Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Future Dates
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
6/11 Wed. Mudlove Kyle Garberson
6/16 Mon. Boomerang Backpack Golf Outing
6/18 Wed. Guy Fisher / Goodwill Career Center
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
7/16 Wed. Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer / State of the City
7/23 Wed. Warsaw Area Career Center / Ronna Kawsky
7/23 Wed. Cheerleaders
7/30 Wed. Paragon
8/1 Fri. Penguin Point and Optimist Big Wheel Race
8/6 Wed. Boys Soccer
8/8 Fri. Indiana North District Golf Outing
8/8 & 9 Fri. & Sat. Indiana North District Convention at Warsaw
8/13 Wed. Boys Cross Country
8/20 Wed. Boys Tennis
9/3 Wed. Girls Soccer
9/10 Wed. Girls Golf
9/10 Wed. WCHS Athletics / Dave Anson
9/17 Wed. Crystal Heckaman / Rachel’s Challenge – Friends of Rachel
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
106 Optimists & 5 guests attended our meeting. Julia Yestrebsky was the guest of Jeff Owens; Dr. Sarah Masterson was the guest of Mike Cox; Sean Burke was the guest of Jenna Secrist; Holly Hummitch and Erin Porter were the guests of Akash Jain.
Door Greeters: Kristin Farwell & Fred Nieter.
Prayer: Merl Heckaman led us in prayer after leading us in singing “I Serve a Risen Savior.”
Pledge was given to the American flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Martin Becker led us in singing Hail to Optimism.
Birthday Honorees: Jennifer Dorman, Josh Gordon, Don Reinholt, & Merl Heckaman. We imitated Merl as the they walked to the front. Martin Becker had Merl led us in the birthday song, which he did to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Coach Jim Kessler’s granddaughter, Claudia’s recovery from eye surgery. She will have follow-up surgeries around early June and early July. Pray for comfort and patience for Claudia this spring and summer.
Membership: Membership Chair Kellie Malcom read Doug Baumgardner’s & Julia Yestrembsky’s applications. Doug and Julia are sponsored by John Elliott &Jeff Owens.
Past President Tracy Furnivall is heading our nominating committee. Please contact him, if you would like to run to be our President Elect. The election will beMay 14.
Our next Board Meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12 at the room at the back of Scearce Rudisel Architects.
President Everett Nifong reported that over and above providing a great breakfast, Golden Corral is donating 100 meals for our students we invite to our meetings. Thanks to Golden Corral for their generosity!
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.
Craig Nayrocker is looking for someone to take over writing our Optibullette newsletter. See Craig to find out more. You can sit in the R Wayne Snider chairnext to Steady Eddy Don Kenipe. From this spot, you and Don will have an unparalleled view of the goings on of our meetings. For clarification, you can take the actual chair that Rade sometimes sits in and move it to the Wayne Snider spot next to Don. You do not have to sit in the actual chair that I have mushed down. I will move it over Mary Ellen Jordan’s spot. I hope to be as good of a back-up to you as Mary Ellen was for me.
Bart Templeton is passing around a sign-up sheet for greeters.
Trina Hoy reported our Suggestion Box needs suggestions. It is a great way to get ideas to our leadership.
Trace Hansen is looking for applicants for his Eastlake Skate – Octagon scholarships. The Scholarship is for a minimum of two (2) $1000 scholarships to Octagon members, who are graduating Seniors from WCHS. The application deadline is May 23rd, and can be picked up at the Scholarship office at WCHS. If you have a family member in the Octagon Club, an email request can be sent to Tracesk8s@yahoo.com and he will mail out to the address you provide.
Co-Chair Dr. Jenny Lucht started sign-up sheets for our May 18th City of Lakes Cruise-In to Downtown Warsaw. We need more people to work our registration and our escorted cruise in particular. You can specify the couple hours you can work on registration. The escorted cruise starts around 6 p.m. and goes to Winona Lake and back. Remember to give your sponsorship money to John Teevan, the guy with the money tie. Our event runs from around noon to around 6 p.m. If you are not sure if you have paid for a trophy or major sponsorship, check with Art Gakstatter.
As a Club member, we are asking you to commit to three things to help make this event successful:
-
Clear May 18 on your schedule so you can help with the event
-
Be a $25 Trophy Sponsor or upgrade to the Bronze, Silver or Gold level.
-
Secure one additional sponsor of the event at the $500 … $200 … $100 level.
