with teacher advisor Kate Ebert.

And North Kitsap High School will help put together hygiene kits for Project Connect Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. in the Commons.

The board voted to donate $200 to purchase supplies needed for Project Connect hygiene kits. Pat Burch is collecting items, so members are asked to bring whatever shampoo, conditioner, lotion, disposable razors, soap, etc. they have to contribute to the kits.

Dates were discussed for the joint food drive with Rotary (March 18 and 19) and White Cane Days (May 6 and 7), as well as the Spring Conference (April 1 and 2 at the Red Lion in Olympia).