Attendance: 78

Greeters: Michael Doub, Larry Bishop

Invocation: Bill Katip

Guests: Mike Hawkins (Jeff Servies), Eden (Kristin Farwell’s daughter)

Birthdays: Bob Ibach, John Ames

Welcome Mark Marley – our newest member!

Membership: Joey Hickerson conducting

3rd Reading: Mike Hawkins (Jeff Servies)

Induction: Trace Hansen conducting – Welcome to Mark Marley, our new Warsaw Breakfast Optimist (sponsored by Rick Kerlin)!

Committee Reports/Announcements:

Optimist District Meeting is being held January 27th in Lafayette at Ivy Tech. Jennifer Dorman invited members to attend. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. Contact Jennifer for more information.

Randy Polston announced that Tim Tebow will be presenting at Grace Chapel on February 16th at 10:30. The event is open to the public but you must have a ticket to attend. Randy will make tickets available at upcoming meetings.

The next Warsaw Breakfast Optimist board meeting will be Monday, January 8, at 5:30 p.m. at the Warsaw Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce building. President Steve Hollar invited anyone interested to attend the meeting.

50/50: $104 – $52 to winner Art Gakstatter

CEO Report: Brittany Petersen interviewed Joey Hickerson. Joey, who has been a member since November 2016, moved to Warsaw in 2011 with his family. He is excited about becoming an uncle with his sister Emily due to have a baby in 6 months. He has a younger brother attending Grace. Joey’s favorite memory is Joel Wihebrink yanking him back in his seat for talking about how much he loves Warsaw. Joey works at Farm Bureau Insurance.

Sergeants-at-Arms: Jeff Owens, Sam Whitaker, Brooke Hamstra, Gina Voelz

Highlights included: Trace Hansen and President Steve Hollar were fined but had to have their dads pay the fines prompting a cry from the crowd that it must be Father’s Day. Joel Wihebrink was quizzed about the date for the Optimist Birthday Party (September 26) and the purpose of the party (60th-anniversary celebration) answering all correctly but donating a dollar anyway.

Program: Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, Chief Mike Wilson presenting (along with Maverick the therapy dog)

The Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory was created in 2008. The department has grown from the 80s and 90s when it was nearly all-volunteer responding to 30-35 fire calls a month. The department is now a full-service emergency rescue that can perform medical, technical, high angle, and confined space rescue in addition to fighting structural fires. In 2017, the department responded to approximately 2,500 calls with 4% being fires and 70-80% being medical rescue. A new fire station is currently being built on the south side of Warsaw on property purchased in 2008. However, with Warsaw continuing to grow to the north, options are being considered for building another fire station on the north side of Warsaw possibly moving the downtown station to the new location. The department is also involved with the Warsaw Community Schools and offers Firefighter 1 & 2  and EMT basic classes for students interested in a fire department career. Another initiative of the department is working to get automatic aid notification across all county fire departments.

Next Week’s Program: Spring Forward with Circle M – Thadd Mellott