Attendance: 59

Invocation: Dr. Bill Katip

Greeters: Bruce Hansen, Tony Ciriello

Guests:Jason Matthews (Trace Hansen), Steve Ringle (Doug Ogle), Hoss (Travis McConnell)

Birthdays: Fred Nieter (90 years old today!), Craig Snow, Michael Gavin

Announcements: 1) Jeff Owens is encouraging mentoring for the Oratorical Contest.  2) Daren Maierle who is filling in for Santa House, said they will be doing First Friday, and after that will have shifts for Santas and Santas helpers Friday  12/14 and 12/21 6-8 pm, Saturday 12/8, 12/15 and 12/22 4-7 pm, and Sunday 12/9, 12/16 and 12/23 2-5 pm. Prior to opening Charlie Wagner will be helping with repairs. 3) Dr. Katip announced hundreds of dollars were raised at the Officer Terry Poulston Hoops for Hope Basketball games, for the Cancer Care Fund of Kosciusko County 4) Pam Galloway needs help staffing slots for the Bell Ringing for Salvation Army. On Dec 15 (Saturday) our Club is covering K-Mart (indoors) and the north and south entrances of Walmart (outdoors) from 9 am to 5 pm. Shifts are one hour long. Please contact Pam if you are able to help. Sign up sheets will be out next week. 5) Travis McConnell announced he is raising money for the Beaman Home, and that an Executive Director has been found. 6) Harry Gigous said that our sweetheart deal with Owens for the Christmas trees has ended (we got $5 for ever tree sold). Corporate Owens decided they no longer needed us.

50/50(Kris Farwell): Mickey Smethers won!

Membership (Joey Hickerson) : None

Induction: None

Sergeant’s: Paul Heaton, Brittany Lyon and Mitch Goon entertained us. Happy Dollars-Ivan Schuler got married, Ot Schroeder became a grandfather and Ron Donkers had another grandchild. Tracy Fitzgerald read a holiday poem.

Program: Hoss (actually Jeffrey Smith) from Serenity House talked about their Addiction recovery program. He has been the manager since 2006. There are three locations in Warsaw. He said addiction affects children, but doesn’t always start in childhood. He said he was invited to speak at an event in Silver Lake, expecting to find teenagers, but instead found children 5,6,7, 8 and 9 years old. Many addicts begin their addiction with a parent. He and guys from his house go to schools and try to educate teenagers. He said a lot of people don’t understand that once you become addicted to certain drugs, you can’t stop. The success rate in some cases of addiction treatment is only 6%, and the recidivism rate is astronomical. Serenity House is part of the Alternative Sentencing Program. The program is designed to last from 9 months up to 3 years. Men at Serenity house are required to work. He said members can be discharged one day and using drugs later the same day. As soon as they get a little bit of freedom, they start using again. He said he knew of an addict who overdosed, was brought back with Narcan, then went back and bought heroin from the same dealer who sold him the heroin he overdosed on. He said they have 43 beds in Warsaw and are only scratching the surface. He said you have to have faith in a higher power to recover, and the commonest denominator in getting addicted is peer pressure.