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OPTIZETTE
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DATELINE: Tuesday, October 22, 2002. President Kirtdoll opened the meeting and asked Tom Majerek to give the invocation and lead us in the pledge of allegiance.
INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Liz Capron introduced her guest Doug Wilkin who is the MIS Director for Liz’s company. Welcome to our meeting Doug. Please join us again.
BRAGS: Tom Majerek bragged that he spent last week in 90 degree weather while in Cazumel, Mexico. Liz Capron bragged that on November 7th she will be cruising to Cazumel and some other islands. Rudy Kappe bragged by giving us an update on the Optimists’ work with the Buchanan Lions Club to update the soccer fields. He said that Tim Ritchie volunteered to bulldoze the field and that his neighbor Bob Green will be doing more work on the field this week. Mike Listenberger bragged that the Optimist International JOOI Clubs finished a banner year with 1,191 more members than last year. Way to go JOOI members!
FOR ALL THE MARBLES: Dana Trowbridge conducted the 50/50 raffle. Susan Armstrong from Big Brothers/Big Sisters won a chance at the $89 pot. L L L L L L L She did not pull the Joker. She pulled the Five of § . Try your luck again the next time you visit us Susan.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: President Kirtdoll announced that this month’s board meeting would be held tonight at 6 pm at the Majerek’s Corporate Headquarters on Main Street across from the Hall of Cards and Books. Next month board meetings will go back to their usual Second Monday of the month schedule. She also announced that the District Meeting will be held November 8th, 9th and 10th. Please contact her for registration forms if you would like to attend. Robert Todd announced that guests are scheduled until the end of the year and we can now schedule guest speakers for next year.
GUEST SPEAKER: Diane Bass introduced today’s guest speaker as Carol Milburn, Executive Director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Carol brought along with her Susan Armstrong, Case Manager for the organization. Carol told us that the mission of Big Brothers/Big Sisters is to prepare children for the future by enhancing their strengths. We believe every child has strengths. Big Brothers/Big Sisters is a non-profit agency and our local agency is affiliated with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. They are a United Way funded agency and their total operating budget is through donations. They receive no government assistance. They are involved in three things: Fundraising through their Bowl for Kids Sake and other programs, Attracting a diversified group of board members with business ties that can help in fund developing and most important of all Finding mentors for children who really needed them. Carol said that their national office had found that they were really limiting themselves with only the One on One child mentoring program. Therefore they developed two more programs to help children. One is the Lunch Buddies program. With Lunch Buddies volunteers donate about 35 minutes per week to a child. They visit the child’s school and have lunch with them. Lunch can just be a sack lunch. During the lunch period they discuss with the child a variety of subjects and let the child tell them about what’s going on in their world. Big Brothers/Big Sisters ask for a year’s commitment to this program. Carol said that we would be surprised to find out how much can be accomplished over the lunch period. Big Brothers/Big Sisters also have an After School program whereby volunteers work one on one tutoring and talking with students. The After School program usually gives an hour a week to helping children work on their academic skills and build self-confidence. The idea is to provide quality time to children. Volunteers for the Lunch Buddies and After School programs are screened just as for the One on One Mentoring program. Volunteers must complete an application. A background check is completed. The volunteer has to attend a class on child abuse. (Children also attend a similar class on child abuse to make sure they know what abuse is and who to contact if something happens). Carol and Susan then interview the volunteer and do an on-site home visit. They then try to match adult volunteers to individual children. The children range in ages between 5 and 12 years old for girls and 6 and 12 years old for boys. But if volunteer and child are making progress the child can remain in the program right on up through high school graduation. Big Brothers/Big Sisters use to be geared towards children in single parent homes but now they take kids who have a need regardless of the situation. Some of the benefits to children are building self-esteem, broadening their future outlooks, helping them over obstacles and scholastic improvements. The benefits for the volunteers are a sense of giving back to the community, helping a child and sometimes to fill a requirement to do community service. Children involved in the program are 46% less likely to do drugs, 22% less likely to drink alcohol, 37% less likely to miss classes and a variety of other advantages. The Optimists offer our thanks to Carol Milburn and Susan Armstrong for being our guest speakers today.
If you’d like to see previous issues of the Optizette visit our site at
www.nilesoptimist.org or visit the international site at www.optimist.org.
CLOSING CREED:
President Kirtdoll led the group in reciting the Closing Creed at the end of the meeting.|
WHO AM I? You don’t really need a clue do you?
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TODAY IN HISTORY: October 22
1746: Princeton University is chartered.
1797: André-Jacque Garnerin makes the first successful parachute descent, jumping from a hot air balloon over Paris.
1883: Charles Francois Gounod's Faust is the first opera sung at the Metropolitan Opera House.
1918: The first case of Spanish influenza is reported, beginning a pandemic that will cause an estimated 20 million deaths worldwide.
1938: American inventor Chester F. Carlson makes the first xerox copy.
1962: The Cuban missile crisis begins. United States President John F. Kennedy announces that the USSR has a missile installation in Cuba and declares a naval blockade to prevent missile shipments.
MIND BENDING LATERAL THINKING:
A man stopped his car opposite a hotel and immediately knew he was bankrupt. How?
Answers to Mind Benders are only available at Optimist meetings. Come out and join us on Tuesdays at noon. Our thanks to Optimist Tom Clabaugh who has provided these mind benders.
THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:
"The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less." Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998) Civil Rights Activist
"Act as if it were impossible to fail." Dorethea Bronde (1893-1948) Writer
"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." Maori Proverb
LAUGHTER HEALS:
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Dear God A little boy wanted $100 badly and prayed for two weeks but nothing happened. Then he decided to write God a letter requesting the $100. When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to God, USA, they decided to send it to President Bush. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill. President Bush thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 and sat down to write a thank you note to God, which read: Dear God, Thank you very much for sending the money, however, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington D.C. and, as usual, those crooks deducted $95.00.
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WHO AM I ANSWER:
The campaign of nonviolent civil resistance organized by Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India led to the country’s independence in 1947. Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and later called Mahatma (Sanskrit for "great soul"), Gandhi studied law in London, England. As a lawyer and later as a political activist, he effectively fought discrimination with the principles of truth, nonviolence, and courage, which he derived in part from the teachings of Hinduism.
