Acceptance Speech and an offer to serve by District Governor-Elect (2009-10) Lion Rajender Tanwani at the 19th Annual District Conference of District 323A2 held on 5th April, 2009 at Smt. Zaverben Popatlal Sabhagrah, Ghatkopar (East), Mumbai

Presiding Officer District Governor, Lion Rajeshkumar Mehrra & Lion Ruchitaa Mehrra, International Director Lion Bishnu Bajoria & LL Indraji, 1st Vice District Governor (Elect) Lion Ashok Kumbhar & LL Ashwiniji, Second Vice District Governor (Elect) Lion Hasmukh Jobanputra & LL Hemaji, my dear father & senior most Past District Governor Lion Dr. Haripalji, respected Past District Governors and their gracious Lion Ladies, Cabinet Officers, Cub Officers, Fellow Lions & Leos and Lionesses, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

Before I proceed further I would like to congratulate lst Vice District Governor (Elect) Lion Ashok Kumbhar and Second District Governor (Elect) Lion Hasmukh Jobanputra on their successful election as a successor to me in 2010-2011 and thereafter. However, I would also like to compliment the two losing candidates in the elections and assure them that everything is not lost in losing an election. It is a fair democratic process where some win and some lose. We should take them in the right spirit and continue with our work of providing service to the needy people for the maximum number times as we possibly could.

Let us remember that " We all have a few failures under our belt. It's what makes us ready for the successes. "

Friends, I am doubly happy today that I succeed a fellow Leo turned Lion Rajeshkumar Mehrra as the District Governor in Office. Today is a historic day in our District. This is the second time in a row a Leo graduated to Lion, becomes a District Governor.

Therefore, please permit me to open my Acceptance Address with a quotation by a revered philosopher Tony Dorsett and I quote: "To succeed... You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. " Unquote.

I believe this sum up the philosophy of Lionism to which we all belong where we involve ourselves to evolve a service programme for the needy and the less than fortunate. You all are great lions, determined to shape the destiny of Lionism in a big way.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I dedicate my success to God Almighty. It is because of him I stand in your presence today as District Governor (Elect). I also dedicate this moment of success to the blessings of my mother late Lion Lady Shardadevi Tanwani. I specially thank my father, first for initiating me into Lionism and nurturing me all along both as a caring father and as a concerned Lion. Profuse thanks to my friend and wife Lion Geeta as well as my son Girish, daughter-in-law Vidhi and my dear daughter Menka for the solid support they gave me in every possible manner. Words are too short to express my feelings for my family.

I express my deep gratitude to each and every Club and every Lion of my District for their valuable support for me. My special thanks to my Home Club, Lions Club of Kalyan for its support and love and for sponsoring my candidature, Sponsoring Committee Chairperson, Lion Ram Ujagar Tiwari and Co-Chairperson Lion J.K. Pathare who I always address as "chacha", Club President Lion Saurabh Mathur, Immediate Past President Lion Ashok Karpe and all Past Presidents and all the members of my home club. I want to assure you all that I shall continue to project the virtues and values of our great Golden Jubilee Club. My thanks are also due to Lion Dharmen Shah and Lion Sunil Pathare for rendering my Nomination Speech in such a fine fashion.

I thank our District Governor Lion Rajeshmkumar Mehrra and Lion Ruchitaa for all the respect and affection they have showered on me and my wife Geeta and shall always cherish the wonderful tenure as his deputy.

I express my deep respect and regards to all our Past District Governors for their support and guidance. I have had the pleasure of working with many of them in their respective Cabinets and they have always helped me to grow both as a Lion and as a human being. I humbly bow to each one of them and to their respective Lion ladies for their love and affection. I seek their continued support and blessings.

However, I would like to make mention of one name that is Past District Governor Lion Rekhiji and Lion Lady Kawaljitji for their outstanding support and guidance.

Mother of all thanks goes to you all Lions, Leos and Lionesses of our District for your support and encouragement over the years, culminating in what you are seeing today. In the same breath I promise with your blessings to convert the negative votes into positive support with positive mind for positive Lionism.

Now with all my humility and with all seriousness of purpose, I accept the position of 19th District Governor of our great District 323 A2,for the year 2009 10.

Friends, exactly on 30th March, 2008 at the very same venue, you elected me as your Vice District Governor, on the basis of my long experience as a Leo and as a Lion.

I am sure you are satisfied with my performance and involvement. I have fulfilled all my obligations diligently and honestly under the able leadership of our popular District Governor Lion Rajeshkumar Mehrra as well as with my performance as Chairperson of MERL, which has shown positive growth in Membership, Retention and Extension.