President Everett Nifong reminded us of our Golf Outing that will be Thursday, June 19 at Stonehenge. Registration begins at 11 a.m., lunch is at 11:30 a.m., and the Shotgun start is at 1 p.m. Cost is $440 per foursome including golf, cart, lunch, and driving range use. Please consider golfing, becoming a Tee Sponsor, donating a door prize or goody bag items. Gold Sponsorship of $1,000 includes golf for a foursome, putting green sponsor sign, opportunity to select sponsorship of longest drive, proximity shot, closest to line, second team entry for $300. Silver Sponsorship of $500 includes golf for a foursome, tee sponsor sign, second team entry for $350. Bronze Sponsorship of $100 includes tee sponsor sign. Brochures are here and on our website. Drew Scholl donated some Sportulas to be used as our door prizes.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reminded us we all need to work our Triathlon. Our new members and our long term members all need to block off the last Saturday in June. We need to keep that open every year. This year it is June 28. Luke Becknell as our manpower chairman can connect anyone with a function that needs help. This year we will have youth races (11 & 12 year olds and 13 & 14 year olds, 15 year olds are with the adults) in addition to our usual event. This year Akash Jain is working with Jim Hayes on the database. Wow, we now have 2 “get-er-done” kind of guys doing this mountain of behind the scenes work! Jim Hayes reports we have 80 registrants.
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 asked us to keep an eye out for our 3rd quarter dues statements.
Dave Meier announced our 34th Annual Big Wheel Race is Friday, August 1 at Center Lake Park. Registration starts at 5:45 p.m. Race is at 7 p.m. Thanks to Penguin Point for sponsoring the bicycles, trophies, and gift certificates.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers reported our Indiana North District Convention will be in Warsaw, Friday & Saturday, August 8th and 9th. There will be a fun Golf Outing on Friday the 8th.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers thanked Akash Jain for stepping up to help Jim Hayes with our database.
Troy Akers invited us to the 2nd Annual Boomerang Backpacks Golf Outing, Monday, June 16 at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club. It will help feed students from Warsaw, Wawasee, & Tippy Valley on the weekends. Cost is $400 for a foursome. Sponsorship opportunities are available. See Tracey Akers attrakers@warsaw.k12.in.us .
Sergeants-at-Arms: Luke Becknell & Trace Hansen entertained us.
Adam Turner is expecting.
Dr. Mitch Reinholt is expecting.
Dr. Jenny Lucht, Alan Lucht, Rich Haddad, & Trace Hansen were recognized for remembering the May St. Patrick’s Day.
Troy Akers was recognized for School Principal’s DaFuture Dates
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
6/11 Wed. Mudlove Kyle Garberson
6/16 Mon. Boomerang Backpack Golf Outing
6/18 Wed. Guy Fisher / Goodwill Career Center
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
7/16 Wed. Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer / State of the City
7/23 Wed. Warsaw Area Career Center / Ronna Kawsky
7/23 Wed. Cheerleaders
7/30 Wed. Paragon
8/1 Fri. Penguin Point and Optimist Big Wheel Race
8/6 Wed. Boys Soccer
8/8 Fri. Indiana North District Golf Outing
8/8 & 9 Fri. & Sat. Indiana North District Convention at Warsaw
8/13 Wed. Boys Cross Country
8/20 Wed. Boys Tennis
9/3 Wed. Girls Soccer
9/10 Wed. Girls Golf
9/10 Wed. WCHS Athletics / Dave Anson
9/17 Wed. Crystal Heckaman / Rachel’s Challenge – Friends of Rachel
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
106 Optimists & 5 guests attended our meeting. Julia Yestrebsky was the guest of Jeff Owens; Dr. Sarah Masterson was the guest of Mike Cox; Sean Burke was the guest of Jenna Secrist; Holly Hummitch and Erin Porter were the guests of Akash Jain.
Door Greeters: Kristin Farwell & Fred Nieter.
Prayer: Merl Heckaman led us in prayer after leading us in singing “I Serve a Risen Savior.”
Pledge was given to the American flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Martin Becker led us in singing Hail to Optimism.
Birthday Honorees: Jennifer Dorman, Josh Gordon, Don Reinholt, & Merl Heckaman. We imitated Merl as the they walked to the front. Martin Becker had Merl led us in the birthday song, which he did to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Coach Jim Kessler’s granddaughter, Claudia’s recovery from eye surgery. She will have follow-up surgeries around early June and early July. Pray for comfort and patience for Claudia this spring and summer.
Membership: Membership Chair Kellie Malcom read Doug Baumgardner’s & Julia Yestrembsky’s applications. Doug and Julia are sponsored by John Elliott & Jeff Owens.
Past President Tracy Furnivall is heading our nominating committee. Please contact him, if you would like to run to be our President Elect. The election will be May 14.
Our next Board Meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12 at the room at the back of Scearce Rudisel Architects.
President Everett Nifong reported that over and above providing a great breakfast, Golden Corral is donating 100 meals for our students we invite to our meetings. Thanks to Golden Corral for their generosity!
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.
