A group of 17 of West Flint Optimists gathered for this morning’s breakfast, fellowship and foolishness. The only non-member, Sheila Gafney (see photo above), has been at so many of our meetings over the years that some members were joking that has attended more Club gatherings than many of our members – this is true, especially since she speaks with our Club about Area 13 Special Olympics at least once or twice a year and we have several newer members whose tenure doesn’t yet begin to cover the number of years that she has invited, enticed, coaxed, and celebrated our Club’s support of this organization. We have consistently worked the softball throw at the annual Area 13 Games for many years, but we have other opportunities this year: Sheila told us that this year’s CarWash fundraiser will be June 13 at “the Drive-In on Fenton Road”and the Special Olympics Golf Outing Fundraiser is to be held on Sunday, August 2 .
( A bit of Optimist history: Sheila is the daughter of one of very long-term and special members, and we shared this history lesson with some of the newer members – “Charlie” Gafney, though several years deceased, was a caring, congenial, and cherished member of the Club for many years and the Club presents a special award at our annual installation banquet that carries Charlie’s name and honors one of our most valuable members for that year.)
We also had updates from 2 other speakers, now members, about their organizations, scheduled events, and participation opportunities:
- Karen Lorenc (see photo below), head of Flushing Christian Outreach Center, updated us on her organization’s status and fundraising changes: last year’s “Open House” event was successful as a pleasant opportunity for meeting and greeting, eating good food from the food trucks, and having fun, but they were hoping to generate more donations to meet the increasing difficulties of area citizens. She will have more information on their developing fundraising events as plans crystallize, but it sounds like a dinner/entertainment event at Flushing Valley Golf Club’s banquet room is going to be this year’s big venue event. Raffle for a camper, performance by a magician, and silent auction items will likely be components at this $100/ticket event planned for September 26.
- Tony Tucker (see photo below), who has headed up Old Newsboys for the past few years, also joined us this morning and promised to return soon to spend more time talking about that program. This took pressure off him to try to pack too much information into the meeting today and gives him more time to plan his presentation and discuss the events on his calendar, like the Monday golf outing at the Elks.
Jeff Dennings distributed tickets to be sold for the “YETI Cooler Raffle” at this year’s Summerfest (for $10 each) and got several members to offer to sell those. A “glitch” in continuity and consistency regarding the publicity for Summerfest was noted and is to be rectified, and information regarding management and operation of the event was clarified. (Thanks, Karen!)
Jack Proffitt announced that he has communicated with “Santa” for the coming Michigan School for the Deaf Christmastime Pancake Breakfast and that it will probably be either December 3 or December 10. Jack also spoke about one of the presenters at the recent District Conference who gave an interesting presentation on raising “self-esteem in young students” through guided communication and will be asked to come and speak with us about her packets of material and how our Club might help to support the program, through financial support, sponsorship of youth-oriented programs (e.g., Big Brothers/Big Sisters) that might be interested, or encouraging educators to consider the approach. Jack will try to get this speaker on our schedule.
Jeff Dennings praised the presentations of the youth at the District’s Oratorical competition, noting the preparation and polish of the young orators and the quality of the competition. Jeff also announced that today’s “Stammtisch” will be at Madison’s on Main at 3:30 p.m..
Fines flew freely, with “King” Matt Strnad demonstrating what he has learned in his short tenure and prompting a contest for authority and power between him and the “quasi-”President Jeff Dennings (filling in for Prez Rich Lewis), a “math quiz” putting both Jeff Dennings and Tom Yeager on the hot seats, and building the “50/50 Progressive Pot” to $1295. Scott Staley tried but could not pick up the lovely Queen of Diamonds today.
Until next time, “Promise Yourself…”