And now friends, I need your help more than you have ever given me to move the District forward and give Lionism a new vista. It is in this regard that I appeal to all the respected Past District Governors, First and Second Vice District Governors (Elect), Cabinet and non-Cabinet Lion Members, Club officers, Fellow Lions, Leos and Lionesses to strengthen my hands by your involvement in the District and your Club affairs. Friends, your club is the base of your existence as a Lion. Strengthen it by all means by your involvement to achieve my goals in line with the programme of incoming International President, Lion Eberhard Wirfs.

MY PLANS AND POLICIES FOR THE LIONISTIC YEAR 2009-2010

Now, I present my road map for the year 2009-2010. Every New Year should take the District forward. Moving is Growth. This year under leadership of District Governor Lion Rajeshkumar Mehrra, our District has touched new heights of Performance and Fellowship. From here on, we shall move forward for further improvisation.

1. Clubs' Health and Growth:

I need not over stress that Lions Clubs International or our District is as strong as the strength of its clubs. The very fact that the worldwide membership of Lions Clubs is struggling to maintain its top most position we need to take strong measures to meaningfully improve the health and growth of Clubs. Therefore, this shall be my core concern and top priority. This task we shall achieve by making Zone and Region Chairpersons directly responsible for their respective clubs.

The plan is to:

a) Develop Club Leadership through regular Schoolings and Workshops and make it ready to undertake the task chalked out for the year. To be precise, to make the Clubs undertake all the Constitutional obligations, like filing of MMR, to pay all Club dues on time, to hold at least one Regular Club meeting and one Board meeting every month independently at Club level.

b) One of the main reasons for Lions losing interest in Lionism is lack of time-bound and interesting meetings. We shall urge upon the Club leadership to pay special attention to this aspect.

c) The Club leadership should undertake at least one Charity drive early and should complete Club's installation preferably before end of July, 2009.

d) Financial Discipline This shall be another core area needing more attention. Clubs must maintain strong financial discipline like registering with The Charity Commissioner, obtaining Income Tax Exemption Certificate under Section 80(G) of IT. Act, preparing yearly budget, presenting monthly Statement of Income and Expenditure at every Board Meeting along with vouchers, collecting all dues from members in time and paying District, Multiple and International dues on time. It is a must for all the Clubs to get their accounts duly audited. I appeal to all Cabinet Members to help their respective Home Clubs to achieve the above mentioned goals. The District Administration shall motivate and monitor these areas.

2. Lions Image and P R.O.

District shall encourage Clubs to enhance their Public Image and build bridges with their local community. District P.R.O. shall be too happy to render all support.

3. Role of MERLOW

i) Membership Growth:District Membership Committee shall ensure a constant Membership Growth programme in every Club. We expect every District officer to add one new member in the Month of July 2009 in their respect Clubs. Clubs showing net positive growth in the month of July shall be recognized and rewarded. I set the modest target of 15% net membership growth to be achieved.

ii) Retention

It is said that "a Member retained is a member gained". Effective Membership retention is the need of the hour, without which membership growth shall not yield their desired result. My appeal is to have a minimum possible membership drop in every Club through effective Retention.

iii) Extension

New residential and commercial complexes should be explored for new club formation. I set a target of 5 new Clubs in the next Lionistic Year.

iv) Orientation

Orientation is knowledge and knowledge is power. District shall help clubs to provide orientation at Club/Zonal/Regional and District level.

v) Women Membership:New thrust shall be given to Women Membership Development and growth and in tune with International's ultimate goal of 25% growth. This year our target shall be 10%.

4. Lionesses

Our Lioness movement is quite strong and our relationship with them is very cordial and encouraging. We will continue to extend our best cooperation and help for its betterment and growth.

5. Leos

Youth is the future of Lionsim and we shall make all out efforts that Leos in our organization are given all possible boost to turn them into successful Leaders of Lionism tomorrow.

6. Core Activities

As I stated earlier, the International President 2009-2010 Lion Eberhard Wirf has coined the slogan "Move to Grow". In pursuit of this growth oriented movement and in the light of his theme, I call upon all the Lions clubs of the District to focus on the following:

a) Lion Quest

b) Sight First

c) Sight for Kids

d) Peace Poster

e) Art & Talent

f) Twinning

g) Sports

h) Lions Opportunity for Youth

i) Youth Exchange Programmes

j) Thalassemia Awareness

k) Aids Awareness

1) Diabetes Awareness

7. District Theme Logo

I strongly believe nothing in life is achieved without total involvement and commitment. There are no escalators for success. It's always the steps of passion, will and hard work to give our 100% personal participation to whatever we do that spells success. This process of involvement refines us and evolves us as better Lions and better human beings. This is true in every field of life as true to us as Lions too. Hence, my slogan for the Lionistic Year 2009-2010 is:

INVOLVE AND EVOLVE Let us use this mantra as our vehicle of strength for our District, our Clubs and finally for you and me.

