Give our kids a chance - Lions Australia

Become a Youth Exchange Greeter
The Multiple District Youth
Exchange Committee is seeking
greeters at our major airports
and has done so off and on for
some period of time with mixed
success.
Ideally airports such as Melbourne,
Sydney and Brisbane should have
two to three greeters at any one time.
Under the current policy greeters
can be individuals or clubs, for
practical purposes, situated close to
the relative airport. It is an ideal way
to assist with one of our major Youth
Projects without the huge
commitment one would have as a
committee member. That aside, the
position does have a couple of peak
times and there also can be the
occasional out-of-program exchange,
although these are rare.
The position of greeter is by
application though the Multiple
District Office and is by Council
appointment for a three-year term.
The position statement for Council
appointed Greeters spells out an
important responsibility and a reason
for the necessity to have Greeters at
our major airports – i.e. “safe and
efficient throughput of all youth
exchangees, both nominated and
hosted.”
This responsibility entails the
following important duties:
Supervise all youth exchange
arrival, transfer and departures, for
both domestic and international
airport movements, and other
transport arrangements, relative to
the airport(s) and/or rail/bus
terminals.
Transfer to ongoing flights/journeys
to outlying areas and interstate.
Meet all exchangees for their
departure from Australia and assist
with pre-departure check-in and exit
through immigration areas.
Arrange overnight hosting as
required with Lions members as
requested by Program Chairmen.
Unsupervised stopovers are
June - July 2011
not permitted.
Assist, where possible, the District
Youth Exchange Chairmen with the
mandatory District seminars for youth
travelling aboard.
Assist chaperones at airports with
outbound program youth.
Assist, as requested from the
Program Chairmen, with the
departure seminars conducted prior
to the departure of Australian
exchangees.
With the first two dot points, there
are times where youth who arrive by
air are required to utilise other travel
arrangements (bus/train) and a
greeter is the person with the
knowledge as to how best to make
those transfers. Also, there are times
when a host family/Lions member is
unable to arrive on time (for various
reasons) and the greeter is there to
take the call and explain to the youth.
With dot points three and four, with
the possibility of cancelled flights/any
reason, for the interruption to a
youth’s travel arrangements, Greeters
are there to make the decision as to
what arrangements need to be put in
place for the youth.
With dot points five to seven, there
are times where the Greeters are
requested to attend District Seminars,
so as to explain matters relating to
the airport he/she supervises at and
procedures necessary prior to
departure. Also, his/her assistance
with pre-departure can be of great
benefit to chaperones/families etc.
At our three major airports, the
necessity to go from one terminal to
another may be daunting to some
youth who may be travelling overseas
for the first time; a helping hand may
be just what is required to settle
some nerves. There are youth who
are seasoned travellers – BUT, NOT
ALL.
PDG Rod Bradley
Chairman – MD201 Youth
Exchange Committee
YOUTH OF THE YEAR
Convention’s youth focus
Having returned from the Multiple District Convention – my first as
Chairman – I can honestly say the theme was on youth.
On the Friday we were entertained by six amazing young people who
represented the six states and territories of Australia. Again we commenced
with over 2000 contestants at club level, and through the various levels our
judges selected these six as being worthy of representing their states, to
decide who should become this year’s National Winner.
I congratulate this year’s state winners, Raynor Hicks (C District), Public
Speaking winner Nathan Barnden (N District), Brooke Snow (Q District),
Stuart McKenzie (V District), Max Rintoul (T District) and our National Winner
Gillian Mahony (W District) for their excellent presentations.
I hope that as these young adults travel to the hometown of each of the
other winners that you all have the opportunity to meet them and listen to
what they have to say. For those Lions who have not had the opportunity to
participate in this wonderful program, you may be able to understand why
so many clubs continue year after year to sponsor a student. The results
speak for themselves.
The youth theme continued throughout the convention:- On Saturday, our
keynote speaker was Father Chris Riley. Father Chris is the CEO of Youth Off
the Streets. He oversees the operation of 20 programs that employ 150
people and involve more than 800 volunteers.
Some may remember that Father Chris was awarded a Melvin Jones
Fellowship on the stage at the Melbourne Convention in 2008 and in 2009
he was the first Australian to be awarded a Lions Clubs International
Humanitarian Award.
Father Chris spoke about his work with street children, those children
who through no fault of their own find themselves on the streets. He spoke
of 10-year-old girls selling their bodies for a can of beer. He believes there is
no such thing as a “child born bad” but acknowledges there are bad
environments, circumstances and families that impact negatively on our
young.
On the Sunday we heard from our second keynote speaker, PID Barry
Palmer AM, our candidate for International 2nd Vice President. He praised
Father Chris’ work, and challenged Lions to match the $5000 donation made
the previous day by District T1 to assist Father Chris in his work, by each
district donating $5000 by June 30 2011. That equates to just $100 per
club.
Father Chris receives only 40% of his funding from the government yet
still manages to run one of the largest youth services in Australia, offering
residential rehabilitation, counselling and street-based programs.
PID Barry Palmer continued by praising the speeches that our Youth of
the Year gave and admitting that he had a tear in his eye when Nathan
Barnden (N District) finished his speech on “Remembering the Fallen”.
Nathan has gone on to be interviewed by ABC Radio NSW and actually did
his speech live on air as a lead-up to ANZAC Day.
It was mentioned that the future of Lions will come from our youth, and
that we should be embracing these young people and nurturing their
enthusiasm.
At the beginning of the journey these students are nervous and
apprehensive about what confronts them. With gentle nurturing and
encouragement from our fabulous Lions Club Chairmen, they realise they
can speak for five minutes without forgetting the words, and the two
impromptu questions are not as difficult as they first anticipated. The judges
were full of encouragement throughout the interview process.
What follows is an amazing journey that culminates in six contestants,
one from each state and territory, competing for the title of National Winner.
However, all six receive a fabulous trip to the hometown of each of the other
contestants during a whirlwind 35-day tour of Australia, while the overall
winner has the opportunity to represent the Lions clubs at a Youth Forum
overseas.
Our amazing Lions members, who have guided these equally fantastic
young people from being students to young adults, gain as much enjoyment
and satisfaction from being part of the journey as do the contestants.
This is a fantastic program and it will only get better if all Lions feel they
have ownership of the program, be it at club level or through the Zone,
Region and District levels. Everyone is part of the journey.
Bryan Coggle, Chairman
Lions Youth of the Year Quest
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