Future Dates
12/13 & 14 Fri. & Sat. Hoosier Holiday at PAC
12/16 Mon. R Wayne Snyder’s birthday
12/18 Wed. Optimist Singers Christmas Carols / White Elephant Auction
12/18 Wed. collect for gratuities for our Wonderful Servers
12/20 Fri. Visit Middlebury club
12/25 Wed. No Meeting
1/1 Wed. No Meeting
1/8 Wed. 100 Years of Winona Lake / Terry White
1/8 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Wrestling / Justin Smith
1/15/14 Wed. Walk-n-Wonder Warsaw / Michelle Bormet & Darla
1/15/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Girls Swim & Dive / Nate Long
1/22/14 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Symphony
1/29/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Boys Swim & Dive / Nate Long
2/5/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Boys Basketball / Doug Ogle
2/12 Wed. KCH / Affordable Care Act
2/12 Wed. Student of the Week
2/19 Wed. Kosciusko County Cancer Care Fund / Sandy Green
2/19/14 Wed. Student of the Week
2/26 Wed. Warsaw Police Chief Scott Whitaker
2/26/14 Wed. Student of the Week
3/5/14 Wed. WCHS Poetry Contest Winners
3/5/14 Wed. Student of the Week
3/12/14 Wed. Warsaw Schools Band
3/12/14 Wed. Student of the Week
3/19/14 Wed. Oratorical Contest Winners
3/22/14 Sat. Bowling for Kids / Big Brothers Big Sisters
3/26/14 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Chief Academic Officer David Hoffert
4/16 Wed. DARE / Lt Joel Beam
4/30 Wed. Josh Wildman CEO of Wildman Business Group
5/7 Wed. Splash Pad / Erin Porter
5/14 Wed. Sheriff Rocky Goshert
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
96 Optimists & 5 guests attended our meeting. Suzanne Caudill was the guest of Robert Lee; Ted Westerfoff was the guest of Jason Zaugg; Kristin Farwell was the guest of Akash Jain; Chad Miner was the guest of Tammy Keirn; & David Cates was the guest of Jim Layne.
Door Greeters: Matt Boren and George Brennan.
Prayer: Merl Heckaman led us in prayer after leading us in singing Away in a Manger.
Pledge was given to the American flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Martin Becker led us in singing Hail to Optimism.
Birthday Honorees: Brooklyn Harrison, Jason Zaugg, and George Brennan. Martin Becker led us in the birthday song with our usual results.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Ron Henry’s recovery.
Membership: Membership Chairperson Kellie Malcolm read Kristin Farwell’s application. Kris is sponsored by Akash Jain.
We were greeted as we entered today by Victorian Carolers: Jeremy Springer, Olin Davidson, Michelle Valenti, Liz Fleming, & Lucas Thomas from Laurie Schotz’s Best Schotz Productions. They will perform at the Hoosier Holiday 2013 on Friday, December 13 at 7 pm and Saturday December 14 at 2 pm and 7 pmat the Warsaw Performing Arts Center’s (Warsaw Community High School) Black Box Theatre. Tickets are $20 – Call for group rates. Proceeds go to a scholarship program and Street Scape of Pierceton. (260) 479-9615 or piercetonchamber.com
President Everett Nifong reported the following Board action:
No meeting December 25 nor January 1.
Our caterers in 2014 will be the Golden Coral. Penguin Point has been great.
The Valentine’s Banquet has been cancelled. Attendance has dwindled.
Trina Hoy & Jim Hayes reported our directories are here. Lynn Kendall brought them all the way from Indy this morning. Miles Printing did a great job on them.
Past Lt. Gov. and Octagon sponsor Ot Schroeder reported that 100 kids are members of Octagon this year with 60 to 70 in attendance at each meeting. Camille Kerlin, Athena Schlitt, and Nikos Schlitt reported on some of Octagon’s many activities. They sell cotton candy at games, are helping kids in Elwood start an Octagon club in their school, are going to the District meeting in Wabash, January 25, rang the bell for Salvation Army with us last Saturday, work as elves at our Santa House, helped at the Carnival at Washington Elementary, helped with Toys for Tots, raised $1046 for Riley’s Children’s Hospital by doing 30 Fall Displays, 13 of which were for our club members. Ot thanked Jerry Clevenger, Mitch Goon, and Past President Bob Jackson for helping with Octagon.
Art Gakstatter and company moved the Santa House to the Courthouse. Art is like a hot knife through butter, when it comes to technical stuff. Jane Wear, Ann Sweet, Michele Bickel, and Trina Hoy are coordinating supplies and volunteers.
