District 202L
Central North Island
Lions District 202L welcomes you to our district webpage
District 202L stretches from coast to coast in the North Island with world famous surf both east and west at Mount Maunganui and Raglan. The rich farmlands of the Waikato, King Country and Bay of Plenty provide a wide range of produce including dairy, kiwifruit, avocados and plantation forestry. With New Zealand’s largest port, three rapidly growing cities and easy access to a wide range of tourism experiences the district’s Lions Clubs have a diverse range of fundraising opportunities.
We work together to support individuals with special abilities and special needs as well as groups and activities that help improve our local communities. Our 58 clubs vary and are encouraged to always change to meet the changing needs of their communities. Most clubs are mixed gender, but there are all male and all female clubs as well as 14 Leos Clubs, most attached to secondary schools. These provide opportunities for our youth to learn organisational skills while working together for general community good both locally and internationally.
We are always looking for people with a heart for the community to join us in service believing that by working together we can make a greater difference. We serve to bring help and hope.
District Governor - Charles Harrison
Theme: "Raising a little L’"
My theme ‘Raising a little L’, supports an active change remit, I am extremely proud to have been elected to serve as District Governor 202L, the remit sets us on a mission to grow 202L, actively addressing our membership in-balance.
I am married to Sue (also a Lion), we have two boys and seven grandchildren, three of our grandsons here in Tauranga and three grandsons and our only granddaughter just out of London. My Lions service began over 13 years ago in Otumoetai club, I left there and much later came back to Lions, joining Welcome Bay, currently Pyes Pa Tauriko is my home club. During this time, I have served in most club level positions.
I passionately support the Lions Cancer Trust Skin Cancer Screening Service and was, until recently, the 202L trustee. It is great to see this project starting to come to fruition but PLEASE don’t stop the support, as there is still a long way to go.
Membership and service remain passions of mine, we cannot continue serving our communities at home and abroad without recruiting new members. Whilst acknowledging Lions Clubs past proud history, the future is in diversity. ‘Raising a Little L’ challenges us to address the status quo, the only way to grow our clubs is to attract new, younger members from ALL ethnic groups, all genders and all sexual orientations. We need to look to these communities for the drivers that would attract them to join Lions, and, from this information formulate our plan, for Lions Clubs to survive another century, we need change NOW! If you feel that new members are not a good fit for your club, start a new club or a Club Branch
Leos clubs (school and Community-based), Youth programmers are also another key to our future, including The Lions Cubs programme. Let’s grow our district and our international organisation together!
The only way to grow our Global organisation is to break down barriers. It took 70 years for Lions International to accept women as equals, we don’t want to wait until 2057 for clubs to truly represent their communities. Do our clubs represent the racial, gender and ethnic diversity of our communities? The answer is NO! So, lets ‘Raise a Little L’ to change that now
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