Lions Day at the UN, our nineteenth annual special day, was one of the finest we have attended, due in large part to our dais of past and present International Presidents and their supporting staff, who smoothly coordinated the entire day's activities.

Lion Augustin Soliva , our International President, whose opening remarks set the tone for the day. His theme was building bridges to youth across the world'. Mr. Soliva stressed that the Lions must continue to work in concert with the UN to help eliminate poverty and diseases. Special reference was made to Bosnia and Russia, where Lionism can take a more active role.

Our guest speaker, Carol Bellamy , is the Executive Director of UNICEF. As such, she related stories of visits to troubled areas in East Africa, where it seemed the Lions were always there ahead of her. While she praised our previous efforts in helping to reduce infant mortality, she called for our help in combating the most serious problem UNICEF faces today: children who are victims of war-more than ever before in history. UNICEF's goal, while undergoing a serious internal restructuring on its 50th anniversary, is to move toward areas that trouble us all, such as child labor. Some progress has been achieved, for instance in Bangladesh.

The Peace Poster winner, Don Nemesio Miranda from the Philippines and his family were present as the poster was unveiled, to the enthusiastic approval of the attendees.

Denis Halliday , representing the Secretary-General, spoke in praise of Lions' programs, especially International Youth Programs such as Outreach and Youth Exchange. He supported and amplified on President Soliva's remarks about building bridges to youth, and noted that as the UN is under budget constraints (no growth in expenditures and no replacement of 1900 job openings) it will be up to the private sector (that's us) to make up the difference.

Sister Mary Rose McGeady , the President of Covenant House, was the afternoon's principal speaker, and gave many interesting accounts of her experiences in dealing with runaway children. Her remarks completed the theme of building bridges to youth by noting many areas within the U.S.A. where Lions can be of help in reaching troubled children.