OPTIZETTE

A Publication of the Niles Noon Optimist Club

Meetings every Tuesday at Noon at the Orchard Hills Country Club on Niles-Buchanan Rd. in Buchanan, MI ¨ Zone 19 Michigan Regional District

 

VOL. XXX, NO. 081903 ¨ ERIKA KIRTDOLL, PRESIDENT ¨ DIANE BASS, EDITOR ¨ P.O. BOX 63 NILES, MI 49120 ¨ AUGUST 19, 2003

 

DATELINE: Tuesday, August 19, 2003. President Erika Kirtdoll opened the meeting and asked Lloyd Phillips to give the invocation before leading us in the pledge of allegiance.

 

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Doug Myers, Chief Craig Lear and Tim Bunch were our special guests today from the Niles Township Fire Department. They will be our guest speakers.

 

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: There were no birthdays this week. David Morse and his wife Kim will be celebrating their wedding anniversary this Friday, August 22nd.

 

MEMBERSHIP INDUCTION: President Kirtdoll conducted an induction for membership for Jack Arbanas. Jack was sponsored by Maurice Nelson. After making his pledge Jack changed his temporary "visitor’s" badge in for a real Optimist Membership badge. Welcome to the club, Jack!

 

SECOND READING: President Kirtdoll conducted a Second Reading for prospective new member Nancy Kulesia. Nancy is a resident of St. Joseph. She has a daughter and three grandchildren. She is a friend of Sgt. At Arms Andrew Plym.

 

SECOND READING: President Kirtdoll conducted a Second Reading for prospective new member Tosca Rifenberg. Tosca is the daughter of Optimist Paul Rifenberg. She works as an advertising consultant at Leader Publications. She has been a resident of Niles for more than 27 years.

 

BRAGS: President Elect Liz Capron bragged on this past weekend’s fundraiser to help long time resident Tracey Wilson, who is in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant. Liz said the fundraiser, which included a dance, raised $20,000.00 to help Tracey’s family with medical costs. President Elect Capron also bragged that on Sunday her mother coordinated a fundraiser for Organ Transplant Awareness. They were able to raise more than $1,300.00 for the cause. President Elect Capron is celebrating the one year anniversary of her pancreas/kidney transplant. Don Boyer bragged that he had read in the Optimist Magazine that Optimist International was looking for items for use in a historical display they are putting together for the headquarters in St. Louis. He thought it would be interesting to send them something from Niles. He will be sending them one of our special Optimist coasters that were made in the 70s by Brian Day’s wife Madeline. John Willis bragged that he had lots of Optimist memorabilia at home. He said he even had a photo of the Niles Optimist Float that was in some parade many, many years ago. John said he would be happy to give Don Boyer some other things to send along. John also bragged on the crew that helped out at the Three Rivers race this past weekend. He said they did a fantastic job and that the organizers of the event were very pleased with the Optimists’ timing procedures. Past President Tom Majerek bragged that the Grateful Optimist Club here in Niles has purchased a swinging bench for Riverfront Park in honor of Mike Minix. The Grateful Optimists also hold a concert each year in his honor. MikeFest will be held on September 14th. There will be seven bands performing from noon until 10 pm. President Erika Kirtdoll bragged on President Elect Liz Capron’s first year anniversary of her organ transplant. She also bragged on the wonderful job that John Willis and Bob Rhynard do in organizing the race timings. She said this past weekend’s race was wonderful.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: John Armitage announced that September 16th is open for a guest speaker and all of October needs to be scheduled. Please contact him if you have a program. John Willis reminded the group that the Niles Triathlon, which is our own race, will be held on Saturday, August 30th. Everyone is required to be at the Barron Lake Fire Department location by 6:00 a.m. to help with our major fundraiser of the year. Also, on Friday, August 29th we will need people to help with getting the location ready. Meet the crew at 9 am on Friday to help with these efforts. John also announced that we had picked up another race for October 11th. It will be a 5K run in Mishawaka to raise funds for the new Montessori school. Jack Arbanas announced that his wife is putting together a cystic fibrosis fun run for Saturday, October 4th. As a reminder Sgt. At Arms Andrew Plym wants you to know that on August 26th it will be Red, White and Blue day. Please wear these three patriotic colors in celebration of Labor Day. President Kirtdoll announced that there would be no lunch meetings on September 2nd because of Labor Day festivities or on September 30th. On September 30th we will be holding our annual banquet right here at Orchard Hills. All Optimists should plan on attending.

 

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: Osceola Skinner conducted the 50/50 raffle. President Kirtdoll took home the $11 pot! Congratulations Madam President!

