A grand tradition of Lions Clubs far and wide is the changeover meeting, in which the newly elected Club Board are welcomed and inaugurated. It is indeed a special occasion!
We took this as an opportunity to relaunch our club. We sent out invitations to other Lions and members of the autistic community. In all, some 21 people attended our meeting — a wonderful outcome!
We had special guests from such organisations as Reframing Autism, Community Flower Studio and 3Bridges, with whom we hope to forge a productive partnership, as well as members of the broader Lions community, including members of our sister organisation, the Melbourne Autism Lions Club.
As it turns out, this current ongoing pandemic, while undoubtedly devastating and disruptive, is actually a blessing in disguise. It inspired us to move our meetings to the ZOOM platform, which makes our meetings more accessible and equitable.
Our outgoing President (and newly-elected Treasurer), Charbel talked about the Autism Awareness stall in Parramatta in April 2019, getting in touch with Niantic to sponsor two Pokemon Go tournaments held at the Lugarno Lions Spring Festival and Oatley Lions Festival in September and October 2019 respectively and the Plumtree End of Year party.
Our incoming President, Tom, gave a presentation about our club entitled “SACLC: What, Why and How?” in which, amongst other things, he outlined his vision for the club, namely:
To be the Lions Club that supports and unites the organisations and people that support and unite the Autism Community
as well inviting the community to join us on our journey to help bring about new and better realities for autistickind.
You can watch the presentation by watching this video. You can also read the slides.
From this day forth, our goal is to have regular monthly meetings that anyone from the community – not just members – can participate. We hope to stage many more meetings that are as lively, engaging and vital as this one was.
And yes, we’re always looking for new members. If you are a service-minded individual, do get in touch!