Future Dates
05/12 Respect for Law
05/16 6:30 a.m. Car Show Parking and Security meeting
05/16 Tracy Furnivall – Baker Youth Club
05/16 8 a.m. Car Show Registration meeting.
05/20 Car Show
05/23 Optimist Singers
05/30 DNR – Boating Laws and Safety
06/06 Remnant Trust
06/07 Golf Outing at Stonehenge
06/13 Jim Reeve – Roy Rogers
06/20 Triathlon welcome bags
06/23 Triathlon
06/27 Sally Hogan – Kosciusko County Historical Society
07/11 Vicki Kitchin – Build Indiana Council
07/18 Mike Taylor – Encompass World Partners
07/25 Jim Erickson – National Pork Board

>>>>OPENING
87 Optimists & 3 guests attended our meeting. Jason Zaugg was the guest of Dr. David Haines; Denny Strain was the guest of Jim Bricker; and Past Gov. Gregg Palmer was the guest of Past Gov. Ron Donkers.
Door Greeters: Don Reinholt and Merl Heckaman.
Prayer was offered by Coach Jim Kessler.
Pledge was given to the American Flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Martin Becker led us as we sang “Hail to Optimism.”
Birthday Honorees: Jennifer Dorman, Don Reinholt, and Merl Heckaman. Martin Becker led us in the birthday song twice, first with Merl results then with great results.

>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Request:
Praise: John Ames is back with us.
Praise: Joann Heckaman is coming home.

Membership: Lt. Gov. Sam Whitaker read Jason Zaugg’s application. Past President Bob Jackson inducted Kellie Malcolm and Akash Jain. Josh Gordon sponsored Kellie, Dr. K.T. Kishan sponsored Akash, and Past Lt. Gov. Dr. David Haines sponsored Jason.

Past President Joel Wihebrink reported who we elected last week:
President Elect Everett Nifong;
Vice Presidents Angie Tom and Tracy Horrell; and
Board Members George Brennan, Art Gakstatter, Rick Kerlin, and Andy Swihart.

Sheriff of Attendance: Bill Landrigan greeted Past President Dr. Charles Hollar. Sheriff Bill caught up with Gannon Troutner. When her schedule changes she is looking forward to coming to our meetings. Thanks To Bill and Harry’s efforts we had 93 at last week’s meeting.

City of Lakes Cruise In on May 20th: John Elliott announced the following committees will meet at these times:
Parking and Security at 6:30 a.m. on May 16th,
Registration at 8 a.m. May 16th.
We have had good coverage in the South Bend Tribune.
Check to see what you signed up to work. If we all work what we agreed to do, it will go smoother.
Nick Deeter and Orthopediatrics has sponsored at the $500 level.

Everett Nifong reported that teams are signing up for our June 7th Golf Outing at Stonehenge.
Cost is $400 for a foursome (includes golf, cart, lunch, & driving range). A single golfer can sign up for $100.
Sponsorships are available at the Bronze $100, Silver $475, & Gold $1000 levels. The Esther Pfleiderer Charitable Trust and Sliveus Insurance are Gold level sponsors. Everett is looking for another Gold sponsor.
Hole sponsorships are $100, Door Prizes and Goody Bag items are also needed. Shawn Williamson and Kozon Plumbing and Heating donated a deluxe bag of goodies for a door prize.
Everett says whatever you need is in the “bro-chures for-sure.”
Thanks go to committee members: Mike Cusick, Josh Gordon, Jay Tate, and Jerry Clevenger.

Past Gov. Ron Donkers reminded us that our Triathlon is on June 23rd, the FOUTH Saturday of June.
Ron asked us to sign up for the T-shirts we want by May 23rd.
We need someone to step up and chair the computer chips for our race.

Ron Chambers thanked the 8 members from our club that visited the Noon Club last Monday.

Scott Whitaker announced Respect for Law will be May 12th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Applications and information are on our website. Ages are from 6 to 16 years old. Those helping sign in the kids should be there at 8:30 a.m. Art Gakstatter is bringing his Viper!

President John Sullivan thanked Past Gov. Ron Donkers for his hard work at last Saturday’s District Meeting. Ron announced President John Sullivan was elected Lt. Governor Elect.

