Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Future Dates
4/7 Mon. Visit our Rochester Club
4/7 – 11 Spring Break Skate
4/9 Wed. Big Brother Big Sister – Trina Hoy
4/16 Wed. WPD DARE / Corporal Doug Light & Ptl Officer Jeff Tickner
4/16 Wed. Refresh Leadership Simulcast for Alzheimer’s Association
4/17 Thur. Big Brothers Big Sisters Dinner.
4/23 Wed. Nate Bosch / Center for Lakes & Streams
4/25 & 26 Fri. & Sat. District Meeting in Marion
4/26 Sat. District Oratorical Contest in Marion at District Meeting
4/30 Wed. Josh Wildman CEO of Wildman Business Group
5/7 Wed. Splash Pad / Erin Porter
5/14 Wed. Sheriff’s Office / Aaron Rovenstine
5/18 Sun. City of Lakes Cruise-In
5/21 Wed. Optimist Singers / Memorial Day
5/28 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools / Dr. Craig Hintz
6/4 Wed. FWA Airport Authority – Jessica Miller
6/11 Wed. Mudlove Kyle Garberson
6/16 Mon. Boomerang Backpack Golf Outing
6/18 Wed. Guy Fisher / Goodwill Career Center
6/19 Thur. Optimist Golf Outing
6/25 Wed. Registration Packets for Triathlon
6/28 Sat. Triathlon
7/2 Wed. Rebecca Bazzoni / Jacobs Ladder
7/9 Wed. Christon Clark / Habitat for Humanity
7/16 Wed. Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer / State of the City
7/23 Wed. Warsaw Area Career Center / Ronna Kawsky
7/23 Wed. Cheerleaders
7/30 Wed. Paragon
8/1 Fri. Penguin Point and Optimist Big Wheel Race
8/6 Wed. Boys Soccer
8/8 Fri. Indiana North District Golf Outing
8/8 & 9 Fri. & Sat. Indiana North District Convention at Warsaw
8/13 Wed. Boys Cross Country
8/20 Wed. Boys Tennis
9/3 Wed. Girls Soccer
9/10 Wed. Girls Golf
9/10 Wed. WCHS Athletics / Dave Anson
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
89 Optimists & 6 guests attended our meeting. Tony Elliott was the guest of Art Gakstatter, Riley Betz was the guest of Trina Hoy, Frank Grose was the guest of Coach Doug Ogle, Doug Baumgartner was the guest of John Elliott, Troy Burns was the guest of Everett Nifong, & Phil Call was the guest of Akash Jain.
Door Greeters: Trina Hoy.
Prayer: Ron Donkers led us in prayer.
Pledge was given to the American flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Dr. David Haines led us in singing Hail to Optimism.
Birthday Honorees: Don Kenipe & Trina Hoy. Dr. David Haines led us in the birthday song with long results.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Larry Bishop’s recovery from his 2nd ankle surgery. He will be working on his recovery for awhile.
Max Mock’s ongoing physical therapy.
Nick King, Dan & Carol King at the loss of their home.
Membership: Past Lt. Gov. Juergen Voss inducted Ralph Turner. Membership Chair Kellie Malcolm read Rusty & Tammy Meiers’,Ricardo Scarlett’s, Tony Elliott’s, Riley Betz’s & Frank Grose’s applications. Ralph, Rusty, Tammy, Ricardo, Tony, Riley, & Frankare sponsored by Mitch Goon, David Meier, Greg Binkerd, Art Gakstatter, Trina Hoy, & Doug Ogle.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers & Lt. Gov. John Sullivan reminded us ofOptimist 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. The forms are by the badge box.
Bart Templeton is passing around a sign-up sheet for greeters.
Trina Hoy reported our Suggestion Box needs suggestions. It is a great way to get ideas to our leadership.
Board Member Lyle Enyeart presented Troy Burns with a $350 check for Kosciusko County Soccer League.
Visitation Chairman Ron Chambers reported we will visit ourRochester Club on Monday, April 7. We are meeting at Marsh Supermarket’s parking lot at 6 a.m.
Trace Hansen reported our Spring Break Skate is April 7 through 11. Eastlake Skate provides free admission and we provide the skate rental. Volunteers are taking the tickets to the schools this week. Thanks to Ann Sweet for printing 8,000 tickets.
