We had a relatively large group of 17 this morning (see photo above) for our 7:30 a.m. breakfast at Liberty, with vibrant and energetic discourse and discussions. President Rich Lewis strove to gain control over the direction of the meeting by requesting that Mic Goulet lead in the Pledge of Allegiance, but Mic’s beginning with “Promise Yourself to be so strong…” derailed his train of thought and prompted Rich to recalibrate! Jack Proffitt’s invocation brought us all back to our senses.
Tom Yeager’s arrival for a “luncheon meeting” triggered a premature opening of fines, the southerly table paid a fine for “‘holding their own meeting” and then retaliated against the northerly table, Jeff Dennings requested a fine against “anyone sending out text messages or emails in the middle of the night” (apparently a critique of Rich’s communicative insensitivity!), Bill Reaves drew a fine for late arrival, and Cindy Sullivan paid fines for “whining”and “for not doing a good job of doing Dan Crannie’s job” of selling raffle tickets. Jim Reigle fined “anyone who did not celebrate a 75th birthday this past week” and drew a fine by Greg Hilliker for “bragging about his youth”.
Bill Reaves announced the upcoming Michigan District Optimist Quarterly “gathering” but was ambiguous about the terminology (“gathering”, “summit”, “conference”, “convention”, or “meeting”) and timing (corrected to Saturday, May 16th (see agenda, schedule, and cost HERE) that “King” Matt Strnad had to to try to sort out the confusion by assessing some financial penalties. (Good move, Banker!) and Jeff Dennings tried to lend some clarity to the distinction among the different types of conclaves by assigning numbers and sequence cues ( thereby further confounding those of us who were already befuddled! Apparently , next year will see a local (Grand Blanc) Optimist convention, and Bay City and Mount Pleasant will also be identified sites for interacting with Michigan Optimists. (More information to follow!)
Cindy and Rich have successfully acquired “a couple thousand” dollars in sponsorships by approaching several area businesses and invite others to do likewise, and she talked about Whaley’s plans for a Fenech Feud event (comparable to a “Family Feud”-like fun competition) on Thursday, June 11, of our SummerFest FUNdraiser, June 11-13.
Jeff Gauger celebrated the fact that Club members are going out again today to assemble beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace and will exceed the symbolically meaningful number of 1,000 beds installed through our local chapter this week! AMAZING! (Check photo for a shot of this milestone achievement.)
Steve Schlott drew the “lucky” number for this week’s “50/50 Progressive Pot” but picked up the 2 of Clubs rather than the Queen of Diamonds, so went home without extra gas money ($1139) this week.
Until next time, “Promise Yourself…”
