The Lions PrideThe Lions PrideMARCH – APRIL 2014

Newsletter of the Lions Club of Moorabbin Inc. PO Box 1144 Moorabbin Phone (03) 9583 6281

Website - http://moorabbin.vic.lions.org.au Email – Website - http://moorabbin.vic.lions.org.au Email – moorabbin.lions@hotmail.com moorabbin.lions@hotmail.com Bill Tomkinson – President , Gillian Lelah – Secretary , John Lissenburg – Treasurer

Editor Sam Dalley, sjdalley@bigpond.com

Young Speakers ImpressFive students representing Cheltenham Secondary College and McKinnon Secondary College and Bentleigh Secondary College gave very impressive performances when they competed in Moorabbin Lions 'Youth Of The Year' quest at the 'Sandbelt Hotel' on February 19th . The overall 'YOTY' winner was McKinnon Secondary College student Nicholas Parkinson, whilst the Public Speaking Award went to Cheltenham Secondary College student Rebecca Varvaruc.

Nicholas, a Year 12 McKinnon Secondary College, is currently School Captain and also House Music Captain. He was McKinnon Junior School Captain 2011, and a Senior School Council member 2012 -2013. Nicholas has a wide range of interests including music, swimming and athletics, and in 2013 was the Australian representative to Youth Olympic forum in Norway

Nicholas, in his presentation highlighted the increasing threat to privacy in our modern world. Nicholas asked those present to imagine a world where with the rapid advances in technology, a person relaxing or sun-baking in their own backyard could look up to see a camera flashing above and invading their privacy – within minutes photos are everywhere on the internet for all their friends and colleagues to see. He stressed the impact this could have on someone's employment, and also the potentially destructive effect social media such as Twitter could have on those in public office.

Runner up and winner the Public Speaking Award, Rebecca Varvaruc is a Year 12 Cheltenham Secondary College student and was a Year 10 Peer Support Leader in 2012. With a keen interest in theatre, she was Drama Leader at Brightstars Acting Modelling & Singing Agency 2012 , and in 2013 was VCE Leader in Cheltenham Secondary College's production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," offering guidance to younger students. Rebecca was drama Vice Captain of the Windsor Exchange Team 2013, and currently is a Supervisor at a well known retail outlet at both Southland and Chadstone.Rebecca in her speech focused on the media's unreal portrayal body image, and the negative effect it could have on a young girls self image. The depiction of young women in magazines was often deceptive because the photos were heavily 'Photoshoped' to present a perfect body image. Very often the women depicted were well known and naturally beautiful and yet the media still felt the need to manipulate how they look, slimming them down and removing every blemish – the ultimate betrayal of how a woman should look. She said it sent a false message to young girls whose bodies were still developing. In addition to their set speeches, the five contestants had to give two minute responces to two impromptu questions – “Do you think our leaders have good communication skills” and “Is peer pressure harmful or beneficial.”

The impressive performances of the five contestants proved a difficult task for the three judges – former Kingston City Councilor Greg Alabaster (Chairperson,) Mary Rimington OAM, and President of UN Youth Victoria (and possibly our youngest 'YOTY' judge!) Robby Nyaguy. Cont.. Page 2...

Contestants (from left) Nathan Guy - Bentleigh SC, 'Youth Of The Year' Nicholas Parkinson - McKinnon SC, 'Public Speaking Award' Rebecca Varvaruc - Cheltenham SC, Rachel Walker - McKinnon SC, and Noa Shaul - Bentleigh SC. (Front left) Judges Robby Nyaguy, Greg Alabaster and Mary Rimington.

Brian Sets Us a ChallengeBrian Buchanan attended our February 5th Business Meeting to challenge our members to take on the “Club Excellence Process”. As the Immediate Past District V5 Global Leadership Director, he developed the CEP and is the lead facilitator, and is ready to work with our members. Brian has also been elected to the 2nd Vice DG position for 2014/2015. He explained that the CEP was not just for clubs in crisis but for every club that desires to improve the way they do things, increase and maintain membership, benefit their community, and broader Lions benefactors.

CEP is run over three one hour sessions facilitated by Brian. The first session is analyzing what the club strengths and weaknesses are; the second asks ‘where to from here?’ exploring all ideas put forward; and the third to set goals and develop a strategy to follow in order to achieve these.

