First Vice District Governor

Fellow Lions,

I am honored to serve as the 1st Vice-Governor for  District 16-J.

I am a proud member of the Elizabeth Cubanos Lions Club, of which I have been President for the past two years. After immigrating to the United States with my father and two brothers in 1978, we settled in New Jersey. I have been married to my wife Sonia for 34 years, and we have one daughter and a son-in-law who are both Lions and two grandchildren. Our family is passionate about serving the underprivileged and empowering our youth.

Over the years I built a strong relationship with communities in Elizabeth but also a number of towns in Union county. Besides my work with the Lions Club, I have also coached the El Mora Youth Little League in Elizabeth for eight years. One of my initiatives through my presidency was to involve the Lions Club into the community and one of the ways we have done this is by sponsoring a little league team within the El Mora Youth League. Our team has performed well in the national games.

Another initiative which I began during my Vice Presidency in 2017 was to adopt a garden in our local park, Warinanco Park. The Lions Club purchases the flowers and members take time to plant and care for the garden.

Our club also organizes food drives, Thanksgiving services for the homeless, and other community events. During the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic the Lions Club also provided meals to the nurses and doctors in the Emergency Room of Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth catered by the Tropicana Diner also in Elizabeth. We were able to honor our frontline workers as well as help a local business during that difficult time.

With my background in county administration and community organizations, I have a good understanding of the barriers in communication in our district and clubs. Serving the needy is the ultimate goal of all of us. If elected, I would like to facilitate the clubs to work together and share ideas to improve our service Impact.

Leading the largest club in the district, I have experience in understanding the needs of every generation which is part of our association. With my strong relation with generation x and y, I will try my best to strengthen our association in our district and beyond.

I will bring the following to our district administration

• Experience of working with diverse communities
• Selfless servant leadership
• Experience working with the government and other local bodies to bring in resources for our clubs
• Fresh new ideas to enhance our traditions
• Record of membership growth to improve the service
• Transparent administration to reduce misunderstanding
• Working with all clubs without any vendettas and biases

Yours in service,

Lion Evelio Salermo