Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Future Dates
2/19 Wed. Kosciusko County Cancer Care Fund / Sandy Green
2/19 Wed. Student of the Week
2/26 Wed. Warsaw Police Chief Scott Whitaker
2/26 Wed. Student of the Week
3/5 Wed. WCHS Poetry Contest Winners
3/5 Wed. Student of the Week
3/7 Fri. Oratorical Contest
3/12 Wed. Warsaw Schools Band
3/12 Wed. Student of the Week
3/14 Fri. BYC Madness
3/18 Tues. Warsaw Education Foundation Quiz Bowl
3/19 Wed. Oratorical Contest Winners
3/22 Sat. Bowling for Kids / Big Brothers Big Sisters @ The Bowling Alley
3/26 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Chief Academic Officer David Hoffert
4/2 Wed. English Learner Tutoring – Phil Call
4/9 Wed. Big Brother Big Sister – Trina Hoy
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’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
6/16 Mon. Boomerang Backpack Golf Outing
6/25 Wed. Registration Packets for Triathlon
6/28 Sat. Triathlon
7/2 Wed. no meeting
7/9 Wed.no meeting
7/23 Wed. Warsaw Area Career Center / Ronna Kawsky
8/8 & 9 Fri. & Sat. Indiana North District Convention at Warsaw
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
85 Optimists & 13 guests attended our meeting. David Cates was the guest of Jim Layne, Dr. Mitch Reinholt was the guest of Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer, Mickey Smethers was the guest of Don Kenipe, Charles Haffner was the guest of Ed Nordstrom, Tony Elliott & Adam Heckaman were the guests of Art Gakstatter, Ricardo Scarlett was the guest of Greg Binkerd, Doug Bement was the guest of Akash Jain, Tracey Akers and Joelle Schram were the guests of Rick Kerlin, Norm Hagg was the guest of John Kirkpatrick, Mike McCardy was the guest of Harry Gigous, Linda Summers was the guest of Trina Hoy.
Door Greeters: Joel Wihebrink & Alan Lucht.
Prayer: Ken Anderson led us in prayer.
Pledge was given to the American flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Martin Becker led us in singing Hail to Optimism.
Birthday Honorees: Matt Boren, Alan Lucht, & Steve McGlothin wearing a singing birthday hat. Martin Becker led us in the birthday song with great results. The hat distracted us from our off-singing tradition.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
John Crum’s family at the passing of his wife, Beatrice.
Jerry Titus’ family at the passing of his mother, Maryon.
Mary Ann Gradeless’ family at her passing.
Membership: Past President George Brennan inducted Kristin Farwell and Robert Bishop. Membership Chairman Kellie Malcolm read Ted Westerhof’s, Dr. Mitch Reinholt’s & David Cates’ applications. Kris, Rob, Ted, Mitch, & David are sponsored by Akash Jain, Sam Whitaker, Jason Zaugg, Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer & Jim Layne.
Board Member Rick Kerlin presented Tracey Akers & Joelle Schram with $300 for Warsaw Community High School’s Boomerang Backpack program. They serve 250 kids on weekends. Their Golf Outing fundraiser is June 16.
Owens Supermarket manager Mike McCardy gave us a check for $780 for the Christmas Trees they sold! They sold 157 trees this year.
Past Lt. Gov. Ot Schroeder announced our Octagon members will be collecting at our meeting next week for their Souper Appearing fundraiser.
Amanda Zambrano reported our Oratorical Contest will be March 7th at Zimmer’s Headquarters, just north of the library, at 7 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. Deadline to enter is March 5, 2014.
Students under age of 19, as of December 31, 2013, who have not yet graduated from high school are eligible.
Students submit a speech about “How My Passions Impact the World” to our club. For more information go to www.warsawoptimist.org or see Jeff Owens.
The three top scorers, at the Club level receive medallions and their choice of an iPad Mini, Nexus 7, or Nook. Prize sponsors are Esther Pfleiderer Charitable Trust at 1st Source Bank and Lake City Bank. Other sponsors are needed.
The top male and female finishers will go to the Zone level where winners receive a plaque.
Districts have the opportunity to provide two $2,500 scholarships or a first place scholarship of $2,500, a second place scholarship of $1,500, and a third place scholarship od $1,000.