Brian can follow up at a later date to measure the success of the club and assist in achieving and/or working towards the goals. Brian also explained other support for members through courses run by the District including personal development, public speaking, officer training, and others available on the District website. President Billy T is discussing with Brian the most likely dates to run the CEP. Photo Page 2....

The Lions PrideThe Lions Pride

Our Bunnings BBQ’s continue with $1160 being raised at the latest BBQ on Sunday 23rd March. Manning the “Sizzle” were Lions Stuart Moyns, John & Marilyn Lissenburg, Karen Mitri, Russell Jackson, Tom James, Lex Richardson, Bill Tomkinson, Jessie Brent, Di Fensham, Cerise De Gelder and Pat Foss – a 'Friend of Moorabbin Lions.'

“Thank you to Lions Bill, Jessie, Di and Cerise for assisting with pack up and assisting John with cleaning part of BBQ area – a great job,” said Lion Marilyn Lissenburg. “We sold 7 mini Lions Cake slices. Quite a lot of sausages were sold (and not to mention 20kg of onions cut up by Stuart!!) and we raised $1160 - a great team effort.”

Young Speakers Impress Cont..Panel Chairperson Greg Alabaster said the judges were very impressed with the performances of the contestants

The Lions 'Youth of the Year' quest is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in our youth, at the age when they are about to enter the fields of employment or higher education, and provides students with the incentive to pay greater attention to the general qualities, so vital in developing our youth into first class citizens. The qualities sought, apart from academic attainments are those of leadership, personality, sportsmanship, public speaking and good citizenship.

Youth of the Year is designed to encourage student interest in leadership and the qualities required to take an active and constructive role in the community. A high level of academic, leadership, sporting, public speaking and citizenship achievement is sought in its potential winners. By emphasising these qualities it hopes to provide outstanding role models for the youth of Australia and an overall increase in the confidence of young men and women.

YOTY Zone FinalMoorabbin Lions played host for the Zone 10 & 11 Final 'Youth of Year' which was held on Sunday March 16th at the Sandbelt Hotel.

Pictured above are (from left) District YOTY Chairman Monica McQuatters, Chen Qian Public Speaking winner, Zone 10 & 11 'Youth Of The Year' Christopher Thuring, and Zone Chairman Marilyn Lissenburg.

'Youth Of The Year' winner Christopher Thuring, from Trinity Grammar School, was sponsored by Lions Club of Boroondara-Gardiners Creek, whilst Public Speaking winner Chen Qian, from Brighton Grammar, was sponsored by Lions Club of Sandringham.

DIARY DATESDIARY DATESAPRIL

Wed 2nd Business MeetingThurs 3rd Book Sale at DenSun 6th Mordialloc - Marathon Marshalling morning tea afterwards. Tues 8th 3rd Zone Meeting Sandbelt – Marilyn (Chair) Sat 12th Highett Football Club Gates YOTY State Final at ColacSun 13th Mordialloc/Mentone 50th Charter AnniversaryMon 14th Girrawheen - Easter Eggs Wed 16th Dinner MeetingTues 29th Ten Pin Bowling

Judging the competition were Jackie Leitch (Chairperson), a former Lions Exchange Student in 1988 & 1992, travelling to America and Japan, with extensive experience in business administration. She is currently working as an early childhood educator; David Laws a Senior Manager at the National Bank of Australia, with extensive experience in sales and operational management at regional, state and national levels; and Minto Felix a former Victorian Lions Youth of the Year winner (2010) and now Chief Operations Officer for the Oaktree Foundation responsible for overseeing the delivery of 'Oaktree' initiatives across the nation, ('Oaktree' is Australia’s largest youth-run organisation with over 150,000 members.)

The presence of former high achieving “Youth's Of The Year” on our YOTY judging panel's is indicative of the invaluable part this important Lions youth initiative is playing in encouraging the next generation of community leaders.

The Lions 'Youth of the Year' was the brainchild of the late Jamie Jamieson, a loved and respected member of the City of Brisbane Lions Club.

In 1964, Lion Jamie Jamieson formed a committee composed of Lion Sid McDonald (Chairman), Lions Arch Merrin, Arthur Smout and Bill Jones. The Committee was to investigate a Youth of the Year Project. This Committee pioneered and supervised the quest for a number of years.

Immediate Past District V5 Global Leadership Director Brian Buchanan with Pres. Bill Tomkinson (left) and Lion David Blyth (right.)