July 2014 President’s Message
Aloha fellow Lions and friends,
First, I’d like to thank everyone for your kind words and acts of support since February, when I agreed to become President of the Hawaii Kai Lions Club for fiscal year 2014-15. With all that is going on with my parents’ health, increased responsibilities in my job, and being Chair of the Transportation and Hospitality Chair for the 2015 International Convention, I step forward to take on the Hawaii Kai Lions Club’s presidency, thanks to your commitments of support. Domo arigatogozaimasu and onegaishimasu!
Second, thanks to the 2014-15 incoming Board members, and especially to the newer members of the club who stepped up to meet the challenge, learning as we go along! I look forward to a fantastic year of our serving the club, the community, the zone, and the district of Hawaii.
Third, I respectfully ask for the support of the Hawaii Kai Club members, the CISes, the clubs in our zone, and district, to help steer the ship, keep an eye out for icebergs, and to help us smoothly arrive in port at the end of the year. Members of the new Board have already had a transition meeting, attended the Officer’s Training, and we’ve had a couple of hand-off meetings for the Treasurer (thank-you, Walter Kuroiwa). In 2014-15, we ask the experienced members of our club to let us know if there are upcoming events/things that we need to know about, sensitive issues to be aware of, and, in general, help us along.
As President, my primary goal is to increase membership, so that our club may endure. We have a great leader in Jeanne Alices, who is our new Membership Director, and is promoting our Hawaii Kai Lions Club Open House taking place Thursday, July 17th. We already have ideas for events to seek out new members. We hope you will join us in this effort this year! Special thanks to Sylvia Nakakura, who gave us the Open House idea, for encouraging me in my first year as a Lion to become president, and who gave Loyal and me leis at the pancake breakfast. Sure wish you’d become a Lion, Sylvia! 😉
Other new members who have already committed to the club are David Iwana (1st VP), Keith Kogachi (2nd VP), and Rick Kvick (Treasurer), and they have already rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work with new ideas and suggestions. I look forward to their assistance and advice this year. Among the “old guard,” I am looking to Merv Wee, Roy Aoki, and Rick Yee to be my advisors, and I look forward to continued support and communications with Immediate Past President, Bill Modglin and outgoing Secretary, Tom Jones. And thanks too, to Alvin Hayashibara (Secretary) and Cynthia Chun (3rd VP), who have always been there for me.
For CISes (without whom we wouldn’t have such dedicated Lions), we will have an event once a quarter, and already have plans for a visit to the Hawaii Foodbank in Q1. For Lions with little computer familiarity, we will have a small group, hands-on training session to show you how to sign up for our projects/activities, how to use e-mail, and to answer any other computer-related questions you may have.
Finally, communication will be important during this administration, and so we will update our web page, promote a FaceBook page to let the greater community know all the wonderful work we are doing in Hawaii Kai, and get the “archives” rolling that were initiated during Tom Jones’ year as president. We don’t want to re-invent the wheel, and instead will have a repository where new members/chairs can learn about processes the club has previously done – e.g., Pancake Breakfast, Membership drives & orientation, and projects, in general.
Please note that I will be sending out lots of communications during my year, as I feel it’s critical to our success that you know what is going on, and can participate. Please simply delete my e-mails, if you are not interested.
Mahalo for your support, and please remember “it takes a village to raise a child.” I hope you will all be my village.
Best regards,
Peggy Oyama
2014-15 Hawaii Kai Lions Club President