Hello fellow Lions!

My name is Risa Riggen, and I am your District 36G District Governor. I have been a Lion for six years and I am pleased to have been chosen for this job.

I have always been interested in how things work so when I visit your club, I will probably ask about your favorite service activities and fundraisers. Any information I get I will gladly share with another club if it might help them, as I would share theirs with you.

My club in Pendleton has a foundation (a 501C3). People can give money to the foundation and then deduct it from their taxes. Foundations often give money to other foundations to help them with specific projects. When we donate money to other groups, we are careful to make sure that they make good use of our/their money. Other groups do the same thing when they consider giving money to the Lions. They know that money we raise for the community goes to the community, and we spend our money wisely. When we report our service and fundraising, we show that we are good stewards for our and their money.

For this reason, I want to help clubs improve service reporting. My club has a form we use to simplify collecting this information. We also have a Service Coordinator who inputs all of these reports. This takes a load of computer work off our secretary.

I also want to highlight more of what Lions Club International Foundation does for the world and, more specifically, for our little corner of the world. I know I wanted to know more about what they did before I started making regular donations, which I now do. I may not give a lot of money, but I do give every month, so LCIF knows that they can count on my money.

When I come for my visits, I will explain what Mission 1.5 is about and show the “Round Up Your Friends” western t-shirts that I am selling as a fund raiser.

See you soon,

Lion Risa