Today we collected for Christmas gifts for the kids at Baker Youth Clubs.
Board Member Chris Wiggins presented Past President Tracy Furnivall with a $2,000 check for Christmas gifts for the kids at Baker Youth Clubs. BYC has grown a lot in the last couple years. Around 1,000 kids in the county will receive gifts through BYC.
December 18 we will collect for gratuities for our Wonderful Servers.
The Plymouth club will visit us when our Optimist Singers do this year’s Christmas program and White Elephant Auction on December 18.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers & Lt. Gov. John Sullivan reminded us of Optimist International Foundation’s Dime-A-Day fundraising program. Some of the overhead for things like the Oratorical and Essay contests at the district and higher levels are in need of funding. The higher level Oratorical Contest winner receives $2,500 and the higher level Essay Contest winner receives $500. As a larger club, we need to cover a large part of these costs. The Dime-A Day program is a great way to do this. Please send your $36.50 to Optimist International Foundation, Dime-A-Day Campaign, P.O. Box 952126, St. Louis, MO 63195. Make sure you put “club # 04555” in the memo section of your check. An even better way to do this is to use a form Ron has to have your card charged $3.05 per month on an ongoing basis.
Canned Food Chairman Luke Becknell reported we gave $354 for food for those in need.
Visitation Chairman Ron Chambers announced we will visit the Middlebury club Friday, December 20. Our group will leave from The Bowling Alley / Tokens N Tickets (North Detroit Street) at 5:45 a.m. The meeting is at Das Dutchman Essenhaus!
Thanks go to Dr. Jenny & Alan Lucht for stepping up to fill Past President John Elliott’s formidable shoes as our new Car Show chairmen. They will shadow Johnfor the 2014 show and take over the 2015 show. Much thanks to John Elliott and Art Gakstatter for all their work on our show from 2010 when they invented it to now. Thanks to Jenny, Alan, & Art for continuing our great show. We are blessed to go from the Fish Fry and Christmas Tree sales to our Triathlon and Car Show.
Christmas Tree Chairman Harry Gigous thanked those who set up Owens Christmas Tree lot. Owens has been very generous to give us $5 for every tree they sell.
Salvation Army Bell Ringing Chairman Merl Heckaman thanked those who rang the bell last Saturday at Kmart and both the North and South doors at WalMart. Not to worry, Big Julie remembers where the spots formerly were on his dice.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reported our Triathlon will open this week.
Past Lt. Gov. Dr. David Haines provided our first post to our Year in Review series. It is featured on the front page of our website. Here is a direct linkhttps://warsawoptimist.org/
Girls Basketball Coach Michelle Harter introduced us to the Warsaw High School Girls Basketball team: Pam Miller, Vicki Harris, Courtney Farling, Nikki Grose,Brooklyn Harrison, Megan Kratzsch, Erin Clemens, Kilee Slone, Jodie Carlson, Page Desenberg, and coaches Mindy Stookey, Barb Martz, and Bryon Weinstein. Coach Harter commended her girls for their great attitude and work ethic.
Board Member Gina Voelz presented Judie Meulink with a $500 check to the Classic Arts Programs to fund Lakeland Youth Chorale.
Board Member Trina Hoy as the new Community Development Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana invited us to take part in their Bowling for Kids fundraiser Saturday, March 22, 2014.
Sergeants-at-Arms: Trace Hansen, Luke Becknell,& Lyle Enyeart entertained us. Video Editor Jim Hayes played the soundtrack & showed us the picture of our Sergeants as “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.”
Optibullette Editor-Emeritus R Wayne Snider’s birthday is Monday, December 16.
Matt Boren is expecting a new baby.
Past President George Brennan moved to Goshen.
It was candidate day today:
We had David Cates and Chad Miner visiting us. They are both running for Superior Court #1. Past President John Elliott pointed out that our own State Rep.David Wolkins was with us today. He is running for re-election to District 18.
Trace Hansen remembered that Past President John Elliott loves Auburn.
Trace Hansen predicted it will still come to nothing for the Buckeyes.
Program:
Ardis Faber led the Lakeland Youth Chorale as they sang several songs about Christmas and from around the world.
Emily Albright, Brooklyn Lyon, Joanna Yoder, Erin Harlan, Ian Jones, Trinity Marsillett, Sarah Dille, Jaya Panicker, Payton Dobbins, Camille Ruggier, Morgan Hooks, and Leticia Granados sang a children’s song, a song about Oliver Cromwell, an Irish song about Sally Gardens, a Caribbean song about Four Horses, Over the Rainbow, and Jolly Merry Christmas.
It was great to see and hear such hard working dedicated musicians.
