Lions of Illinois - Member Area

Hello,

Hope you and yours are well. I am hoping you can lead me to the right person.

My name is Jill Serin and I would like to present the idea of a fundraising art auction (maybe along with a wine tasting) to your Lions Club family as a possible event for early 2018 .

The art auction is EASY, ELEGANT, FUN TO PLAN AND ATTEND.

A good part of your responsibility will be PLACE AND PEOPLE. It has a short time line and is a perfect way to attract your surrounding community.

We don't charge a thing to come and work with our groups.

We bring art for every taste and budget including a collection of sports and music memorabilia, all beautifully matted and framed, hand-picked for your audience.

There will be an affordable collection as well as an important Collectors Corner for those who have been buying art for years and years.

We print all your color invites and tickets ( free of charge) AND supply an auctioneer who will educate and entertain all evening long.

I am a hand holder and will walk you through from start to finish. When my name is on an event, I make sure it's a success!

We even offer an opportunity to showcase your own local student artists!

HOW THE EVENING GOES

Everyone arrives and for the first hour, will eat, drink, socialize and preview the collection we have set up around the perimeter of the room.
Chairs are set up theater style. After the hour is up, the auctioneer will spend 10 minutes educating the audience, letting them know what they can expect and then get right into a "live" auction - with everyone on the edge of their seat waiting for their choice to come up on the easel.

SOME IDEAS OTHERS HAVE DONE THAT YOU MAY LIKE

SCHEDULE A WINE TASTING Contact a local vintner/winery to see if they might donate a few cases of various wines in return for the opportunity to sell their wares at the event. A wine tasting can be simple - just 5 or 6 different wines and most vintners have a prepared program.

INVOLVE YOUR STUDENT ARTISTS Collect artwork created by your own student artists (we suggest collective class projects) /artists (some animal shelters involved pets in creating artwork!), we will frame (free of charge), as many as 8 items to be auctioned with all proceeds retained by your organization.

HOST A TASTE OF THE AREA, soliciting local restaurants for a specialty dish (offer to provide them with a full page ad within our catalog) to promote their restaurant.

INVITE YOUR OWN TALENTED who play string instruments and a pianist to play chamber music throughout your preview. (invite parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles)

I have worked with churches, schools, synagogues, Rotary, Junior league, Exchange Club, Chamber of Commerce, Knights of Columbus, Kiwanis, Lions - even the military - whose officers spouses clubs love the event.

They have been done in church social halls, hotels, community centers, hospital lobbies, large realty offices, the conference room of a law office when working with our CASA groups, public libraries, country clubs, city clubs, theaters, the atrium of an office building, even someone's 10,000 Sq. Ft. home!

Read on for a summary of the ways you earn money

I never want my chair people to have unrealistic goals.

You will never put a new wing on the building when you do an art auction, but if you take advantage of every component we offer, you can walk away with a respectable amount of money for the time and energy you put into it.

We print - free of charge, all printed material; tickets and/or color invitations as well as the catalogs for your event .

1. Admission is all yours.

I have groups that take my advice and charge a good amount of money at the door. It's all your money, I am not interested in the monetary value. For me it represents a body at the door the evening of the event.

I encourage an admission price of at least $10 per person. Doing so will encourage attendance, not just a ticket sold and you never see them in your audience!

I also encourage setting an "in advance" price and raising it substantially "at the door." Make it worth their while to pre-purchase their tickets!

** TIP TO INCREASE MONEY EARNED: Offer PATRON/SPONSOR OF THE ARTS OPPORTUNITIES.

PICASSO LEVEL, RENOIR LEVEL ETC. Charge a bit more for those who want to take advantage of this and we will print their names on all printed material and in the catalog we provide for every bidder number.

2. We donate art work

We donate 2 works of art for raffles. All monies stay with you. Offer an EARLY BIRD INCENTIVE. If tickets are purchased before the cut off date, toss in 5 FREE raffle tickets for one of the donated works of art.

Not only will they attend the event for the discounted price, they'll have an opportunity to win a beautifully matted and framed piece of art!

** TIP TO INCREASE MONEY EARNED: Secure a work of art from a "famous" local artist and sell raffle tickets for that as well.

3. Ad Book

We will reproduce and include any ads you collect in our catalog the evening of the event . We do not charge a thing for paper or ink and you get to keep all the money! I have a group that spends 3 months and 20 committee members selling ads - but earns close to $17,000 from their ad book alone!

Already collect ads for another event? Take them anyway and don't charge. But... still leave 6 complimentary tickets to come to the event. We will not charge you for paper or ink and you will create a ton of good will in your community!

