CALL TO ORDER: President Liz Capron opened the meeting and asked Lloyd Phillips to lead us in the invocation then led us in the pledge of allegiance.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: There were no guests other than the guest speaker.

BIRTHDAYS: Some of the birthdays for the month of May include: Jack Arbanas and Jon Martin. Jack Frost will celebrate his anniversary tomorrow. Mike Listenberger celebrates his anniversary on May 30^th, Don Boyer’s anniversary is May 17th and Bill Haslett will celebrate an anniversary on May 22^nd. Dave VanStrien will also be celebrating an anniversary this month. Happy Birthday to all and Congratulations on all the anniversaries next month!

BRAGS: President Capron bragged on President George Bush’s recent visit to our city. She also told a humorous story about their wait in line prior to the president’s speech. Jennifer Williams bragged that she will be going to Florida next week and is happy that she will be able to see family. Hey Jennifer, remember you are a snow bird now – don’t try to move back to the Sunny State! Mike Listenberger bragged on seeing so many Optimists at today’s meeting. Lyle McMullen bragged on how lucky he was to stay home during George W Bush’s visit and didn’t have to put up with all the fuss. Tom Majerek bragged that with the help of John Willis he got an A in College Algebra at Indiana University in South Bend. He said that normally algebra is so hard it’s like giving birth to a mathematician. Congratulations on your success Tom!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: President Capron announced that Michigan District Third Quarter Meeting would be held in Ann Arbor on May 15^th. Also the Michigan District Oratorical contest will be held on May 14^th and the Niles Noon Optimists will have a representative present. The president also announced that the Optimist Board meeting would be held this coming Monday, May 10^th at 5:30 pm at the Riverfront Café. All Optimists are invited to attend board meetings. Dave Morse announced that the Optimist Tri-Star Baseball Skills competition will be held on Saturday May 14^th. He hopes that many Optimists will come out to assist the young people while they have fun. Dave also said that flyers and notices were being distributed. The event will be held at FOP Park from 9 am to 11 am. Robert Rhynard announced that both races this past weekend went well. He also said we broke several records at the St. Patrick’s Park race. There were only 11 participants in the group’s first ever race. We also broke a record in that all the participants crossed the finish line and that racer #11 actually came in 11^th in the race. Bob also talked about a possible change of location for the Optimist Triathlon on Labor Day. More information to come on that subject later. He also reminded the group that they would need help in putting up tents for this weekend’s Optimist Youth Performing Arts Festival. It only takes a "few good men and women" to get those tents up. Tom Majerek talked about the Optimist Youth Performing Arts Festival. He asked that Optimists come out to provide encouragement to our young folks and to enjoy the great music and fun. Tom told the group about some of the young people who would be performing. He also said that we would need help to take down the tents and make sure everything was in order at the end of the festival. Mike Listenberger announced that the JOOI group spent four hours helping to clean up our downtown over the weekend. He said that they are a very hard-working group of individuals.

Past President Erika Kirtdoll announced that four or five Optimists tied for the most Duck Race tickets sold in the first week. She conducted a drawing to determine the winner and guess what?. . Past President Kirtdoll was the winner. Congratulations Erika!! The prize was a gift certificate. Enjoy Erika. Remember, we will be offering a prize to the person who sells the most Duck Race tickets each week. And don’t forget, the earlier you get them in the better, as you will be in the running for a Millennium Steak House certificate given away at the Thursday Night Concerts in Riverfront Park. Turn your tickets into to Erika or Dave VanStrien.

PRESENTATION: President Capron presented a check for $500.00 to Big Brothers/Big Sisters for their recent fundraising campaign. Susan Armstrong accepted the donation on behalf of Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: This week’s 50/50 drawing paid out a whopping $20 to Diane Bass. Congratulations to me!

GUEST SPEAKERS: Robert Todd introduced our guest speaker Elizabeth McKinley, the Fitness Supervisor for the South Bend Parks and Recreation Department. Elizabeth coordinates the Kids Triathlon each year, another race that the Optimists time. She said that this year will mark the fourth year of the annual event. The first year there were 200 participants. The program was such a success that the second year they had 436 kids participate. Now they have to limit participation to around 500 kids between the ages of 5 and 12. The Kids Triathlon is a challenging and invigorating event for those who participate. Kids swim, bike and run just like in a regular triathlon, only the distances are much shorter. Children can also use floating devices during the swim portion and parents help out with guiding the children through the course. Elizabeth says she is so happy to have the Optimists timing the race as she doesn’t have to worry about that important aspect of the event. The Optimists too also expressed how much of a fun race it really is. Optimists said that for those who have never attended a timing race, really need to get out and see 500 kids having fun. Elizabeth also told the group that they run an 8-wk class (once a week) to help your kids get ready for the triathlon. She then showed the group a great video of last years Kids Triathlon. The video was great and you could see that all the kids had a lot of fun. Elizabeth even passed out a lot of handouts and applications for the event. The Niles Noon Optimists would like to thank Elizabeth McKinley for providing such an enjoyable program to us today.

CLOSING CREED: Diane Bass 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 .