Wednesday May 22nd, 2013

 Future Dates   

5/29 Wed. Dr. Craig Hintz / Warsaw Community Schools

5/29 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Girls Track & Field / Scott Erba

6/5 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Baseball & Softball / Mike Hepler & Jim Speicher

6/12 Wed. Tracie Hodson / Beaman Home

6/13 Thur. Optimist Golf Outing / Stonehenge

6/19 Wed. Ashlynn Fawley / Red Cross

6/21 Fri. Baker Youth Club Golf Outing / Rozella Ford

6/26 Wed. Assemble Triathlon bags

6/29 Sat. Triathlon

7/3 Wed. Optimist Scholarship Recipients

7/4,5,6 Thur.-Sat. Optimist International Conference in Cincinnati

7/10 Wed. no meeting / County Fair

7/17 Wed. Jane Wear / Cardinal Center

7/24 Wed. Ronna Kawsky / Warsaw Area Career Center

7/24 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Girls Soccer / Peter Lucht

7/31 Wed. Angie Wood / Heartline

7/31 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Football / Phil Jensen

8/2 Fri. Big Wheel Race

8/7 Wed. Jay Tate / Safe Assured ID demo

8/7 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Cheerleading / Kari Doty

8/14 Wed. Rich Haddad / K21 Health Foundation

8/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Girls Golf / Chris LaLonde

8/21 Wed. Lorinda Kline / WCS Professional Learning Community Coach

8/21 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Volleyball / Michael Howard

8/28 Wed. Shirley Fetrow / Family Safety Day

9/4 Wed. Greenways / Tim Dombrosky & Staci Young

9/11 Wed. Dave Anson / Athletic Director WCHS

9/11 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Boys & Girls Cross Country / Jim Mills & Scott Erba

9/18 Wed. Laurie Schotz / WCHS PAC

9/18 Wed. Boys Golf / Ben Barkey

10/2 Wed. Amanda Lopez / Foster Parenting

10/9 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Student Council

10/9 Wed. Boys Soccer / Scott Bauer

10/16 Wed. Danielle Robertson / Wagon Wheel

10/23 Wed. Ben Barkey & Tom Ray / Washington STEM

10/23 Wed. Boys Tennis / Rick Orban

10/30 Wed. Eisenhower Robotics Club

11/20 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Symphony / Blue Apron dessert

12/4 Wed. Brad Hagg / Warsaw Community High School CTO

12/11 Wed. Girls Basketball / Michelle Harter

1/8/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Gymnastics & Wrestling / Andi Calhoun & Justin Smith

1/15/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Girls Swim & Dive / Nate Long

1/22/14 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Symphony

1/29/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Boys Swim & Dive / Nate Long

2/5/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Boys Basketball / Doug Ogle

3/26/14 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools Chief Accountability Officer David Hoffert

9/10/14 Wed. Warsaw Community High School Athletics / Dave Anson

 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

>>>>OPENING

102 Optimists & 6 guests attended our meeting.  Jomy Francis was the guest of Dr. David Haines & Bill Landrigan; Chris Volkers was the guest of Mitch Goon; Emily Bishop was the guest of Larry Bishop; Nancy Nesbitt was the guest of James Nesbitt; Marilyn Kenipe was the guest of Don Kenipe; & Barbara Gigous was the guest of Harry Gigous..

Door Greeters:  Alan & Dr. Jenny Lucht. 

Prayer:  Ken Anderson led us in prayer.

Pledge was given to the American flag. 

Promise yourself was said in unison. 

Birthday Honorees:  Karen Kauffman, Trace Hansen, Ron Donkers, Ron Chambers, Dr. Jason Rich, Andy Swihart & yours truly.  Martin Becker led our Optimist Singers in the birthday song with great results.

 

            >>>> INFORMATION

Membership:  Past Lt. Gov. Denny Andrews inducted Renee Craig.  Trina Hoy sponsored Renee.

 

Sheriff & Deputy of Attendance Bill Landrigan and Harry Gigous celebrated our attendance of 103 the last week. 

 

Vintage Chevy driver Harry Gigous presented $200 to us through Optimist Singer Director Martin Becker, in honor of our Optimist Singers performing for the Vintage Chevy Club Tour.