Craig Nayrocker is looking for someone to take over writing our Optibullette newsletter. See Craig to find out more. You can sit in the R Wayne Snider chair next to Steady Eddy Don Kenipe. From this spot, you and Don will have an unparalleled view of the goings on of our meetings. For clarification, you can take the actual chair that Rade sometimes sits in and move it to the Wayne Snider spot next to Don. You do not have to sit in the actual chair that I have mushed down. I will move it over Mary Ellen Jordan’s spot. I hope to be as good of a back-up to you as Mary Ellen was for me.
Bart Templeton is passing around a sign-up sheet for greeters.
Trina Hoy reported our Suggestion Box needs suggestions. It is a great way to get ideas to our leadership.
Trace Hansen is looking for applicants for his Eastlake Skate – Octagon scholarships. The Scholarship is for a minimum of two (2) $1000 scholarships to Octagon members, who are graduating Seniors from WCHS. The application deadline is May 23rd, and can be picked up at the Scholarship office at WCHS. If you have a family member in the Octagon Club, an email request can be sent to Tracesk8s@yahoo.com and he will mail out to the address you provide.
Co-Chair Dr. Jenny Lucht started sign-up sheets for our May 18th City of Lakes Cruise-In to Downtown Warsaw. We need more people to work our registration and our escorted cruise in particular. You can specify the couple hours you can work on registration. The escorted cruise starts around 6 p.m. and goes to Winona Lake and back. Remember to give your sponsorship money to John Teevan, the guy with the money tie. Our event runs from around noon to around 6 p.m. If you are not sure if you have paid for a trophy or major sponsorship, check with Art Gakstatter.
As a Club member, we are asking you to commit to three things to help make this event successful:
Clear May 18 on your schedule so you can help with the event
Be a $25 Trophy Sponsor or upgrade to the Bronze, Silver or Gold level.
Secure one additional sponsor of the event at the $500 … $200 … $100 level.
President Everett Nifong reminded us of our Golf Outing that will be Thursday, June 19 at Stonehenge. Registration begins at 11 a.m., lunch is at 11:30 a.m., and the Shotgun start is at 1 p.m. Cost is $440 per foursome including golf, cart, lunch, and driving range use. Please consider golfing, becoming a Tee Sponsor, donating a door prize or goody bag items. Gold Sponsorship of $1,000 includes golf for a foursome, putting green sponsor sign, opportunity to select sponsorship of longest drive, proximity shot, closest to line, second team entry for $300. Silver Sponsorship of $500 includes golf for a foursome, tee sponsor sign, second team entry for $350. Bronze Sponsorship of $100 includes tee sponsor sign. Brochures are here and on our website. Drew Scholl donated some Sportulas to be used as our door prizes.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reminded us we all need to work our Triathlon. Our new members and our long term members all need to block off the last Saturday in June. We need to keep that open every year. This year it is June 28. Luke Becknell as our manpower chairman can connect anyone with a function that needs help. This year we will have youth races (11 & 12 year olds and 13 & 14 year olds, 15 year olds are with the adults) in addition to our usual event. This year Akash Jain is working with Jim Hayes on the database. Wow, we now have 2 “get-er-done” kind of guys doing this mountain of behind the scenes work! Jim Hayes reports we have 80 registrants.
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 link https://warsawoptimist.org/1975-1976-year-in-review/ .
President Everett Nifong asked us to keep an eye out for our 3rd quarter dues statements.
Dave Meier announced our 34th Annual Big Wheel Race is Friday, August 1 at Center Lake Park. Registration starts at 5:45 p.m. Race is at 7 p.m. Thanks to Penguin Point for sponsoring the bicycles, trophies, and gift certificates.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers reported our Indiana North District Convention will be in Warsaw, Friday & Saturday, August 8th and 9th. There will be a fun Golf Outing on Friday the 8th.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers thanked Akash Jain for stepping up to help Jim Hayes with our database.
Troy Akers invited us to the 2nd Annual Boomerang Backpacks Golf Outing, Monday, June 16 at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club. It will help feed students from Warsaw, Wawasee, & Tippy Valley on the weekends. Cost is $400 for a foursome. Sponsorship opportunities are available. See Tracey Akers at trakers@warsaw.k12.in.us .
Sergeants-at-Arms: Luke Becknell & Trace Hansen entertained us.
Adam Turner is expecting.
Dr. Mitch Reinholt is expecting.
Dr. Jenny Lucht, Alan Lucht, Rich Haddad, & Trace Hansen were recognized for remembering the May St. Patrick’s Day.
Troy Akers was recognized for School Principal’s Day.
Troy Akers is celebrating being married to his nurse Tracey Akers on Nurse’s Day.
Dr. Craig Hintz is grateful for the Warsaw Community Schools teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. We agree that we are fortunate to have the quality of educators who serve our area. We also are grateful to have had Dr. Hintz’s stable leadership.
