Welcome to Spokane.  Our Host committee and members of Multiple District 19 have been anxiously planning your visit to Spokane for the USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum.  We look forward to sharing our community with you. 

Spokane is the second-largest city in Washington and the hub of the Inland Northwest. From its historic origins as home to Native American tribes, Spokane has grown into the busy city and beautiful scenery that it is today.

We know you will be busy participating in the Forum activities, but encourage you to explore our community while you are here.  We have activities for everything you enjoy, from hiking, to wine tasting, parks and shopping.

We would love to have you visit Manito Park, which was established in 1904 and features 20 acres of Botanical gardens.  Manito is also home to the Helen Keller memorial tree and site.  Helen Keller planted a tree in Manito in 1929 with a group of local third graders.  Spokane Central Lions Club partnered with Spokane Parks and Recreation to research the history and create a memorial around this tree as a centennial project. 

If you are coming in early or staying late, we have tours which will let you explore the areas around this beautiful part of the country.  Visit the Forum main website to see the many options available.  

Visit the website of for information on all the wonderful activities to participate in while visiting Spokane. 

Do you have questions to the Host Committee, please feel free to contact Host Chair: PDG Laura Wintersteen-Arleth at lionlaurawintersteen@gmail.com

 

It takes many volunteers to put on a quality Forum.  If you are attending the Forum and would like to help us volunteer, we would love to have your help.  We could use your help in helping to seat people at meals, greeters, helping in the Host office.  You can still participate in the Forum, but help as well.  Please contact our Manpower Chair, PDG Brian Ross at bandross@centurylink.com to sign up to help.

We are excited about our Service Project.  Chances are you walked right by them and never had a clue. You see, victims of human trafficking are made to blend into everyday life. Due to the secretive nature of this modern-day slavery, there is no way to know exactly how widespread the problem is. It is estimated that a child is sold into slavery every 30 seconds, 1 in 7 runaways are reportedly sex-trafficked and 74% of victims had been in foster care. Adults and children are forced into trafficking, whether it be sexual exploitation or forced labor, these people are not the only groups in danger. Sadly, there are all too many cases of those caught in abusive relationships. intimate partners or family members are the most likely to recruit a victim into trafficking These people live in fear, hopelessness .and often homelessness.

Our USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum service project is important because of the impact of the simplest, smallest acts of kindness; giving women back the dignity of having the toiletries to keep themselves clean, and maybe even a little lipstick to brighten a  newfound smile. Our Service Project is about human kindness and reminding a lost percentage of the population that they in fact do matter.

We will be putting together bags of personal items for women that will be given to local shelters and the Jonah Project that supports homeless women.  The bags will also include a handwritten, personal note to remind these women that there are people who care about them. We’re hoping that our efforts will give them a bit of their dignity back and bring much needed encouragement to reach out and take that next step to get help.  We are hoping to pack up 2,000 bags of much needed items for women. 

Priest River Lioness Club is organizing this project and asking for donations of toiletries: travel size shampoo, conditioner, soap, lipstick/lip gloss, lotions, toothbrushes, toothpaste, handwipes, deodorants, tampons, sanitary napkins.

You can bring items to the Forum where there will be bins to place the items in.  You can also mail them to: Bretta Schmidt at 759  4th Street Priest River, ID 83856.  Please contact: Bretta Schmidt at 509-435-2526 or mountainwoman500@yahoo.com for information.

Did you know if you have United Health Care insurance, you can order over the counter health related items with your benefits?  If you are not using this benefit, please consider ordering and donating to the Forum. 

What to do on Friday night of the Forum?  The evening is yours to enjoy and explore the city.  We have an awesome Spokane Party Trolley. Spokane Means Children of the Sun and as a region boasts way more sunny days than Seattle. Fifty percent of downtown Spokane is on a historic registry and is the only city in the US that has a natural urban waterfall in the middle of the city. Riverfront Park is centrally located downtown and hosts countless events year round and was the location of the first environmental theme World’s Fair, Expo ’74. The downtown core has a rich vibrant local scene and the Spokane Party Trolley is the perfect form of transportainment to sample your custom experience of the “Lilac City.”

Visit their website: https://spokanepartytrolley.com

Great restaurants, tours, shopping. We will have a great time attending the Forum seminars and supporting the exhibitors and sponsors of the Forum, but there will also be time to explore the community.  Questions about where to eat or shop or visit?  Visit Spokane will have a concierge booth at the Convention Center.  Stop by for maps, directions or suggestions on where to go.  The booth will be staffed with volunteers ready to help.  Come visit with us.    

Spokane is the healthcare hub of the northwest.  We are home to Washington State University Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and Communication Disorders.   We are also home to Gonzaga University, home of the great Zags basketball team, but also home to the school of nursing and University of Washington Physician Assistant program.  We are providing the education to the future healthcare providers.  We have Providence Health Systems and Multicare Health Systems, which serves our community with their hospitals, clinics and urgent care centers. 

Northwest Lions Foundation is our major sponsor.  They will be bringing their Lions Health Screening Unit to the Forum.  This unit travels around travels Washington and North Idaho screening thousands of children in schools and our communities.  We are very fortunate to have this 60ft van at the Forum right in the exhibit hall.  You will be able to be screened for vision, hearing, blood pressure, glaucoma and diabetes.  We will be having nursing students from WSU Spokane Health Sciences campus provide the screenings.  Be sure to stop by and visit and be screened. 

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