** TIP TO INCREASE MONEY EARNED: Offer 6 complimentary tickets to the event for every ad purchased.You will put unfamiliar faces in the room - always good when you're fundraising!

4.Sliding scale percentage

A sliding scale percentage of whatever art is sold at the auction, beginning with 20%, 25% ,30% and 35% of the gross sales - in increments of $ 7,000

5. Donated items

Our auctioneer will be glad to auction "live" up to 10 items (must have a value of $300 or more) you collect, vacations, dinner certificates, golf packages, etc.

All the money earned stays with you. You can display as many silent auction items as you want.

** TIP TO INCREASE MONEY EARNED: Contact a local art school and obtain free art lessons, keeping with the "art" theme of the event.

This usually fetches a pretty penny. Everyone has a "secret artist" inside of them.

6. Art With A Heart

Contact your local art teachers and ask them to do up to 10 class projects. Any medium - (finger paint, oil, watercolor,acrylic, etc)

Ship them to us in a tube and we'll custom matt and frame them, bring them back with us and make them part of the auction that night.

The goal is to have 16- 25 sets of parents all standing on chairs, all bidding for that same family heirloom!

Any money realized from student art goes back to you.

** TIP TO INCREASE MONEY EARNED: Secure some unpainted wood furniture, rocking chairs, toy chests, coffee tables, etc. and have those same students decorate them as a premier piece and we'll auction those off as well.

A lot of energy and passion goes into your art auction before we set foot in your community. Art is bought specifically for your audience and the same collection does not fly everywhere. We can include Rolling Stones , Paul McCartney and Eagles signed guitars, signed Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus golf memorabilia as well as other important names from the sports world.

Attendance is key, the more people attending, the more art is sold, the more money earned.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

QUESTIONS I KNOW WILL COME UP

What is the typical total time frame for the auction event?

Figure a total of 3 hours for the actual event plus an hour for set up and breakdown.

What volunteers do we have to provide?

We will need 6 people to help with set up (it takes an hour) and break down ( less than an hour, hopefully we will be putting less back on the truck than what we took off!)

2 people to sit at the registration table, 3 cashiers to take the money from art sales and 3 runners who will work with our display manager during the "live" auction part of the evening - bringing sold art to the sold area and replacing it with the next auction piece up for bid.

What is the price of the art in the collection?

The average piece of art that sells is somewhere between $185 - $225.

We always include a small higher priced collection (between 10 -15 pieces) for Collectors.

You will have people coming in and buying nothing - and you may have a person who has been buying art for years and years .

There will be something for everyone.

What do we need to have on site to set up for the auction.

You will need 20-25 long 6 (or 8) foot tables set up around the perimeter of the room, 125 chairs set up theater style, ample lighting and good parking.

Let me know if you feel there might be some interest.

Jill Serin, Auction Coordinator

Azalea Fundraising Auctions

Direct 631.889.4635

loveartj7@optonline.net

www.azaleafundraisingauctions.com

Katherine Plante <kathyplante@yahoo.com>

Yesterday, 6:34 PM

Tom A Drez

We are in possession of a large lion statue from the now defunct Plano Lions Club. It's been in my parents garage for over 10 years. We would like to offer this to any club willing to come pick it up. Attached are photos of the Lion, it is quite large measuring at 70" long x 20" wide x 40" tall.

It is available for pickup in Plano, Illinois. Contact information for pickup is B. Yundt at 630-552-3390.

When my mother spoke to Dick Bark he suggested posting it to the Lions of Illinois webpage, but I am unable to figure out how to do that.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,
Kathy Plante

CC Mark & First Lady Maggie William's Magic Show: https://www.facebook.com/austin.prabhu/videos/10210587679066828/

Special Council Meeting

Governors Cabinet Room

President Abraham Lincoln Hotel

Send this newsletter to all District 1A Lions in your club.

My name is Lion Tim Keefe, and I am a member of the Grayslake Lions Club. Our club has had some car flags made up to commemorate the Centennial Celebration this year, and they are available for sale via the Grayslake Lions Club website - www.grayslakelionsclub.org. Attached are sample pictures.

They can be purchased from the Grayslake Lions Clubs for $ 20.00 apiece plus shipping. Limited time and quantity. Flags are highway speed rated and come in yellow or white while supplies last.

Grayslake Lions Club can be reached at our website, Facebook or email.

Grayslake, Illinois Lions Club

The Eldorado (IL) Lions Club has three reading magnifiers to be given to any club that has a place for them. Also we are looking for a home for our float that we have not used in a while. The float is a converted boat trailer, dual axle plus the lions that we used on the float. They just need a good flocking.

