July 2022

Dear Lions Leaders, Dear Friends,

At the General Assembly of 18 June, you showed me the path to follow during the year 2022/2023 as Lions Governor of District 113 of Luxembourg.

According to the tradition of Lions Clubs International, of which the Luxembourg Lions are a part, I went to the 104th International Convention, which was held this year in the city of Montreal.

During the last week of June, at the Montreal Convention, I had extraordinary experiences where the human aspect came first and where the multicultural realities were intense, as well as immeasurable from a personal wealth point of view.

Meeting other Lions from all over the world, representing more than 200 countries in the world with some 1,434,000 members, allowed me to appreciate the Lions' philosophy, namely: Passionate volunteers, dynamic leaders, strengths in service.

This worldwide service organisation, founded in 1917 in the United States by Melvin Jones, is firmly committed to creating a different world, a world of community and creative strength, a world of support and building a more comfortable environment.

Lionism in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was built after the Second World War by the action of a group of Luxembourgers, with humanistic visions, who had succeeded in motivating a first group of members of good will and thus structuring District 113 in 1967. Since then, the Lions have come a long way and celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2017 in the presence of Grand Duke Jean.

With "Together we can" the new International President "Brian Sheehan" proposes a strengthened Lions structure, which focuses on a more effective training of all Lions members worldwide. A special voice was given to the LCIF Lions Foundation, which continues to provide humanitarian aid to a world in need, where war and hunger dominate the scene!

I would like to thank all my Lions friends in Luxembourg who have allowed me to take up this very responsible chair and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Boards of Directors of the Lions, the Food Bank, the Lions Foundation, Vaincre le Cancer and finally the Telethon Luxembourg!

A special thank you goes to our IPG Governor Marc Hemmerling and to our former Governor Nico Bley, responsible for International Relations, who allowed our District to sign the first Twinning Charter with District 103 Ile de France, Paris Centre.

I would like to end with a big thank you to all our 24 Lions Clubs, to our Leo Clubs and to our Partners who carry out with dedication and passion a multitude of social actions, food collections for the Food Bank, collections and shipments of medicines from Luxembourg and medical equipment for our Ukrainian friends!

My personal vision of Lions: Building together, building better!

Vito CASSONE
District Governor
2022-2023