Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Future Dates
1/13 Mon. Board Meeting
1/15 Wed. Walk-n-Wonder Warsaw / Michelle Bormet & Darla
1/15 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Girls Swim & Dive / Nate Long
1/22 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Symphony
1/24&25 Fri. Sat. District meeting
1/29 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Boys Swim & Dive / Nate Long
2/5 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 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
3/19 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
4/16 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, January 8, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
66 Optimists & 4 guests attended our meeting. Robert Bishop was the guest of Sam Whitaker; Keegan Tom was the guests of Angie Tom; Justin Ciriello was the guest of Tony Ciriello; & Kristin Farwell was the guest of Akash Jain.
Door Greeters: Mike Cusick and Mitch Goon.
Prayer: John Sullivan 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 Honoree: Juergen Voss. Martin Becker led us in the birthday song with quick results.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Ron Henry’s recovery.
John Burtoft’s family at his father’s passing.
Jerry Titus’ family at the passing of his mother, Maryon.
Mary Ann Gradeless’ family at her passing.
President Everett Nifong introduced us to Steve and his crew from Golden Corral. Breakfast was great.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Membership: President Everett Nifong read Kristin Farwell’s, Robert Bishop’s, & Ted Westerfoff’s applications. Kris, Rob, & Ted are sponsored by Akash Jain,Sam Whitaker, & Jason Zaugg.
President Everett Nifong announced our next board meeting is Monday, January 13 at 6 p.m.
Jane Wear thanked Art Gakstatter for setting up our Santa House. Jim Hayes set up the music. Ann Sweet, Michele Bickel, and Trina Hoy coordinated supplies and volunteers. Thanks also go to all our Santas and elves.
We are missing a couple of things from the Santa House. There used to be numerous snapshots of our elves with Santa that were placed in the molding on the walls of the Santa House. Also we used to have rubber chalks that were used to stop the wheels of the Santa House from moving when it was parked. If anyone knows where any of these things are, please tell Art Gakstatter.
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 Lt. Gov. Ot Schroeder reported 7 club members visited the Middlebury club Friday, December 20.
Chaplain Fred Nieter is passing around a sign-up sheet for members to do our invocation.
Greeter Chairman Bart Templeton is passing around a sign-up sheet for greeters.
Past President John Elliott and Dr. Jenny & Alan Lucht held a meeting about our Car Show after our meeting this morning.
Christmas Tree Chairman Harry Gigous thanked Past Lt. Gov. Ot Schroeder and his son for taking down the Owens Christmas Tree lot. Owens has been very generous to give us $5 for every tree they sell.
Past President Jeff Owens announced our Oratorical Contest will be March 7th at Zimmer’s Headquarters at 7 p.m. The topic is “How My Passions Impact the World.” There are 3 prizes. Prize sponsors are Esther Pfleiderer Charitable Trust at 1st Source Bank and Lake City Bank. Other sponsors are needed.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reported our Triathlon is open this week. We already have customers.
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/
Song Director Martin Becker reported our Optimist Singers will start practicing at 6 a.m. next week.
President Everett Nifong reported the District meeting will be Friday & Saturday, January 24 and 25.
TriStar Basketball Chairman Chris Wiggins reminded us that TriStar is coming up.
Video Editor Jim Hayes showed us an inspirational video of a kiosk at one airport asking travelers what they wanted for Christmas. The airline employees at the destination quickly bought the items and wrapped them with the passenger’s names. When the passengers went to the luggage carousel they were surprised by their gifts.
Auctioneer Merl Heckaman presented Former State Senator Dr. Pam Galloway with the White Elephant gift that Past President John Elliott and Don Reinholtbought for her last week. Apparently she got just what she wanted . . . some more Santa mugs to add to her collection.
Program:
Dr. Terry D. White, author of Winona at 100: Third Wave Rising gave us a whirlwind tour of Winona Lake’s 100 years of history. The first wave of time is from the Beyer Brothers buying the area to use the springs to cool their farm produce in 1881. Later they realized the recreation with their Spring Fountain Park. Winona had the nation’s second largest Chautauqua featuring nationally famous speakers and entertainers.
The second wave was when Winona was the world’s largest Bible Conference. Billy Sunday’s evangelistic career went from 1908 to 1935. Grace Theological Seminary relocated to Winona in 1939. In 1949 our own Ken Anderson’s father, Ken Anderson, Sr. participated in the prayer meeting in Winona that launchedBilly Graham’s evangelistic career.
The third wave starts when the Bible Conference merged into Grace College and Seminary in the late 1960s. In 1990 the Winona Restoration Partners started to renovate and fix up Winona Lake. Starting in 1994, Dr. Dane and Mary Louise Miller started putting millions of their own money into developing the Village at Winona. The Village is home to two world class restaurants, Cerulean and The Boat House. People come from all over to use the biking trails. In 2004 Masterworks Festival relocated to Winona Lake. Our Orthopedic businesses built the Grace College Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center in 2007. It has been a wonderful community resource. The priceless Remnant Trust moved to Winona Lake in 2010.
We are so fortunate to have such history and current resources at our fingertips!