Alan Lucht is proud of their daughter as she graduates from Grace College.
Dr. Steve “Rade” Hollar & Dr Charles Hollar were recognized by Trace Hansen for their portrayal in a Disney video his daughter was watching.
Superior Court 1 Judge Elect David Cates always comes to our meetings dressed for work. It was noticed he came today, out of uniform. He probably took the day off from work to pick up the semi-truck full of yard signs in our county. Retiring Superior Court 2 Judge James Jarrette is starting a collection of yards sings for our Historical Society. When he ran the first time he said, 24 yard signs for a candidate was considered a large number.
Past Lt. Gov. Ot Schroeder noted that Sergeant Luke Becknell has a sign in his shampoo store that says “We fix $10 haircuts.” Ot was proud of Luke’s restraint when a particular politician came to our club before the primary.
Speaking of politicians timing their appearance at our club, our own Dave Wolkins was at our meeting the day AFTER the primary. He announced he will be back next November.
The table immediately to the east of Don Kenipe correctly answered that 9 Optimist were on the ballot. Thanks to all who participated in our election process.
Trina Hoy had the pleasure of visiting our Decatur Club, which is the home of Past Gov. Jim Burk.
Past President Bob Jackson invited us to hear his quartet at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 11at the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church.
Program:
Erin Porter brought us up to date on Winona Lake’s Splash Pad and Limitless Park.
There has been a shift in schools and playgrounds to the right to play. One in five people have a disability. Seventeen percent of those over the age of 5 have a disability. Both able bodied and special needs kids use Limitless Parks. The closest Limitless Park is now 45 minutes away.
Erin saw her first Limitless Park when she lived in Colorado. It was an inclusive park. Locally our Limitless Park started as a KLA project. They have received several large grants including from the K21 Health Foundation.
Phase One – the Splash Pad is fully funded. It will include access to Winona Lake’s beach and water, Splash Pad and Splash Play, and a universally accessible year round restroom. The groundbreaking is May 31.
Phase Two – the Limitless Park still needs funding. Hopefully its groundbreaking will be in the spring of 2015.
Dr. Dane and Mary Louise Miller’s foundation is graciously matching donations up to $100k made before June 23, 2014.
https://winonalake.net/limitlesspark.htmy.
Troy Akers is celebrating being married to his nurse Tracey Akers on Nurse’s Day.
Dr. Craig Hintz is grateful for the Warsaw Community Schools teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. We agree that we are fortunate to have the quality of educators who serve our area. We also are grateful to have had Dr. Hintz’s stable leadership.
Alan Lucht is proud of their daughter as she graduates from Grace College.
Dr. Steve “Rade” Hollar & Dr Charles Hollar were recognized by Trace Hansen for their portrayal in a Disney video his daughter was watching.
Superior Court 1 Judge Elect David Cates always comes to our meetings dressed for work. It was noticed he came today, out of uniform. He probably took the day off from work to pick up the semi-truck full of yard signs in our county. Retiring Superior Court 2 Judge James Jarrette is starting a collection of yards sings for our Historical Society. When he ran the first time he said, 24 yard signs for a candidate was considered a large number.
Past Lt. Gov. Ot Schroeder noted that Sergeant Luke Becknell has a sign in his shampoo store that says “We fix $10 haircuts.” Ot was proud of Luke’s restraint when a particular politician came to our club before the primary.
Speaking of politicians timing their appearance at our club, our own Dave Wolkins was at our meeting the day AFTER the primary. He announced he will be back next November.
The table immediately to the east of Don Kenipe correctly answered that 9 Optimist were on the ballot. Thanks to all who participated in our election process.
Trina Hoy had the pleasure of visiting our Decatur Club, which is the home of Past Gov. Jim Burk.
Past President Bob Jackson invited us to hear his quartet at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 11at the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church.
Program:
Erin Porter brought us up to date on Winona Lake’s Splash Pad and Limitless Park.
There has been a shift in schools and playgrounds to the right to play. One in five people have a disability. Seventeen percent of those over the age of 5 have a disability. Both able bodied and special needs kids use Limitless Parks. The closest Limitless Park is now 45 minutes away.
Erin saw her first Limitless Park when she lived in Colorado. It was an inclusive park. Locally our Limitless Park started as a KLA project. They have received several large grants including from the K21 Health Foundation.
Phase One – the Splash Pad is fully funded. It will include access to Winona Lake’s beach and water, Splash Pad and Splash Play, and a universally accessible year round restroom. The groundbreaking is May 31.
Phase Two – the Limitless Park still needs funding. Hopefully its groundbreaking will be in the spring of 2015.
Dr. Dane and Mary Louise Miller’s foundation is graciously matching donations up to $100k made before June 23, 2014.
https://winonalake.net/