Austin Downtown Lions Club Calendar

Weekly Luncheon & Program (9 Sep 2010)

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:55:00 GMT

Weekly Luncheon & Program

New Opportunities for Education

introduced by Lion Patti Robinson

With a grant from the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS), The Hadley School for the Blind now offers more than 100 tuition free distance education courses, one-third of which are now online. Courses fall into four program areas: Adult Continuing Education, Family Education, High School and Professional Studies. Most courses are available in a student’s medium of choice including Braille, large print, audio or online.

Speaking to us will be Billy Brookshire, the representative for Hadley in the state of Texas. His responsibilities will be to:

Market Hadley’s distance education programs to people who are blind or visually impaired, their families and blindness service providers in Texas;
Increase the number of students enrolled in Hadley courses from Texas;
Teach Hadley courses on “Finding Employment” & “Business Fundamentals;” and
Coordinate/ facilitate monthly webinars on subjects of interest to Texans who are blind or visually impaired and their support networks.

Billy is a fun presenter, very casual and interesting. He also has a very strong southern accent and you cannot help but like him.

Please register before noon on Wednesday.

Weekly Luncheon & Program (16 Sep 2010)

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:55:00 GMT

Weekly Luncheon & Program

The role of curiosity and learning in business success

introduced by Lion Leah Baxter

Gary Hoover began his entrepreneurial journey at an early age. His question about enterprises was, “What separates the losers from the winners?” He began subscribing to Fortune Magazine at the age of 12, and has acquired most of the issues back to 1930.

As part of his education, he studied economics at the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman and two other Nobel Prize winners, served as a securities analyst for Citibank on Wall Street, worked as a buyer for Federated Department Stores, and headed up acquisitions and strategic planning for the May Department Stores Company.

At the age of 30, after he finally took the plunge and created pioneering book superstore BOOKSTOP, which helped change the nature of book shopping in America. This company was sold to Barnes & Noble for $41.5 million cash when it was 7 years old, and became a cornerstone for their industry-dominating superstore chain.

After he and his partners sold BOOKSTOP, Gary returned to his first love of understanding businesses, and began the company that became Hoover’s, the world’s largest Internet-based provider of information about enterprises. Hoovers.com covers over 40,000 companies around the world. In July of 1999, Hoover’s went public and in March of 2003, the company was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet for $117 million. Like BOOKSTOP, Hoover’s has changed the way we do things and today employs over 300 people.

Gary also ventured into the travel business with TravelFest Superstores, which failed when airlines stopped paying commission to travel agencies, and the museum industry, a work in progress. He continues to keep over 100 ideas for new businesses on his list.

In the autumn of 2009, Gary was appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin. There he focuses on inciting and inspiring entrepreneurial thinking among students of all types, graduates and undergraduates, inside and outside of the business school.

Gary lives in Austin, Texas, with his 50,000-book library. He has consulted, spoken to conferences, and worked to encourage entrepreneurial thinking on every continent and in every industry, for profit and not for profit. He has also supported the University of Chicago. In 2009 he launched www.hooversworld.com, a blog which includes reviews of books, ideas, and places from Gary’s iconoclastic angle.

Please register before noon on Wednesday.

Lions Membership Dinner Cruise (23 Sep 2010)

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Lions Membership Dinner Cruise

The Austin Downtown Lions Club will have a dinner cruise on Lake Austin Thursday September 23. We will not have our regular weekly noon meeting this day.

All members of the club are invited. Please bring your spouse, friends and especially potential members.

To register, please fill out the registration form available at the weekly noon meetings. The registration fees are as follows:

Members - $25
Spouses of Members - $25
Potential Members - FREE
Friends of Members (not potential members) - $35

Be at the LCRA boat dock on Lake Austin Blvd by 6:00 pm to board the Commodore Riverboat.

Weekly Luncheon & Program (30 Sep 2010)

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:55:00 GMT

Weekly Luncheon & Program

Texas Water Planning: Managing Between Droughts and Floods

introduced by Lion Alan Ford

When we turn on the faucet, water comes out. Or will it? Steadily increasing demand calls for careful planning to ensure that this precious resource will be present when and where we need it!

Herb Grubb was Director of Planning for the Texas Water Development Board from 1976 through 1988, and principal author of the 1984 Comprehensive Texas Water Plan. Since 1988, as a member of the water resources planning staff of HDR Engineering, Inc., Dr. Grubb has done planning and conservation studies for cities, river basins, and multi-basin regions. He has written more than 100 reports, papers, and journal articles pertaining to water resources and economic development. He will describe the regional approach to water planning launched in Texas in 1997, and how it affects our immediate area

Please register before noon on Wednesday.

Weekly Luncheon & Program (7 Oct 2010)

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:55:00 GMT

Weekly Luncheon & Program

Environmental City

introduced by Lion Scott Hendrix

Scott Swearingin, St. Edwards Professor and author.

Please register before noon on Wednesday.

White Cane Day (13 Oct 2010)

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 12:30:00 GMT

White Cane Day

Lions and friends are needed to help out with White Cane Day. Every year we provide assistance to people with visual impairments with the march from the Capitol, down Congress Avenue to City Hall. All we are supposed to do is to help folks participating in the march get down the street safely. We do not need to guide them.

At City Hall there will be a presentation. After that, the participants will proceed to Republic Square Park between 4th and 5th Streets.

We will gather at 8:30 am in front of the Capitol on 11th Street. We recommend that you park on the street near Republic Square Park and walk to the Capitol.

There will be a sign-up sheet at our weekly meetings leading up to White Cane Day. Please sign up to help assist the walkers. For more information, contact Lion Patti Robinson at 206-9248 or visit www.whitecaneday.org.

ROSE DAY - NO WEEKLY MEETING TODAY (21 Oct 2010)

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

ROSE DAY
October 22, 2009

There will be NO weekly meeting today so that members can deliver boxes and boxes of roses ordered during our fundraising.

Weekly Luncheon & Program (4 Nov 2010)

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:45:00 GMT

Weekly Luncheon & Program

Lions District Governor
introduced by Lion Patti Robinson

District Governor for Lions District 2-S3, Michael Smith, will visit our club as he visits all the clubs in our District.

Please register by noon on Wednesday.

Weekly Luncheon & Program (11 Nov 2010)

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:55:00 GMT

Weekly Luncheon & Program

What's UP at the Airport

introduced by Lion Mark Hastings

Jim Halbrook, Public Information Officer at Austin Bergstrom International Airport.

Please register before noon on Wednesday.