Lion relies on her 3rd grade teaching skills to tame crowd

Wimberley Lions Field contains over 490 vendor booths leased to annual lease holders.  Usually, 10% to 15% of these Lease Holders have conflicts or are sick on a typical Market Day and are no shows.  The Wimberley Lions Club attempts to fill those vacancies with Day Renters.  Day Renters complete the market injecting new products and treasures.  Many become annual lease holders because of their day rental success.  This process is challenged during November and December.  Christmas is everyone's mind, the weather is pleasant, and the shoppers are plentiful.  The Wimberley High School Texan Cheer Leaders counted 10,500 shoppers and 1,000 vendors and volunteers on the field this last Saturday.

This November Market Day's inventory showed 38 empty booths and 105 vendors signed up online for day rental provided the challenge for Lion Rebecca  Stoian, Day Lease Manager.   This is where her 3rd grade school teaching experience comes in handy.  She gets the crowds attention.  She tells them they must fill out the rental form.  If they do not have their completed rental form and sales tax form in their hand, They go to the end of the line.  She makes them line up in the order the number they got off of the internet.  She gives each her undivided focus for a short amount of time and quickly dispatches them where they can set up their wares.  Because of the demand greater than the supply, Rebecca has information about locked booths with some room between the booth and street where someone can set up.  Even grassy knolls become vendor space.  She had labeled tables set up on the pavilion for vendors.

Rebecca is supported by both Lions and Volunteers. Pictured Lion Harold Hudnall and Volunteer Bill Brown of the Hill Country Community Band.  They are taking the rental fees, issuing passes, and giving the renters their parking and driving on the field instructions.  Volunteer Ann Rollings also helps in this area.  Booth inventory is accomplished by Lions Larry Thomas, Harold Hudnall, Frank Williams, Lane Hartsock, Dan Williams, Morris Haggerton, and Cris Criswell.  Most of the gate attendance is managed by Lions Linnea Bailey and Bob Pierce with their crew of great LEOs from Katherine Ann Porter School.  KAP LEOs are led by their President Chaley Esensee.  There is also the staffing of the late arrival call in phone from 5:45 until 7:30.  It all starts with Lion Annette Harrington staffing the Day Rental call in on Thursday.

Spending an average of  37 focused seconds for each of the 105 vendors, Lion Rebecca eliminated the crowd in slightly over an hour sending them out to have a wonderful day selling their wares and putting $4,505 into the Lion's coffers for field repair and donations.

"A Beacon of Hope" - A Wimberley Baseline in Community Service

At the first Cabinet meeting District Governor Mike Smith, in Aussie Costume, described “A Beacon Of Hope” A program that I fully endorse and I am excited to share with the lions of the district. This program will shine the light on clubs that develop a signature local service project. The Club’s project must be meaningful for the community and the membership as well.

This made me start to think - Some may think thats a stretch and I open my mouth before engaging brain...

What are the projects that are meaningful to the community?

• Market Days - This is the first thought.  But it is not just a glob of vendors out selling flea market goods.
• It funds Lions Charities with the Lion Share going to support the Texas Lions Camp.  Completing the 100 percent obligation for everyone of our forty years.  This year we hope to give over $9,000 to these efforts.
• In addition to Lion Charities Letters have gone out to 63 charity organizations to submit request for funds.  At least 75% will be funded at some level.  Some of this goes to school activities, river & creek water testing, other youth activities, historical preservation, four year scholarships, student exchange program, 
• Our LEO's learn community service working at Market Days and earn funds.  They then go through a similar process of evaluating service organizations to donate their money.
• Since it takes more people to run a Market Day than Lions, many of our funds recipients participate.  They become friends and some become Lions.
• The community gains from the extra sales in the shops, Bed & Breakfast Inns, and restaurants from the Thursday before through the Monday after Market Day. 
• Road Warriors - For a least ten years the Wimberley Lions have had two miles of adopt a Highway.  From just North of Woodcreek Entrance on Ranch Road 12 to South of the Exxon Station is cleaned the last Thursday of each month.  But, a little extra is done.  Depending on the number of Lions that show up,  extra roads are cleaned.
• Wimberley Lions join with the award winning "Keep Wimberley Beautiful" group each year for a Saturday Cleanup.  We fill a truck trailer sized garbage container each year with cleanup of roads all around Wimberley.  I remember one year a guy stopped his truck and took all of our full bags of trash.  We said we were going to haul it back to Lions Field.  He said if we could pick up the trash on his road, he could at least dispose of it. He was very appreciative.
• Wimberley has no large industry.  It has retired people, faculty from Texas State University, State & High tech commuters, construction contractors, shop owners & workers.  There is no traditional sources of donations. PEC and Brookeshire Brothers Grocery along with the banks are the biggest donors.  This void is filled by the Lions Club, the Civic Club, and the Wimberley Valley Art League.
• Cookout for Texas Lions Camp.  Every year the Wimberley Lions serves a cookout meal.  This meal has a high reputation at Texas Lions Camp.  Camper, counselors, staff, and their family come for a total of as much as 700.  This meal is not made by novices.  These Lions serve multiple thousands of vendors and customers each month.  They know what they are doing.  This Sunday, August 1st, Wimberley Lions will be serving a meal for Diabetic kids.  As the number of disabled kids decrease by medical breakthroughs, Type I diabetes has increased.  Camps are interlaced between disabled and diabetes kids are scheduled.  These kids learn the physical signs they must watch and how to react including administering their own shots and medicine.
• Finally, How does the community see the Wimberley Lions Club?  I can only say just after I became Club President, Lion John Lyon made me get up in the back of the that big Mobile Health Screening Truck to throw candy to the crowd with a couple of LEO's for the 4th of July Parade.  From the time the parade started to the very end, the crowd saw that big truck and trailer with the Lion Logo and us in our vest, the crowd got out of their chairs and applauded until we were out of site.  I have observed in parades since the same response for a Lions presence at the parade.  Similar reception is observed for the Mayor and Citizen of the year.  (They are often also Wimberley Lions)