I would request my father and senior most Past District Governor, Lion Dr. Haripal Tanwani to please unveil the District Logo for the Lionistic Year 2009-2010.

8. Announcement of Executive Council & Other Committees

The motto of our Association "We Serve" was founded on the idea of team spirit. Now I have pleasure to declare my team of Executive Council.

While I thank each of them for kindly accepting my invitation to be in various positions, I would request them to come on the dais along with their spouses:

Designation	Name of Lion	Spouse Name	Home Club
District Cabinet Secretary	Lion P .T. Bulani	LL Krishna	Mankhurd
District Cabinet Treasurer	Lion Vijay Ganatra	LL Bharti	Turbhe
Jt. District Cabinet Secretary	Lion Pravin Bhalla	LL Dr. Jyoti	Chembur
Jt. District Cabinet Secretary	Lion William Sequeira	LL Jacintha	Lakeside
Jt. District Cabinet Secretary	Lion Seema Pai	Lion Satyu	Aadarsh
Jt. District Cabinet Treasurer	Lion Rajul Patel	Lion Bhadresh	Sarvodaynagar
Jt. District Cabinet Treasurer	Lion Mukesh Shah	LL Suvarna	Shahapur
Public Relation Officer	Lion N. R. Parmeshwaran	LL Shailaja	Turbhe

Further, I have great pleasure in appointing Lion Maneshwar Nayak as Senior Advisor in the Executive Council and request him to come on to the dais along with LL Vidya. You know, he is a versatile leader having been the District Cabinet Treasurer and Secretary in two successive years.

In addition, I would like to introduce Shri S. S. Mani who will provide back-up support to the Executive Council. He is designated as Executive Secretary at the District Secretariat and I would request him to join me on the dais.

Besides, I would like to introduce Leo District President (Elect) Leo Nuri Rohawala from Leo Club of Roha and Leo District Vice President (Elect) Leo Nisha Iyer from Leo Club of Panvel

Coming to some of the core committees both in administration and activities, I would like to introduce the following leaders who will head these committees.

Committee's Name	Name of Lion	Spouse Name	Home Club
Activities	Lion Rajesh Atal	LL Neeta	Kalyan
Membership	Lion Savitha Nayak	Lion Haridas	NRI
Extension	Lion Mukesh Taneja	LL Deepa	CBD
Leadership	Lion Kishor Tijare	LL Dr. Aruna	Nerul
Lions Quest	Lion Anil Nagrath	LL Nidhi	Govandi
Twinning	Lion Raghuvansh Mathur	LL Chandni	Govandi
Sight First	Lion Mahesh Gupta	LL Jyoti	Bhiwandi
Arts & Talents	Lion Vikas Gokhale	LL Manjari	Thane Kopri
Orientation	Lion Rakesh Chaumal	LL Varsha	Hilltop
Schooling	Lion Dharmen Shah	LL Jayshree	Uptown

I would also like to introduce the Region Chairpersons of the 5 Regions of the District:

Name of Lion	Spouse Name	Home Club
Lion Shridhar Shetty	LL Geeta Shetty	Kalyan
Lion Kantilal Jain	LL Bhavna Jain	Chembur West
Lion Dharambir Oberoi	LL Harbans Oberoi	Chembur
Lion Kuntal Laddha	Mr. Krishnakant	Navi Mumbai Diamonds
Lion Sadanand Gaikwad	LL Swapna Gaikwad	Uran

Quite often you have heard that the success of men is because of women. I therefore take pleasure in introducing two women leaders of the District Lioness District President Lioness Rachna Bothra of Lioness Club of Vasant Vihar and Mr. Sunil Bothra, as well as District Chairperson - Lion Lady Auxiliary Lion Giribala Shah of Lions Club of Vidya Vihar and Lion Rajnikant Shah.

The Leo District and Lioness District will be guided by Leo District Advisor Lion Jyoti Bhuta and Past Lioness District President Lion Harbans Oberoi

This then is the core team and I would request all the Lions, Leos, Lionesses and Lion Ladies of the District to give them a big applause. Let us get Involved and Evolved in the service of the people, the maximum number of time to the maximum number of people.

Thank you. Thank you. God Bless

Lion RAJENDER TANWANI
District Governor - Elect
(2009-2010)
5th April, 2009