Optimist District Fundraiser: Ryan Harper is selling $5 raffle tickets for a 32” LCD TV. Proceeds go to our Optimist District.

Bill Landrigan reported the Knights of Columbus raised over $16,000 last weekend in their Tootsie Roll drive for Cardinal Services. He thanked us for buying tootsie rolls.

Ot Schroeder, Jerry Clevenger, Mitch Goon, and Bob Jackson reported around $450 to $500 was raised by the Octagon fundraiser breakfast for BYC. They thanked us for eating supporting this event. Thanks also go to Dean Foods, Bob Jackson and Katering Kitchen, and Little Crow Foods for donating food, supplies, and equipment to this event.

Please pray for our Troops and Families: SSgt Ryan Middleton – Air Force

Sergeants-at-Arms: Bob Jackson, James Nesbitt and Luke Becknell entertained us.
Those who did not vote were fined.
Our local golfing voter, Bennett Hollar was in the front page of the Times-Union.
Dr. David Haines’ daughter was the prom queen 25 years ago.
Bill Landrigan danced at the barbershop chorus.
Doug Jones’ and Nick Deeter’s sons were instrumental to their baseball team’s win.
Ot Schroeder’s son Jeremy graduated with his MBA.
Tracy Furnivall reported almost $11,000 was raised at Baker Youth Club’s awards banquet.
Rich Haddad’s son graduated from Belmont University in Tennessee.
Several of our members are parents and grandparents of the boys and girls track team members who have done very well. David Goon beat his older brother’s record.
John Kirkpatrick’s son got a new job as a chief engineer.
John Sullivan reported our junior varsity baseball team is doing very well. He is also happy that his son-in-law’s Western Michigan team beat Ball State.
Martin Becker reported Warsaw Community Schools has a new strings instructor.
50/50: Gina Voelz won $38.

Program:
Rich Haddad, President and CEO of the K21 Health Foundation fleshed out what the foundation does. K21 started in 1999 when Kosciusko Community Hospital was sold. The Foundation was started with $65,000,000. The foundation does not run programs. Instead it invests it’s assets and makes grants from it’s income. To date $25,000,000 has been granted.
The 17 board members are from around the county and have diversity of experiences. Our own Dr. Jennifer Lucht and Past Lt. Governor Dr. David Haines are board members. The board is looking for ways to benefit the residents of Kosciusko County.
An example is the Children’s Hope House at Lutheran. Our county uses that house more than any other county.
The focus is health. The three major areas are: 1) medical health services like pediatric physical therapy, 2) advance prevention through education and screenings, and 3) healthy lifestyles like parks and greenways.
The largest single project they have undertaken is the K21 Pavilion. It houses 7 non-profits providing 13 to 14 programs. Cross referrals are more effective when they are in the same building.
K21 is the largest provider of funds to the Kosciusko County Community Foundation’s Good Samaritan Fund. The Good Samaritan Fund helps with family medical financial emergencies.
K21has placed AEDs in all first responder vehicles and schools in the county. Kosciusko County has one of the best cardiac save rates in the state.
K21 helps fund Home Care and Hospice. Our own Past President George Brennan and Past Gov. Ron Donkers are on the board of HC&H. K21 pays for medical assistance and dental assistance.
Our county EMS trucks are maybe the best equipped in the state thanks to equipment paid for by the K21 Health Foundation.
K21 has supported health education programs at Ivy Tech to train health workers.
K21 funded a 2 year study of counseling’s effect on helping diabetics and pre-diabetics change their lifestyles. The YMCA now has a group diabetic prevention program that came out of this study.
K21 has funded the Kosciusko Lakes and Streams. KLS is doing a study of area lakes e coli records.
K21 has funded programs to help reduce the main causes of preventable deaths: smoking and obesity.
K21 is now working on 3rd grade oral health assessments. K21 funds Kids Smile Kosciusko which is a children’s oral health program. KSK trains parents and child care providers about kid’s oral health. Every kindergartner gets a dental exam. If problems arise and the family has financial need, K21 works with dentists to fix those problems.
K21 Health Foundation is very busy making thoughtful carefully planned improvements to the health of the residents of our county.

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