Lions Clubs International District Governor Roy Adonay, left, swears in Saipan Beacon Lions Club President Raquel Floyd, Saipan Legends Lions Club President Alfredo Cabael, Saipan Centennial Lions Club President Alexander Escober, Saipan Infinity Lions Club President Michael Guirey, Saipan Fil-American Lions Club President Vicente Obana, and Saipan Marianas Lions Club President Martha Badilles during an induction and installation ceremony at the Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall on Saturday.
THE newly elected presidents of six Lions Clubs on Saipan inspired their fellow Lions with their vision of empowerment and creating a “positive impact” on the community.
During the induction and installation ceremony for the new presidents and board members at the Saipan World Resort on Saturday, Saipan Beacon Lions Club President Raquel Floyd and Saipan Centennial Lions Club President Alexander Escober said civic group leadership is about empowerment and making a positive impact on the community.
For their part, Saipan Fil-American Lions Club President Vicente Obana and Saipan Marianas Lions Club President Martha Badilles talked about the importance of retaining members and achieving “Mission 1.5” or 1.5 million members worldwide.
“We may have read a lot of quotes about leadership, read books about it and even attended a seminar or training. But what is leadership all about? It’s actually about empowerment. The big question is how can you empower your members? The better way to understand it is to experience it. And I am proud to say that in our club, Saipan Beacon Lions Club, I’ve experienced it,” Floyd said.
She said empowering Lions Clubs members is achieved through mentoring, which involves building confidence and opening doors to new opportunities.
“Leadership is not a competition, and it doesn’t end after your term. It’s only the beginning. Your successor should not be perceived as a threat who will surpass your achievements. The basis of your success actually reflects on your successor’s term,” she said.
Escober said being a Lion means “serving your community and leading your community, which also means making your community stronger and a better place to live. Let us work all together to leave a positive impact on our community.”
The Lions’ valuable presence, he added, “means a lot to us and we also hope to get love, cooperation and helping hands in our future endeavors.”
Badilles said Lions “are a group of caring people who are dedicated to the same mission. We all work hard and use our talents in different ways to achieve a common goal, which is to have a positive impact on the community.”
Teamwork
Badilles urged her fellow Lions to “roar together … to grow our team to reach our Mission 1.5. … By partnering with other clubs, we can accomplish things … through hard work and dedication and teamwork, and of course to have fun, too.”
She said there is no greater joy and pride when they achieve their goals. She thanked the Saipan Marianas Lions Club for trusting her to be their leader in their journey.
For his part, Obana said being a Lions Club president “is a daunting task since you have to deal with individual members who have different outlooks in life.”
He said the first thing to do as club president is to find what each member’s interest is, so that he can create groups that will work on community projects that they want to accomplish.
Obana said recruiting new members is just the beginning, but retaining them is most important. “I am the one who fails if a member drops out of the club because I was not able to guide, help personally or get the best out of that member,” he said.
“To sum it all up, the most important word that a Lions Club president should remember and should always be their top priority is ‘retention.’ Do your utmost to retain your Lions Club membership,” Obana said.
Yho Villavicencio, Lions Clubs International Zone 2 chair, told the new members that “it may still be an unknown journey as you discover the true mission of the Lions organization.” She said she was invited by Past District Governor Atoy Banting to join the Lions in 2016. Back then, she said, she did not have any idea what it meant to be a Lion.
“It took a few meetings, a couple of beach cleanups, tree planting, bus stop shelter paintings, and back-to-back Lions Clubs events before it started to dawn on me that I actually am a part of a very large global organization whose mission is to serve,” Villavicencio said.
She believes that the Lions “are indeed on our way to achieving Mission 1.5.”
To the new members, she said she hopes they enjoy adventures with their fellow Lions, and become “a beacon of light.”
