LionsClubs.me

2010-04-29 LionsClubs.me has been upgraded to version 1.7.1 from version 1.7.0.  The upgrade was very simply - simply overwrote existing files with the downloaded elgg 1.7.1 zip file and ran upgrade.php.  Everything seem to be working ok so far.  Thank you Elgg Team!

Lions Clubs International Foundation is committed to aiding communities affected by disasters, including the most recent disaster in Chile following an 8.8 earthquake on February 27. The earthquake is one of the largest ever recorded, and more than 700 people are dead and 2 million people displaced as a result of the devastation to more than 1 million residences. The earthquake hit near the second largest city, Conception, and more than 60 earthquake aftershocks have been recorded.

"Many of you know firsthand how quickly the Foundation acts after disaster," said LCIF Chairperson Al Brandel. "I have tried to call and sent messages to our two Past International Directors who live in Concepcion, but have not been able to reach them yet. LCIF staff and I will continue to try to contact them, as well as the District Governors and Council Chairperson of Multiple District T."

For the full post and how you may help, please visit the Lions International site

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I posted the message below from LCIF Chairperson and Immediate Past International President Al Brandel  

Dear Lion,

Maureen and I have just returned from Haiti where we led a team of Lions and Leos to distribute relief supplies. It brought tears to our eyes to witness the despair of the people, but Lions are committed to meeting these needs in the days and years ahead.

I'd like to first thank all of you for your tremendous generosity. Lions Hope for Haiti mobilized more than US$1.5 million.  By the time you receive this message, I'm sure it will be even more.

While in Haiti, we met with local Lions to discuss immediate needs and long-term reconstruction. They appointed a committee and are discussing long-term relief efforts.

The Foundation is partnering with the Lions of Sweden to provide 200 large tents to house those who are now homeless as well as relief workers. Haitian Lions established three tent cities in the Port au Prince area, where they are focusing their immediate relief efforts. This weekend, Lions delivered additional relief supplies from the Dominican Republic.

We have launched a Haiti section on the Lions Web site, with photos, video and other news. As we receive additional information, we will continue to add it to the Web site.

If you haven't already done so, I ask you to consider making a donation to LCIF to support this disaster. Lions in Haiti appreciate your support and are anxious to serve.

Zone Chairperson William Eliacin's  initial desperation turned to hope and gratitude for the people of Haiti when he learned of the great outpouring of support from Lions around the world.

He said, "We want to show the Lions and the Haitian people in general that the Lions Club is an extraordinary organization, that we are here and that our motto is, "We Serve". We serve our peers, we serve our brothers who are in need. That is why we are here. So I am appealing to you. You can count on us to achieve as much as we can with your contribution to help those who are in need."

You can donate in confidence to LCIF, as 100 percent of every donation will go directly to Haiti relief. Through LCIF, Lions around the world are helping those most in need.

As a zone chairperson for District 20R1 this year,  I was invited and attended the dinner together with District Governor Cary Smolen, his wife Janice, and the rest of his cabinet and their spouses, Past District Governors and their spouses to welcome International Director Dick Sawyer to the district.  It was a lovely gathering at a place called Rini's in Elmsford, NY. 

ID Dick spoke about embracing change and new ideas to help the district as well as other Lions in the United States to continue to grow.  He urged us and gave ideas on how we must adapt and adopt new ways to attract younger members to the club to help revitalize Lionism accross the U.S. while it is experiencing growth in some areas of the world.

Not unlike the Lions Clubs International organization itself, the open source community get a whole lot of things done for the benefit of the community through the effort of skilled and talented people volunteering and donating their time.

The technology behind this Lions networking site also allows us to do a whole lot of things for little or no cost, allowing us to direct our precious little resources to helping our communities.  Believe it or not, the server hosting this website is running on the Marvell Sheeva plug computer.

The computer itself only consumes about 5 watts of power and uses a large SDHC flash memory card, the type used in digital cameras.  It is running a webserver and a database server among other things. 

The site is based on Elgg, an open source social networking platform.

THANK YOU TO THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY FOR HELPING US SERVE MORE WITH LESS.

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