DG Larry Berg, District G Governor 
District 36G Governor Column

Year End Summary
            I don’t want this to sound like my last will and testimony; however, I will miss my relationship and e-mails with the council of Governors and all its operations. What a great group of Lions with big hearts that’s for sure.

Let me review my goals for 2007-2008 that my cabinet adopted last year.

1.     Membership
We lost two Clubs, North Powder and Arlington. Both had only 3 members and just give up.
Our plan was to develop two new clubs in the District. We dropped Prairie City, early in our plan, however we should review this at a later date. We did Charter a Club in Athena/ Weston with up to 29 members. Charter night is June 21. Elgin is the sponsoring club, and the guiding Lions. We owe a lot of thanks to Gary and Carol Tate for putting this club together; it was a lot of work.
On the other hand Tom Bessonette tried very hard to put a Club in Redmond. Bend would be the sponsoring Club; however we had a lot of oppression from Crooked River Ranch. We did put an active Branch Club in Redmond, with members from Crooked River, the branch is now meeting and functioning, with 11 members, some from Redmond, Bend, Crooked River and Prineville. This is the core and could be an active Club next year.
2.     Growth Targets
We projected a loss of 120 members. By my count we lost over 120 so far.
We projected a gain of 121 members, or net gain of 1. So far per my count we have 126 new, but we have to wait to June to be sure. I just got a note where Pendleton Round Up that dropped 13 members and Burns dropped 9 this month
3.     Increase the number of women
We started with 34% and that’s where we are. I was shooting at 50%, which was dumb on my part, which would mean that we would have to bring in about 141 women and no males.
4.     Get all clubs and members active.
At every club that I visited I would discuss activities in their community and club involvement. I believe that every club in the district is doing good stuff. That doesn’t mean every member is active.
            It has been a tough year for me with heart by-pass surgery and complications with my lungs filling with liquids. The winter snowstorms also slowed me down some. But I’m very pleased with our district. We have some great clubs and Lions. Our convention was a great success. Our Sight Two contributions exceeded our goal of $30,000. I believe it’s around $47000 now, and yes we have a couple of zero clubs. Contributions to our Sight and Hearing Foundation are way over projections. Goal at convention was $13000; we passed the $22000 mark in one night.
We have set August 10, 2008, at Hood River, for our first Task force training meeting. Ed Gear is heading up the group. I didn’t get a membership grant from the International for club development. I did sign one $44000 grant for Bend for Habit for Housing. I had a lot of good help and thank every one for support and encouragement.
            I still believe that we need to re-brand Lions Clubs. MD36 has a very active group of Lions working on some of the problems. We need to get to the twenty first century now.

            As I look back, some of my best times where when I met which 36G clubs and installed new members. The social contacts, the awards, and installing my first Leo in Upper Valley are all great memories, along with the fundraisers.