We are a big and active organization.  Can we do more?  Should we do More?  If So what?  There is a section below this for you to add your comment on other things we do or should do.  Please add your comments.

Lions reach the $ 3 milion donation mark and are looking higher!

Forty years ago, a group of Wimberley community leaders chartered our Lions Club to serve the community and support the worthy causes of Lions International.  They were asked to take over the community market day operation which was outgrowing the capacity of the Wimberley square.  Individual Lions signed personal bank notes of $3,000 each to buy a patch of land that became the initial plat of Lions Field.  The first market day at the new field included the normal art, crafts, and produce.  It also included the sell of new cars and livestock from rabbits to horses.  


All of the profits from Market Day from the beginning have gone to donations and that total has reached 3 $million.  This is from just a just a few dollars in the beginning.  The nineteen eighties saw profits and donations average about $25,000 per year.  The last decade has seen donations in excess of $100,000 each year.  This money is donated to Lion programs such as blindness prevention, hurricane and tsunami relief, Texas Lions Camp for crippled and diabetic children, special EMS equipment, classroom technology, Katherine Ann Porter school equipment, soccer equipment, athletic field lights, and band instruments.  Major expenditures have been for the Nature Trail on Cypress Creek, Visitors Center, Wimberley Playors Playhouse,  the Community Center and restoration of the Winters House.  Each year Wimberley Lions give to Habitat for Humanity.  The fourth house they built was underwritten by Lions to the amount of 87% of the cost.


Two programs are pretty unique to Wimberley.  Our scholarships are mostly four year scholarships and 160 students have benefited from them.  The foreign exchange program has sent 80 students to foreign countries for several weeks living with a host family and about three weeks in a Lion camp with 30 kids from other countries.  These are life changing experiences.  


The Lions earn revenue at the Market Days by parking fees, booth rentals, concession stand sales, and premium Bar-B-Que.  The staffing requirements for Market Days exceeds 200 people.  The Lions club can not marshal that size staff.  A combination of volunteers, LEOS,  and members of organizations that often receive donations from the Lions Club make up the difference.  We could not do without the volunteers.


Tuesday, November 17, 2009 a celebration will occur at the Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Road 12 from 6:00 pm to 7:30pm.  All Lions, Ex Lions, donation recipients, and anyone with an interest are welcome.  All sorts of activity is planned along with refreshments.


Come join us for this celebration!

Collecting the history of the Wimberley Lions

Lion Frances Jones has done double duty for many years!  She has been responsible for club publicity and chair of the History Committee.  Frances takes the official photos of new members, speakers, honored students & teachers, and any one being honored with an award.  She gets those photos into the newspapers along with a caption with accurate name identification and with many event write-ups.  She works with the newspapers to provide excellent coverage of the club.


Lion Frances has put out a call for other photos and memorabilia in order to adequately document the history of the Wimberley Lions Club.  This collection from meetings, picnics, Texas Lions Camp, and Market Days.  Lions John Lyon, Cecil Gibson, and Dan Williams are scanning newspaper articles to include in the November 17th celebration on reaching the $3 million mark in donations.  Anyone with items to be included, please send to Lion Frances.


After this collection is completed, a copy of the scanned items will be provided to the Wimberley Institute of Culture Archive Collection.  This will be of value because many civic and community leaders are either Lion members or speakers at Lion meetings. 

Academic Challenge

Each year the Wimberley Lions Club sponsors the Middle School Academic Challenge.  It is fun for both the Lions who help and the students who participate.  I always come away with an appreciation for both our teachers and students on how much knowledge is being absorbed by the students.  The students really like the cash they earn.  

Before the day of the Academic Challenge, the teachers had held a preliminary contest to reduce the competitors to 6 to 9 teams per class.  These top students form teams of 3.  The teams are seated in a group in the middle of the gym.   The rest of their class set in the gym bleacher to observe and cheer their favorites.

Each member answers four questions: one math, one english, one science, and one history/social studies.  After each question, ten seconds are allowed for the student to mark their answer.  The correct response is announced and the Lion marks the correct responses and flips the score card display so the audience can follow.  The team roatates to the next member after set of questions.  This rotation continues until each team member has answered 12 questions.  The teams or ordinally ranked.  Tie breaker questions are used to break any ties.

The team of three that comes in first each win $100.  The second place team each wins $50.  Each member of the third place team win $30.  This occurs for both the seventh and eight grades.

The two who make this operation work are Cathy Carolan from the Jr High School and PDG Dave Slider getting the Lion Volunteers where they need to be.  Thanks to both of you.