PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The Covid-19 Pandemic has been the cause that members of many organizations throughout the world have not been able to travel to virtually attend annual regional meetings of their organizations. As a result, many conventions had to be cancelled till next year. For the Lions and Leos of Sub-District 60B this was not an obstacle when they organized the 1st online Convention Meeting and election of Sub-District officers for the Lions Year 2020-2021. The new Lions year starts July 1st 2020 and ends June 30th 2021.
Prior to the meeting members were able to vote electronically for the various candidates. The election results were as follows:
Lion Maureen Graham PMJF, District Governor Elect – Lions Year 2020-2021Lion Claudio Buncamper MJF, 1st Vice District Governor Elect – Lions Year 2020-2021Lion Nicholas DaCosta, 2nd Vice District Governor Elect – Lions Year 2020-2021
These honorable Lions were all dutifully elected by delegates from all the clubs within Sub District 60B who voted via the Election Runner online platform on Sunday May 24, 2020 that recorded the highest voters’ participation ever within Sub District 60B. With the election of Lion Claudio Buncamper as the 1st Vice District Governor this means that he will be the incoming District Governor for the Lions Year 2021 – 2022. He will then be the fourth (4th) District Governor of Sub-District 60B coming from the Sint Maarten Lions Club. All four Region Chairpersons of Sub-District 60B also gave reports of the various projects executed by the respective clubs resorting under their jurisdiction.
As is customary outgoing Lions District Governor Lion Denise Forrest, PJMF presented awards to the clubs that successfully executed projects within the Focus Area of the District Governor. The Sint Maarten Lions Club walked away with no less than 5 awards:
1. Hunger and Homelessness Project: Sint Maarten Lions Club – “Teach me to Fish” Feeding Project
2. Youth and Parenting: Sint Maarten Lions Club – “1st online Youth Survey – Our Youth – Our Future project” 3. Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Sint Maarten Lions Club Ordinance Raising the legal drinking age for the sale of alcohol from 16 to 18 years
4. Runner up club President of the year 2019-2020: Sint Maarten Lions Club: President Lion Oralie Boirard
5. Award IT and PR Committee District 60B Sint Maarten Lions Club: Vice chair IT & PR Committee- Lion Davey Woods MJF
Two members of the Sint Maarten Lions Club will serve on the Cabinet of incoming District Governor Lion Maureen Graham. They are:
Lion Carmen Lake-Reyes who will serve as Zone Chairman for Zone 2 B of Sub-District 60B
Lion Oralie Boirard will serve as Sustainable Development Assistant Coordinator
The following week marked Multiple District 60 – 40th Convention which was also held via online live streaming. The meeting was hosted by Council Chair Lion Rudolph Augustin PMJF.
Sint Maarten Lions Club’s Lion Davey Woods as Vice Chair of District MD60 IT/PR Committee and Lion Alvin Prescod both of the Sint Maarten Lions Club coordinated and operated the online live streaming for the 40th Multiple District 60 Convention. Council Chair Lion Rudolph Augustin, PJMF in his address recognized and congratulated the Sint Maarten Lions Club IT Specialists for their great contribution in offering Lions and Leos from the wider Multiple District the opportunity to participate at the Convention Meeting through this live-streaming.
Also addressing the audience at the live-streaming convention were 1st. Vice President Lions Clubs International Lion Douglas Alexander and Past Lions Clubs International President Lion Sid Struggs.Both speakers also awarded high praises to Lions Davey Woods and Alvin Prescod for the great humanitarian work they did by streaming the Convention live which flowed easily with minor technicalities and as a result placed Sint Maarten Lions Club on the map within Lions Clubs International. Incoming 2020-2021 Multiple District 60 Council Chair Lion Denise Forrest also addressed the meeting and looked forward to working together with both incoming District Governors and their respective Cabinets. The online convention also made history by recording the highest number of viewers namely over 400 Lions from across Multiple District 60 in attendance via electronic streaming.