 

Downtown Car Show:  Co-Chairs John Elliott & Art Gakstatter thanked those who worked.  We gave a well-deserved standing ovation to John & Art.   They reported around $11,400 was raised and almost 200 cars were entered.  We met our goal of having fun and supporting the youth in our community.  After next week’s program we will meet with ideas for next year. 

Our Major Event Sponsor was the Esther Pfleiderer Charitable Trust.

Our Gold Sponsors were: 1st Source Bank, Kosciusko Community Hospital, OrthoPediatrics, & Toyota of Warsaw.

Our Silver Sponsors were: Big C Lumber; Boggs Automotive; Crouse Body Shop & 24 Hour Towing; Dr. William Bartol; Eastlake Skating Center; Hall & Marose Silveus Insurance; Jim Lancaster in memory of Chub Smith, Phil Ehereman, Bill Dalton, & John Crum; Kerlin Motor Company; Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau; Kosciusko REMC; Lake City Bank; Ot Schroeder State Farm Insurance; Schoop’s Diner; Sorg Nissan; Titus Funeral Home; Warsaw Autoplex; & Wetzel Insurance.

Our Bronze Sponsors were: Airgood Electronic LLC, Bishop Farms, Bussard Automotive Performance, C & M Body Shop, CenturyLink, Clevenger Insurance, Farmers State Bank, Gilsinger Implement, Howie Heating & Cooling, Kathy Hamman Realty RE/MAX, Mad Anthony’s Brewing Company, Metzger Trucking, Monteith Best One Tire & Auto Care, Penguin Point Franchise Systems, Thelma Strifler Trust, Tokens-N-Tickets, Tower Bank, Turner Valentine LLP, & Wihebrink Landscape Management.

Our Trophy Sponsors were: Aaron Rovenstine, Akash Jain, Al Grossnickle, Alan Lucht, Andy Swihart, Art Gakstatter, Bart Templeton, Big Time Basketball Goals, Bill Katip, Bill Landrigan, Bob Ibach, Brooke Hamstra, Bruce Hansen, Carol Ousley, Center Street Penguin Point, Charlie Hollar, Chris Wiggins, Craig Nayrocker, Dave Meier, Dave Turner, David Benning, David Haines, Denny Andrews, Detroit Street Penguin Point, Don Kenipe, Don Reinholt, Everett Nifong, Fred Bickel, Fred Nieter, George Brennan, George Paton, Greg Kralis, Harry Gigous, Henry Church, James Reeve, Jane Wear, Jason Rich, Jennifer Lucht, Jerry Clevenger, Jerry Titus, Jim Kessler, Jim Walmer, Joe Sutton, Joel Wihebrink, John Ames, John Burtoft, John Elliott, John Kirkpatrick, John Sullivan, John Teevan, Julie Runnells , Karen Kauffman, Kellie Malcolm, Kelsi Griffith, Kevin Weaver, Lake Street Penguin Point, Larry Bishop, Larry Tucker, Luke Becknell, Lyle Enyeart, Marty Becker, Marv Miller, Max Mock, Merl Heckaman, Michael Gavin, Mike Cusick, Millie Andrews, Noel Hoke, Ot Schroeder, Rich Haddad, Ron Chambers, Ron Henry, Sam Whitaker, Scott Whitaker, Steve Albertson, Steve Hollar, Tammy Keirn, Tiger Basketball, Tom Kline, Trace Hansen, Trina Hoy, Troy Tom, Tyler Miller.  

  

 

 

President Elect Everett Nifong reported on our Golf Outing on Thursday, June 13, 2013 at Stonehenge.  Let Everett know if you think you will have a team.  Toyota of Warsaw is sponsoring our Hole-In-One.  Brochures are by the badge box.  Florida scramble cost is $425 per foursome, including golf, cart, lunch, and driving range.  Tee sponsorship is $100.  A foursome and tee sponsorship is $500.  Gold sponsorships are $1,000.  For more information:  www.warsawoptimist.org or call 574-551-9145.  Mike Cusick is looking for door prizes and goody bag gifts.  Around 120 goody bags will be made.  It would be nice to have a door prize for each golfer.   

