Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Future Dates
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
3/13 & 14 Thur. & Fri. Riley Radio Days fundraiser
3/14 Fri. BYC Madness
3/18 Tues. Warsaw Education Foundation Quiz Bowl
3/19 Wed. Oratorical Contest Winners
3/19 Wed. Boys Basketball / Doug Ogle
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. WPD DARE / Corporal Doug Light & Ptl Officer Jeff Tickner
4/23 Wed. Nate Bosch / Center for Lakes & Streams
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
6/19 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
7/23 Wed. Warsaw Area Career Center / Ronna Kawsky
7/23 Wed. Cheerleaders
8/6 Wed. Boys Soccer
8/8 & 9 Fri. & Sat. Indiana North District Convention at Warsaw
9/10 Wed. WCHS Athletics / Dave Anson
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
80 Optimists & 6 guests attended our meeting. Brenda Hiner was the guest of Jim Bricker, David Cates was the guest of James Layne, Riley Betz was the guest of Trina Hoy, Ralph Turner was the guest of Mitch Goon, Rusty Meier was the guest of David Meier, & Robert Chalfant was the guest of Dr. David Haines..
Door Greeters: Trace Hansen and Luke Becknell.
Prayer: Luke Becknell 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: Greg Binkerd and Dave Meier. Martin Becker led us in the birthday song with our usual results.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Larry Bishop’s 3rd ankle surgery Feb 28 and his lengthy recovery.
John Crum’s family at the passing of his wife, Beatrice.
Membership: Past President John Elliott inducted Ted Westerhof. Membership Chairman Kellie Malcolm read David Cates,’ Brenda Hiner’s, Adam Heckaman’s,Rusty Meier’s & Tammy Meier’s applications. Ted, David, Brenda, Adam, Rusty & Tammy are sponsored by Jason Zaugg, Jim Layne, Jim Bricker, & Art Gakstatter& Lyle Enyeart, & David Meier.
Past Lt. Gov. Ot Schroeder reported Octagon raised $184.50 from us last week for their Souper Bowl for Caring project for Our Father’s House food pantry.
Past President Jeff Owens reported helpers are needed for our Oratorical Contest on Friday, 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.
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.
Jeff made an effective invite to our Students of the Week to participate.
Past Pres. Jeff Owens reported we have an Essay Contest entrant.
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.
May 18th City of Lakes Cruise-In to Downtown Warsaw: Co-Chair Past President John Elliott reminded us that we really need someone to approach potential corporate sponsors. Remember to give your sponsorship money to John Teevan, the guy with the money tie. Special thanks go to David Meier and Penguin Pointfor sponsoring at the Silver level and also a trophy sponsorship for each store. 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 along with your check to “the guy with the money tie.”
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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.
Past President George Brennan presented Mitch Goon with a $600 check for the Warsaw Education Foundation. Mitch asked us to consider volunteering to be proctors.
Past President George Brennan is looking for 3 more people to participate on our Warsaw Education Foundation Quiz Bowl teams. As he says you need to know a lot about nothing. It is Tuesday, March 18.
Board Member Harry Gigous presented Tony Ciriello with a $500 check for the Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy.
Rick Kerlin is looking for volunteers to answer the phones for the Riley Radio Days fundraiser. Help is needed in 1 hour shifts from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 13 and Friday, March 14.
President Everett Nifong reported our Golf Outing fundraiser 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 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/
President Everett Nifong reported we need to be more proactive when it comes to paying our 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 Chairman Tracy Horrell introduced us to Carmen Flores who introduced us to: Taylor Gilbert, Jane Katherine Hanes, Jacob Harmon, Riley Kline, Ann Reimink, & Carissa Urschalitz.
Sergeants-at-Arms: Trace Hansen & Luke Becknell entertained us.
Membership Chair Kellie Malcolm was recognized for her memory.
Luke noticed our lady’s table has returned to its prior location.
Angie Tom is proud of her son’s Keegan and Kamden for making the honor role.
Kelsi Griffith invited us to hear Holocaust survivor Eva Kor at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center on March 25th at 6 p.m.
Program:
Warsaw Police Chief Scott Whitaker introduced us to Lt. Joel Beam, Phillip Reed and his K-9 Dax, Trent Shively and his K-9 Mikel, and Ross Minear. Lt. Beamreported we now have 3 K-9s including his partner, Buddy. All of our K-9s are Belgian Malinois.
Our K-9s have been a very valuable part of our police department. They have saved 2 lives and helped with numerous arrests. Anything a K-9 hits on can be inspected by officers.
Our K-9s are very well trained. In national competition Warsaw placed 2nd, between the Department of Defense who was 3rd and the Secret Service who were 1st.
The highlight of the program was when we got to see our K-9s in action, thanks to Ross Minear, who volunteered to be “Mr. Bad Guy.”
The K-9s recognize behavior. Experienced officers have learned to not run in front of a K-9. Otherwise they become the suspect to the K-9.
