Why the North American Membership Initiative (NAMI) Will Work

Hello District 30-M Lions,

Why will the North American Membership Initiative (NAMI) work? We’ve tried to increase membership many times. Those plans didn’t work. Why is NAMI any different? I’ve got five reasons.

Second Intl Vice President Brian Sheehan

1.      NAMI has the active involvement of the most senior elected Lions. Our Second International Vice President is Brian Sheehan. VP Brian is from Bird Island, Minnesota. Do you know where Bird Island is? It’s 70 miles west of Minneapolis and another 70 miles to the South Dakota state line. Only 1,100 people live in Bird Island. That number declines every day. Sounds like many of the communities in our district! I’ll share some of VP Brian’s specific thoughts and suggestions for increasing 30-M membership in another blog.

2.      Last year LCI identified several NAMI pilot districts in the United States and Canada. One of those districts is in north Alabama. Another is in east Tennessee. That’s close to home. We have the benefit of knowing what they did that worked. We know what they tried that didn’t work. We will benefit from their experiences.

3.      Our district wrote a goal simple but realistic. It’s bound by time. The goal is 100 new Lions. That goal has a deadline of June 30, 2021. We’ve never done that before.

4.      More than 80 percent of all the Lions Districts (including ours) signed up for NAMI. I want to see our membership increase. So do other district governors. We see the value of Lions service to our communities. We’re encouraging each other.

5.      In the past we didn’t have a specific goal bound by time. We have it now. We are accountable to reach that goal. I’m holding myself accountable to each of you. If we don’t have a net membership increase in our district, it’s my personal fault.

I’m not alone. I’m holding each of you responsible for a net membership increase. If we don’t have a net membership increase in our district, it’s just as much your fault as it is my fault.

We will talk about that accountability in the coming days, weeks and months.

We Serve because Kindness Matters

Lion Andy Kalinowski (Andy K)
First Vice District Governor / District Governor Elect
662.549.3421
http://www.mississippilions.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Lions30M