April 17, 2025
Amber Miller from Boys & Girls Club in Flint spoke with the group of 13 members this morning about the Club, changes in staffing and programming over the years, and new directions. Her goals of providing “access, opportunity, and experience” to youth ages 7-17 through sports, fitness, recreation, e-gaming, and more occur on “drop-in” basis (with bus transport partnerships with area schools) from 2-7 p.m. daily. Kids “must participate” in activities oriented to to promote academic, health, lifestyle, and character development. Most of the funding (80%) for the Club comes through various grants. A recent addition to the Club’s resources is a large “Hoop House” garden program that has the youngsters working on planting, growing, and harvesting for meals that they can plan and prepare, and it is reported to be a tremendous success. It was suggested to Amber that we would love to have a member from their staff to join our Club and facilitate communication and service collaboration. (Her predecessor, Tauzzari Robinson, was a former member here and has set a precedent.)
Our Club’s role in the Softball Throw at the Special Olympics will be reprised on May 16, but the location this year will be at Grand Blanc Middle School, 1515 Reid Road (Directions HERE.). Mic Goulet assured us that a speaker from SO will be in to recruit volunteers!
The most recent NEIGHBORS magazine publication recognized Dan Crannie’s 40th Anniversary of his business (Signs by Crannie) and featured Dan’s career history and community service roles, including mentioning Optimist Club membership. Thumbs up, Dan!
Bill Reaves announced the Optimist “Meet & Greet Spring Gathering” this weekend at Saginaw Valley State University, noting that our Club is one of only 2 Clubs to attain Honor Club status, out of 76 in the District, largely because membership expanded from 18 to 32 in recent months. This did not keep Bill from being fined for “whining” when he tried to cover his hint of a “bald spot”, bringing further criticism from Dan Crannie, who noted that his “Baldness is Beautiful”.
The Flushing City Council met, with several Club members present (Jack, Joe, Scott, Steve, and Cindy) and did not hesitate in granting approval of Club’s Summerfest tent plans for June 19-21.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace held another build last weekend at Flushing Moose Lodge and workers built more beds (over 100 in inventory) and received bedding donations for 50. The volunteers helped to load, transport, and unload construction materials even after their construction work and lunch were over! And even today, 6 beds will go into one home as part of our Club’s ongoing support. Jeff Gauger, though in Iowa, is probably still smiling!
The “50/50 Progressive Pot” grew to $673 unclaimed in today’s drawing.
LATE ADDITION: On Monday, April 21, Jeff Dennings‘ mother, known to all of us as “Cookie”, died after several health crises (more information HERE). Please keep the family in mind.
Until next time, “Promise Yourself…”