May 18th City of Lakes Cruise-In to Downtown Warsaw. Co-Chair Past President John Elliott announced a sign-up sheet will be coming next week. Post cards are going out to our past participants. Remember to give your sponsorship money to John Teevan, the guy with the money tie. On Sunday, April 13 we are visiting the Michiana PT Cruiser show. The Duesenberg Cord Auburn Museum will feature one or two cars. Special invitations have been extended to the Michiana PT Cruiser Car Club, the Fort Wayne Corvette Club and the Hoosier A Ford Club to host their car clubs at our Cruise In. Working with Owens Supermarket, we’ve also invited the Oscar Meyer “Hot-Dog” Mobile to our show. Purdue President Mitch Daniels has been personally invited to ride his motorcycle and be the Grand Marshall of our escorted Cruise to the Village of Winona Lake. Our event runs from around noon to around 6 p.m.
Our goal is to host 250 cars, trucks, and motorcycles; have some fun; and make $15,000 to support the youth activities of our Club.
As a Club member, we are asking you to commit to three things to help make this event successful:
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Clear May 18 on your schedule so you can help with the event
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Be a $25 Trophy Sponsor or upgrade to the Bronze, Silver or Gold level.
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Secure one additional sponsor of the event at the $500 … $200 … $100 level.
Enclosed in the action packets are a yellow Trophy Sponsor or higher form for members of our club. The white Sponsor form is for others who we are asking to support at the $100, $200, or $500 levels. John Teevan will be monitoring our support. Please turn your sponsorship forms along with your check to “the guy with the money tie.”
Mike Cusick reported additional volunteers are needed to plan ourGolf Outing fundraiser. He has taken on a leadership position with the Fat & Skinny Tire Festival that is the same weekend as our Car Show. Our Golf Outing will be Thursday, June 19 at 1 p.m. at Stonehenge. Please consider golfing, becoming a Tee Sponsor, donating a door prize or goody bag items.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reported ourTriathlon is open. Every year it is the last Saturday in June. We need to keep that open every year. This year it is June 28. This year we will have youth races (11 & 12 year olds and 13 & 14 year olds, 15 year olds are with the adults) in addition to our usual event. This year Akash Jain is working with Jim Hayes on the database. Wow, we now have 2 “get-er-done” kind of guys doing this mountain of behind the scenes work!
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 link https://warsawoptimist.org/
President Everett Nifong reported we need to be more proactive when it comes to paying our dues.
Dave Meier announced our 34th Annual Big Wheel Race is Friday, August 1 at Center Lake Park. Registration starts at 5:45 p.m. Race is at 7 p.m. Thanks to Penguin Point for sponsoring the bicycles, trophies, and gift certificates.
Past Governor Ron Donkers asked those who are going to theIndiana North District Conference in Marion on Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 see him to be sure you have the revised schedule. Please let Secretary Michele Bickel know if you are going. TheDistrict Oratorical Contest is at the conference on Saturday. Optimist give out $7500 to Oratorical contestants.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers reported our Indiana North District Convention will be in Warsaw Friday & Saturday, August 8th and 9th. There will be a fun Golf Outing on Friday the 8th.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers thanked Akash Jain for stepping up to helpJim Hayes with our database.
Ralph Turner invited us to register for the Refresh Leadership Simulcast on Wednesday, April 16 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. The $10 cost goes to theAlzheimer’s Association.
Trina Hoy invited us to the Gourmet Dinner on Thursday, April 17 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center at 6 p.m. The cause is Big Brothers Big Sisters. Guest speaker is Chuck Pagano. See Trina for details.
Troy Akers invited us to the 2nd Annual Boomerang Backpacks Golf Outing, Monday, June 16 at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club. It will help feed students from Warsaw, Wawasee, & Tippy Valley on the weekends. Cost is $400 for a foursome. Sponsorship opportunities are available. See Tracey Akers at trakers@warsaw.k12.in.us .
Video Editor Jim Hayes showed a video about a skeptic of the Jeff Gordon Pepsi Max video getting a special ride in a taxi.
Sergeants-at-Arms: Lyle Enyeart & Trace Hansen entertained us.
Lyle fessed up to getting his had stung by a saltwater catfish. So our Doctors were recognized.
Steve Albertson did well with his hobby.
Fred Nieter is celebrating his 6th great-grandchild.
Program:
Phil Call introduced us to the wonderful work being done in Warsaw Community High School’s English Learner Department.
The EL Department helps students who are learning English to understand their assignments. Volunteers do NOT need to be subject experts, just someone who helps encourage students as they go over assignments together. Volunteers spend an hour with their student at lunch. The key to the success of the program is the student who is learning English understands that someone cares about them.
The program is similar to the “826 Valencia” program by Dave Eggers in California. Our program is “R238 Warsaw.” The goal is to have one-to-one help for the students. Volunteers are needed. Contact Phil at pcall@warsaw.k12.in.us .
