DATELINE: Tuesday, June 3, 2003. President Erika Kirtdoll opened the meeting and Vice President Liz Capron gave the invocation and led us in the pledge of allegiance.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: There were no guests other than our Oratorical Contest winner and her parent.

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: Mike Listenberger celebrated an anniversary on May 30th. Happy Anniversary Mike!

BRAGS: Dave Morse bragged on everyone who came out to help with the 3^rd Annual Optimist TriStar Baseball Skills event. Those stepping in to lend a hand included Marsh Pedzinski, John Willis, Erika Kirtdoll, Tom Majerek, Carol Milburn, Susan Armstrong, and Diane Bass. Also lending a hand was Dave’s wife Karen Morse and their daughters. Thanks to all who participated. John Armitage bragged on all the beautiful summer weather and sunshine – somewhere in the world other than in Niles today. Sherry Bunch bragged on Sue Cipares for the wonderful job she has done in handling the Optimist Oratorical Contest. Sherry also bragged on having three children involved in this weekend’s state cheerleading competition. Sue Cipares bragged on Sherry Bunch for helping with the Oratorical Contest. Dana Trowbridge bragged that to celebrate his father-in-law’s 70^th birthday he took him to see a game at Wrigley Field. The game went to 16 innings – a very long game indeed! Dana also bragged on his son Collin who is the bat boy for the Penn High Kingsmen. They beat Elkhart recently with a score of 3 to 2. Also, Collin’s Little League team, Trueline Fencing at Osceola Little League Park, is currently enjoying an undefeated status of 7 and 0. Congratulations Collin and congratulations Dana on having an amazing son. John Willis bragged that he had received a call from the South Bend Silverhawks who want us to have a Niles Optimist Soccer Night at Coveleski Stadium. John says that next year we may have all 1,400 soccer players at a Silverhawk’s game and all the Optimists can come out and enjoy the night with them. Sounds like a good plan John! Vice President Liz Capron bragged on being asked to be a guest speaker at a fundraiser in August in regards to organ donation. Liz will celebrate the one year anniversary of her kidney/pancreas transplant in August. President Erika Kirtdoll bragged on the wonderful job that Dave Morse did with the Optimist TriStar Baseball Skills event this year.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Robert Rhynard announced that the next Optimist Race Timings are June 21^st for the Human Race Run at the Volunteer Center, June 28^th for the Summerfest Run, and July 4^th for the Zoofest at the Fort Wayne Zoo. There are also races on July 19^th and August 2^nd, 9^th and 16^th. Remember that the Optimists will hold the Niles Triathlon on August 30^th – Labor Day weekend. Please volunteer to help out at the race timings. Robert Todd announced that guest speakers are needed for the first and last Tuesdays in July and for all of August. Please contact him to schedule a guest speaker. Past President Tom Majerek announced that the Optimist Golf Outing has been rescheduled to be held on Tuesday, June 17^th here at Orchard Hills Country Club. The Golf Outing is being held in conjunction with the Berrien Springs Optimists. If possible, please come out to see the young people play or lend a hand as a volunteer. Tom also announced that the Bluegrass Festival will be held the weekend of June 27^th through June 29^th. Please come out and enjoy the festivities and hear some great music. Our own Rick Schpok will have his band performing twice during the Bluegrass Festival. President Kirtdoll announced that the Dragon Boat committee is looking for sponsors for the Dragon Boat Competition that will be held during Riverfest. Please, if you know of a business that can sponsor a dragon boat, contact the president or Vice President Liz Capron or David VanStrien. There are youth teams out there that need a dragon boat to compete in. The president also announced that the next Board Meeting will be held next Monday, June 9^th at 6:00 p.m. at the Majerek’s Headquarters on Main Street.

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: Dana Trowbridge conducted the 50/50 raffle. Ed Antisdel took home the $15 pot! Congratulations Ed!

GUEST SPEAKER: Sue Cipares was the co-chairman of the Niles Optimist Oratorical contest this year. She explained the criteria that the students had to work with in producing their papers and reciting their speech. Sue also told us that this year’s judges were Rick Martinez, Gloria Cooper, Margaret Dyer and Dave Dyer. She said that Ring Lardner Middle School was the only school out of the three that were asked to participate. But she said that Ring Lardner had more than 250 students enter the contest. She thanked teachers who assisted the students: Mrs. Bradbury and Mr. Kangess. Sue then introduced today’s guest speaker as the First Place Winner of the contest. Danielle Foster introduced her mother Elaine Foster. Danielle is a seventh grader at Ring Lardner Middle School. She is 14 years old. Danielle will be representing the Niles Optimists at the District contest. The theme this year was, "United We Stand in Optimism". Danielle said the first thing she did to start writing her paper was to look up the word "united". She said united means "as one, to bring together as a whole, to combine people in interests, attitudes or actions". She said that united in optimism means to come together in the spirit of hope. Danielle retold the story of Jack and Jill and how they both went up that hill to fetch a pail of water. She said that children learn from this story at an early age how important it can be to have someone with you to help you and support you in getting a thing done. She quoted a philosopher who said that, "Americans should stick together like a clump of grapes". Danielle said that being united with fellow Americans is important to safeguard what we have and to keep others from taking our freedoms away from us. She said that in crisis Americans have learned to unite in order to facilitate blood drives and in collecting food and supplies for our troops as well as for the needy. Danielle says it would be interesting to see if any other country’s people can unite together for a purpose as well as Americans can. She said that it is this unity that makes "America the beautiful". She said that our country’s motto; "E Pluribus Unum" means "out of many one", but that we are all also individuals and that none of us stand alone in America. Everyone supports others. She says that when she thinks of our nation’s colors of Red, White and Blue she sees the red as symbolizing our soldiers who bleed on the battlefield to allow us many freedoms including unity. White symbolizes the White House and how it belongs to everyone in the country and the Blue symbolizes that there are times we can be blue or sad. Danielle said that American Heroes understand that sometimes to get things done you must unite. She also quoted John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you. . . Ask what you can do for your country." Danielle also said that she likes seeing how our community has united to support our troops by flying their flags and placing yellow ribbons everywhere. She told us that we should unite with someone every day to do good deeds.

Our thanks to Danielle Foster the winner of the Optimist Oratorical Contest.

CLOSING CREED: Ed Antisdel led the group in reciting the Closing Creed at the end of the meeting.

"The luxury of doing good surpasses every other personal enjoyment." John Gay

"My parents were always philosophizing about how to bring about change. To me, people who didn’t try to make the world a better place were strange." Carol Mosley Braun, Politician