CALL TO ORDER: President Liz Capron opened the meeting and gave the invocation and then led us in the pledge of allegiance. She then read a cute little poem/joke from Robert Todd to the group. Thanks Bob for sharing!

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: President Capron introduced her guests Heidi Leneway of CSB Credit Services and Paul Rifenberg of Rifenberg Insurance. Sgt. At Arms Andrew Plym introduced his guest Neil Coulston, Public Works Director from the City of Niles. President Elect Jon Martin introduced his guests, wife Andie Martin and "brand spanking new" Miss Ainsley Paige Martin who was born on Saturday, March 7^th and weighed in at 8 pounds 1 ounce. The young Miss Martin slept right through the meeting while being passed around. Welcome to all of our guests. Please join us again soon.

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: Robert Todd celebrates his birthday this Thursday, February 19^th and Sue Cipares will celebrate her birthday this Wednesday, February 18^th. Happy Birthday Optimists!

MEMBER INDUCTION: President Capron completed a new member induction for Tom Rasler. Tom is a charter member and past president of the former Coldwater Optimist Club. He is no stranger to Optimism and we are happy to have him with us now.

FIRST READING: President Capron also conducted a First Reading for perspective new member Jennifer Williams. Jennifer is the branch manager for Chemical Shoreline in Niles. She has four children and has recently relocated to Niles from Florida. (Traded Florida sunshine for Michigan winter?! Brave young lady!). Jennifer enjoys camping and water sports. She has been active in church youth activities and is eager to become an Optimist.

BRAGS: John Willis bragged on Past President Erika Kirtdoll who worked diligently to get the soccer t-shirts tallied up accurately. John said that because of Erika he was able to get the order together in a very short time. He said that the soccer committee had ordered 1,182 t-shirts for the 1,100 kids in the soccer program. The extra shirts are to cover kids who register late and parents, coaches, etc. who also ordered t-shirts. Rudy Kappe bragged that he and his wife Karin received tickets to attend the Masters Golf tournament in Augusta GA. They are very excited about it and are looking forward to the trip. Lt. Governor Tom Majerek bragged on Mark Whittaker who is chairman of the Essay contest. He said that Mark was a real go-getter who organized this event so well that he has already received lots of essays. Optimists are excited about having the winning students come to our meeting to read their essays. President Capron bragged that she and her guest Heidi Leneway will be going to a seminar in sunny Arizona next month.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Past President Erika Kirtdoll announced that the club had received a thank you card from Don Boyer. Don is home recovering after surgery. Rudy Kappe announced that the 10^th annual referee class will be held at Buchanan Middle School. He said his wife is, as usual, chipping in to help by calling all the past referees to see if they can participate again this year. Robert Todd announced that guest speakers will be needed for the first two weeks in April and that all of May, except the last Tuesday, is still open. John Willis announced that the Optimist Soccer Committee did well in getting coaches this year. However, we still need a coach for the all girl’s third thru fifth grade teams and for a first and second grade team. Please contact John if you have a suggested coach in mind. John also announced what a wonderful job the YMCA has been doing a fantastic job in helping with registration and answering calls about Optimist Soccer.

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: Past President Erika Kirtdoll conducted the 50/50 raffle. Jack Arbanas took home the $20 pot! Congratulations Jack!

GUEST SPEAKERS: Lt. Governor Tom Majerek took pleasure in introducing today’s guest speakers from the Niles-Buchanan YMCA. They were board members Mr. Tyler and Mrs. Cousins and also Director Brent Hendrie. They showed the grips slides of the architectural drawings and landscape layout for the new YMCA being built on Front Street. The group also talked about their fundraising efforts and explained how they were raising the funds in phases. They have already completed their fund raising efforts with companies and agencies in the area. They would like to now focus on individual donations and donations from groups, like the Optimists. They would like groups to pledge set amounts to be given over a five-year period. They are asking the Optimists to consider this proposal. The total cost of the new building will be about $8 million. They have currently raised about $3.5 million. They reminded us that the current YMCA sponsors positive programs for the community. In addition to play rooms for kids, health pools, large walking/run tracks, aerobics, fitness and therapeutic rooms and many other amenities, other groups and agencies also will use the facility. The YMCA’s membership base is about 3,500 but more than 7,500 people use it annually. It is imperative that the new building be built as that there is no room at the current facility to handle all the programs that must be done for the safety, health and general welfare of our community. The director also told us about the plans to extend the walkway at Riverfront Park through the new city-donated property where the new building sits. We offer our thanks and appreciation to Mr. Tyler, Mrs. Cousins and Mr. Hendrie for being our guest speakers today.

CLOSING CREED: Jack Arbanas led the group in reciting the Optimist Pledge at the close 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 .

There was a tourist on a farm and he asked the farmer why one pig had a wooden leg.

The farmer said, ''That pig is the bravest pig I ever saw.''

''So why does he have a wooden leg?'' the tourist asked.

''Well one night our house caught on fire. And he came into our house and he woke us all up.''

''So,'' the tourist asked again, ''why does that pig have a wooden leg?''

''Well, a pig that brave you can't eat all at once!''

A guy walks into a bar, sits down and says to the bartender, "Quick pour me twelve drinks."

So the bartender pours him twelve shots and the guy starts shooting them back really fast, one after another. The bartender says to the guy, "Boy you are drinking those drinks really fast."

The guys says, "Well, you would be drinking really fast too if you had what I've got."

The bartender says, "What've you got?"

The guy says, "75 cents."

What do you call a chicken that crosses the road rolls in dirt and comes back?

A dirty double crosser

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