Triathlon:  Past Gov. Ron Donkers is sending around a sign-up sheet for those who want one of this year’s T-shirts.  So far we have 177 signed up.  The date has been changed to the Saturday JUST BEFORE the 4th of July.  It will be Saturday, June 29, 2013.  This year in addition to a short swim after the traditional participants, there will be kid’s races for kids who are 11 to 12 or 13 to 14.  We will need everyone to work this to pull it off.

 

President Tracy Furnivall invited us to Baker Youth Club’s Golf Outing on Friday, June 21 at Rozella Ford.  Florida Scramble cost is $280 per foursome, including golf, cart, lunch, and snacks.  Hole sponsorship is $150.

 

Bart Templeton is looking for door greeters.  See him to sign up.

 

Joe Wilkey reported World Compassion Network is sending its giant generator, food, & water to Oklahoma.  Alan Lucht will be working on logistics.

 

Coach Matt Thacker introduced us to the Warsaw Community High School Boys Track & Field team.  Robert Murphy, Tristan McClone, and Nathan Kolbe were with us.  They just won their third straight Sectional Title.    

 

Video Editor Jim Hayes showed us a video of a trap shooter at a driving range https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eflSa2vUqEM and of paintball duck hunters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9mb8zrXzRQ  .

 

Please pray for our Troops and Families:   Dillon Ritter – Army

 

Sergeants-at-Arms:  John Elliott, Joel Wihebrink, and Everett Nifong entertained us.

We were reminded to clean our table before we leave.

Ot Schroeder is proud of his son, Justin, for graduating from Purdue and finding a job and his daughter, Amanda, for graduating from Purdue.

Gina Voelz is proud of her daughter, Emily’s 4.0 GPA at Dayton.

Rick Kerlin is proud of the girls’ tennis team for winning their 13th straight Sectional.

It was noted that Camille Kerlin is not just a tennis hero, but a life hero.

Past President Dr. Charlie Hollar & Dr. Steve Hollar are proud of Jonny Hollar’s in-and-out at Stonehenge’s 7th hole as he was the medalist in a golf tournament.  It went down the shaft, in the hole, out of sight, then came back out.  It was a hole-in-one then two.

Fred Nieter is proud of the girls track team for winning their Regional.

Merl Heckaman is grateful for his in-laws 80th anniversary.

John Elliott read the following touching tribute that Kent Adams sent him about our armed forces. 

A chaplain, who happened to be assigned to the Pentagon, told of an incident that happened right after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon on 9/11.  A daycare facility inside the Pentagon had many children, including infants who were in heavy cribs.  The daycare supervisor, looking at all the children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do.  There were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that would need to be taken out with the cribs.  There was no time to try to bundle them into carriers and strollers. 

Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed.  After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran back out into the hallway and disappeared.  The director thought, “Well, here we are, on our own.”  About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 other Marines in tow.  Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers.  The director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward the park near the Potomac. 

Once they got about ¾ of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park, and then did a fabulous thing – they formed a circle with the cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the Old West.  Inside this circle of crib, they put the toddlers, to keep them from wandering off.  Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter around the children and waiting for instructions.  There they remained until the parents could be notified and come get their children. 

The chaplain then said, I don’t think any of us saw nor heard of this on any of the news stories of that day.  It was an incredible story of our men there.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.  The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they reacted; could we expect any less from them?  It was one of the most touching stories from the Pentagon. 

It’s the Military, not the politicians that ensures our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It’s the Military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.  If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for the military, please pass this on and pray for our men and women, who have served and are currently serving our country, and pray for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

GOD BLESS OUR MILITARY

 

Program:  

Our Optimist Singers directed by Martin Becker and accompanied by Millie Andrews did a great job on our Memorial Day program.  They sang “See the USA in Your Chevrolet” in honor of John Elliott and Art Gakstatter and those who worked our Car Show.

They also sang:

the “Star Spangled Banner”

“The Mansions of the Lord”

“I Believe”

“Oh, Danny Boy”

“The Armed Services Medley”.  We recognized those who served in the Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force.

They led all of us as we sang “America, America, God Shed His Grace on Thee.”

They then sang “Who are the Brave?”

Martin Becker closed our meeting by playing “Taps” on his trumpet.