 

GUEST SPEAKER: Doug Myers, Chief Craig Lear and Tim Bunch were today’s guest speakers. They are from the Niles Township Fire Department. They started out by thanking the Optimist Club for its generous donation towards the Great Lakes Burn Camp last year. Today they talked to us about the burn camp. Doug said that the Great Lakes Burn Camp seeks to bring together children who have been injured in fires. The greatest thing for the children is that there are other children who were injured just like them and they don’t have to worry about anyone staring at them. The camp helps to build the children’s self-esteem, expand their strengths and teach them new skills. During summer camp the children take swimming and waterskiing lessons, they go horseback riding, hiking, fishing, canoeing and kayaking. The children also do arts and crafts, sports and play other games. Summer camp lasts for a week. There is also a winter camp which takes in a long weekend. During winter camp kids go sledding, tobogganing, ice skating, snowmobiling, skiing and lots more. It costs $500 for each child to attend summer camp and $250 for each child to attend winter camp. The parents don’t pay anything for their kids to enjoy the camps. The families have already, in most cases, had their finances affected by the challenges that they must face when a child is injured. The Great Lakes Burn Camp seeks to involve all children who have been burned regardless of their financial status. No child is turned away. At camp the children are cared for by professional and experienced volunteers. There is always a psychologist at camp to help the children if they need it. The Niles Township Fire Department has taken the Great Lakes Burn Camp under their wings and began raising money for the camp last year. They are again raising money to help these children and will be sponsoring a Burn Run on September 28th. The Burn Run involves motorcyclists who register to ride on that day in support of the camp. The cyclists will meet at the Apple Festival grounds on the last day of Apple Festival. L They will be escorted by Police and Fire departments as they cruise though about 50 miles of scenic Berrien and Cass Counties. There will be a 50/50 raffle, door prizes and a free ride pin. Anyone can help the Great Lakes Burn Camp by providing a donation to the Niles Township Fire Department’s fundraising efforts. For more information about the Great Lakes Burn Camp log on to www.greatlakesburncamp.com . The Niles Noon Optimists offer their thanks to the Niles Township Fire Department for their efforts to help the burn camp. We thank them for being our guest speakers today.

 

CLOSING CREED: President Kirtdoll led the group in reciting the Closing Creed at the end of the meeting.

 

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. Don’t forget the Niles JOOI Club’s site is www.jooi.org .

 

THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:

"All it takes to make a good idea generate steam is a person who can get all fired up over it" O.A. Batista, scientist and writer

 

"Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak." G. K. Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown

 

"Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others." Marianne Williamson, inspirational writer and speaker

 

TODAY IN HISTORY: August 19th

14: Augustus, the heir of Julius Caesar and the first emperor of Rome, dies.

1791: African American astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker sends a copy of his first almanac to Thomas Jefferson to disprove Jefferson's belief that blacks were intellectually inferior to whites.

1953: Royalist forces acting on behalf of Reza Shah Pahlavi, with the aid of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, overthrow Iranian premier Mohammad Mossadegh.

1973: Georgios Papadopoulos, leader of the Greek ruling junta since a 1967 coup, abolishes the monarchy and declares Greece a presidential republic. Papadopolous is overthrown later in the year.

1977: Comedian Groucho Marx, the best known of the Marx Brothers, dies in Los Angeles, California

1991: Communist hard-liners attempt a coup in the Soviet Union, putting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest and declaring a state of emergency. The coup fails two days later.

 

 

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS: August 19th

Ogden Nash, poet (1902)
Orville Wright, airplane inventor (1871)
Bill Clinton, U.S. president (1946)
Alfred Lunt, actor (1893)
Bill Shoemaker, jockey (1931)
Gene Roddenberry, television producer (1921)

 

DAILY JOKE:

Mafia Christmas

A mafioso's son sits at his desk writing a Christmas list to Jesus. He first writes, "Dear baby Jesus, I have been a good boy the whole year, so I want a new..." He looks at it, then crumples it up into a ball and throws it away.

He gets out a new piece of paper and writes again, "Dear baby Jesus, I have been a good boy for most of the year, so I want a new..." He again looks at it with disgust and throws it away.

He then gets an idea. He goes into his mother's room, takes a statue of the Virgin Mary, puts it in the closet, and locks the door. He takes another piece of paper and writes, "Dear baby Jesus. If you ever want to see your mother again..."

 

WHO AM I?

I was born on this day in 1883. My classic suit for women made me one of the most influential designers of the 20th century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHO AM I ANSWER:

Starting with a Paris hat shop in 1914, Coco Chanel went on to become one of the biggest names in the fashion industry. In the mid-1920s her trademark suit-and-hat ensemble became the Chanel look. She also created the world-famous Chanel No. 5 perfume. While she created little new work in the period during and after World War II, her name remained associated with haute couture (high fashion).