The Optimist Oratorical Contest gives youngsters the chance to speak to the world. More than $150,000 in college scholarships funded by the Optimist International Foundation is awarded annually from this program.
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. The forms are by the badge box.
Past President John Elliott handed out our action plan packets for our City of Lakes Cruise-In to Downtown Warsaw. This event will be Sunday, May 18, 2014. 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 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 to him along with your check.
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We are looking for someone to call on businesses to ask them to sponsor our Cruise In at the $100, $200, or $500 level. Please see John Elliott, Art Gakstatter, Alan Lucht, or Dr. Jenny Lucht.
As is our tradition, Don Kenipe bought the 1st trophy sponsorship of the year. Do not forget to give your money to the guy with the money tie.
Past President George Brennan is looking for 2 Warsaw Education Foundation Quiz Bowl teams. As he says you need to know a lot about nothing. It isTuesday, March 18.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reported our Triathlon is open. We already have customers. Save Saturday, June 28 on your calendar.
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/
TriStar Basketball Chairman Chris Wiggins thanked those who helped put on our local Tri-Star Basketball Competition. We had 63 kids! Our winners go all the way to State at New Castle.
President Everett Nifong reported we need to be more proactive when it comes to paying our dues. We have 30 members who owe 2 quarter’s dues and 40 members who owe this quarter’s dues.
Lt. Gov. John Sullivan reported our Indiana North District Convention will be in Warsaw August 8th and 9th.
Past President Tracy Furnivall invited us to Baker Youth Club’s 2nd annual BYC Madness on Friday, March 14 at 5:30pm at the Wagon Wheel.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Community Development Director for Kosciusko County Trina Hoy challenged us to provide at least 4 teams of 5 bowlers for BBBS’s Bowl for Kids’ Sake at The Bowling Alley, by Tokens N Tickets N. Detroit Street, Saturday, March 22. There are openings at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 4 p.m. Each bowler is asked to secure pledges of $100 or more. All of the money raised goes to support matches of Bigs and kids. You can register online at www.bbbsnei.orgor with the registration forms Trina has by our badge box.
Student of the Week: Edgewood Middle School Principal Joella Smyth introduced us to: Hannah Rice, Madelyn Ray, Jacob LaLonde, Eric Harman, Evan Barchers, Shelby Berkey, Miriam Hagg, Lora Kahaneck, Carly O’Hara, Alli Morse, Lucas Harvey, Kennis Dye, and Raina Armey.
Program:
Kosciusko Community Hospital Chief Financial Officer Doug Bement educated us about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
Key provisions intended to:
Extend coverage to uninsured Americans
Focus on healthcare costs and improve efficiencies
Eliminate denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions.
Top 5 things to know about the ACA
It requires nearly all U.S. citizens and legal residents to have health insurance
People will be able to enroll in some form of insurance
Some people will qualify for premium assistance
No one will be turned down for a preexisting condition
Children can be covered until they are 26 years old.
The Open Enrollment period ends March 31, 2014 for coverage on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace.
Those eligible for a subsidy are lawfully present in the U.S., have no access to affordable employer-sponsored insurance, are not eligible for public coverage, and have household income between 100% to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Indiana has chosen to have the Federal Government run its insurance marketplace. Consumers can visit www.healthcare.gov and choose their state to be directed to the appropriate Marketplace. KCH can help local residents sign up for Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, or a Marketplace Qualified Health Plan.
Levels of coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplaces go from 60% to 90% of the total average costs of care.
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Marketplace Plans accepted at KCH include: Physicians Health Plan (PHP), MdWise, Managed Health Services (MHS), and Anthem. For those in Allen County, Anthem is accepted at Park View. The other 3 are accepted at Lutheran.
Beginning in 2014, qualified individuals and families can get a new tax credit that will reduce the cost of their monthly premiums.
Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is for companies with less than 50 employees who work 30 or more hours per week. The SHOP process starts with the employer choosing a contribution amount and a plan. The Marketplace notifies the employees. The employees elect to participate and then enroll through the SHOP Marketplace.
Employers with less than 100 FTE are not subject to a penalty in 2014. Employers with over 100 FTEs are subject to a $2,000 fine per non-covered employee beginning in 2015. Employers can get assistance through the SHOP Marketplace at 1-800-706-7893, a local insurance agent, or at www.healthcare.gov.