Contact Lion PDG/Trustee Steve Griffin at steve.griffin@mchsi or 618.841.2486 for mre information and possible costs.

The COUNT DOWN is now at less than 100 days until the 100th annual Lions Clubs Int'l convention in Chicago. Every Week we will now start highlighting some very strategic and important items for all Lions, especially the Lions of Illinois as we complete our convention hosting planning and preparation activities. Critical activities right now include:

The clock is now ticking to the start of the convention on June 30th. 90 days will go by very quickly.

If you not registered for the convention and secured your hotel room, please do so this week. More than 31,000 Lions have completed their registrations. And, we are now spread across 34 hotels downtown with 18 of the booked solid. We expect total registrations and total hotels to continue to grow in the short term.

3. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Please consider volunteering for any committee in any time slot. We still need many many volunteers to fill an estimated total of 3,100 shifts of a couple hours each. You do not need to volunteer for a very long time, but we can use every committed volunteer we can get. Consider signing up now online here:

http://www.lions2017chicago.org/volunteer-form

4. CLUB STREET BANNER SPONSORSHIP

Please ask your club to consider sponsoring a street banner to hang downtown during the Convention. We will try and get your back to you after the convention. Your club's sponsorship is directly impactful on the MD1 Host Committee budget and your support is VERY MUCH appreciated. See the order form at this link:

http://www.lions2017chicago.org/order-now/street-banner-sponsorship/

With the clock ticking and us being 90 days from the start of the convention, there are many things that have registration or ordering deadlines. Waiting too much longer can put your participation in and enjoyment of the convention behind the 8 ball. Please consider wrapping up all of the above this week.

Please Like and share via FB or email this update and future weekly updates to all the Lions you know.

Thank you for helping to make our 100th Int'l Convention special and great!!

Good morning, District Cabinet Secretaries!

Attached is the 2017 State Convention Delegate form in both a standard and fillable PDF version. Please forward the attached Delegate form to all presidents and/or secretaries of Lions clubs in your District and request the clubs to complete and return the form to you by May 5, 2017, as indicated on the form. Once the completed Delegate forms have been returned to you, please total the number of Delegates who will be attending the State Convention this year from the forms and call or send me an email to let me know what that total number is. The State Office needs to know the number of Delegates who will be attending and voting at the State Convention to ensure enough ballots and delegate cards are prepared.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your help with this!

Michele, SST

Lion Michele Faires

As noted in Article VIII, Section 8 of the MD-1 State Constitution and By-laws, "Each chartered Club in the State in good standing with Lions Clubs International, the State and their respective Districts and with all International, State and District taxes paid at least fifteen (15) days prior to the close of credential certification shall be entitled to one voting delegate and one alternate for each ten members of said Club, who have been enrolled for at least one year and a day in the club; or major fraction thereof, as shown by the records of Lions Clubs International on the first day of the month last preceding that month during which the Convention is held." I will be following up with clubs that have outstanding balances starting in April up to the deadline for listed above.

https://issuu.com/austinprabhu/docs/march_2017_the_illinois_lion

Click above link to read State Magazine online.

Convention Special: http://issuu.com/austinprabhu/docs/2017_convention_issue

Attached please find PDF's for lite and full versions.

Happy reading,

-Dr. Austin D'Souza, PDG

MD1 Lions of Illinois State e-Magazine Editor

Our latest MD1 video to promote our hosting of the LCI 100th Annual Convention in Chicago this summer! Mark your calendar to attend, register now at lcicon.lionsclubs.org, and reserve your hotel room if staying downtown. Visit lions2017chicago.org for more details, too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPYBTZSr_Ak&feature=youtu.be

The Lions of Illinois room block for the Fall Rally (MD-1 Forum) is full, but the following hotels near the Embassy Suites may still have guest rooms available for those who are planning to attend the Fall Rally and need overnight accommodations:

Best Western Plus East Peoria - $105 includes breakfast

Fairfield Inn and Suites - $107, includes breakfast

Courtyard Peoria - $107

Stoney Creek - $109

Staybridge Suites - $125

Holiday Inn and Suites - $151

Hampton Inn Peoria East - $159

LCI Welcome to Chicago in 2017 Video:

https://vimeo.com/169937396/4377724604?lite=1

A Special meeting of the Council of Governors is being held on October 1, 2016 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm in the Executive Boardroom at the Embassy Suites, 100 Conference Center Dr, East Peoria, IL. Lunch is not provided.