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TEXAS LIONS ON THE INTERNET
THE FIRST YEAR |
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Report to the Council of Governors
Multiple District 2
Lion Frank Pickens, State Internet Chairman
July 31, 1998 |
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It has been one year since the creation of the State Internet Chair.
During this period we have seen a number of Lions Club from MD2 join the
hundreds of other Lions Clubs on the net. Several Governors appointed District
Internet Chairmen last year and several more have done so this year.
A FEW FACTS
As of the most recent count we have 37 Lions Clubs and 10 Lions Districts
with some form of Internet presence. About 10 Lions in the current Council
of Governors have an active email address. I expect, however, there are
a number of DGs and VDGs who not had the opportunity to notify me about
their email address.
Other wins worth noting -
- LionNet (http://www.lionnet.com),
has been officially recognized by Lions Clubs International as "a
cross linked network of Lions clubs throughout the world" and
is linked from the LCI home page
(http://www.lionsclubs.org).
- LionNet maintains about 75 Nodes which provide links and information
on over 1,000 Lions Clubs, Lions Districts, Programs & Activies in
50 or more countries including most of the United States.
- The MD2 State Internet Chairman has been asked to become one of
the eight LionNet
Administrators (http://www.lionnet.com/administrators.html).
- The MD2/LionNet
TEXAS site (http://www.flash.net/~pickens2/lionnet.html) has been updated
to reflect 1998 - 1999 information including a listing of State Chairmen.
- The Texas
Lions Foundation site (http://www.flash.net/~pickens2/texas-lions-foundation.html)
has been update reflect 1998 - 1999 information.
- The Texas Lions Camp (http://www.lionscamp.com)
now has an official home page.
- Highlights of The 1998 Lions of Texas State Convention were recorded
and posted to the 1998
Texas Lions State Convention Scrapbook (http://www.flash.net/~pickens2/98_state_convention_scrapbook.htm).
There are 100 or more photos of our Convention Activities (special thanks
to Lion Bill Stanton - 2-A3 Dist Internet Chair - for taking these photos).
- There are several on line events - Lions On Line (LOL) for AOL subscribers,
IRC meetings hosted by the Toronto
CyberLions Club (http://www.cyberlions.com), the IRC Circle Chat serving
Lions of Central & South America and the Caribbean and the ICQ Lions
Chat Room (http://groups.icq.com/group.asp?no=89606). More information
can be found on all these on line events at LionNet
(http://www.lionnet.com/online_events.html).
- Lions International is planning on having the M&As online this
year. In addition, plans include getting the supplies catalog online as
well as a lite version of the International Directory.
GOALS FOR 1998 - 1999
This will be the year for the Lions of Texas to "wire" all
of MD-2. At the grass roots level we are seeing more and more Lions becoming
active on the Internet. However, in order for these grass roots Lions to
have access to Lions across the State there must be active support and
participation from the District Cabinets and Council of Governors. In order
to achieve this we should strive for 100% participation by recommending:
- Each District Governor and Vice District Governor should have an
active email address monitored either by them or by their Cabinet Secretary
on a regular basis.
- Each State Chairman should be accessible by email in order to be
a more effective resource at the District and Club levels.
- Each Region and Zone Chairmen should have an active email address
and should encourage the Clubs in their regions and zones to have at least
one Lion per Club who can be reached via email.
- Where possible, Club and District newsletters should be published
on the Internet as part of the Club or District web page.
In closing let me say this past year has been an exciting one for me
in Lionism. I have met and shared ideas with Lions all over the world and
I have been able to assist a number of folks with requests concerning individual
Lions Clubs or projects - not just from Texas, either.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve the Lions of Multiple District
2 - I look forward to all that we can accomplish this year and my continued
activities as State Internet Chairman.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/Lion Frank Pickens
State Internet Chairman, MD-2
pickens2@flash.net