A Publication of the Niles Noon Optimist Club
Meetings every Tuesday at Noon
Riverfront Cafe on Front Street in downtown Niles, MI
Zone 4, Michigan District
Editors: Michelle and Robb Morse

Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance: Dave VanStrien

Invocation: Osceola Skinner

News of the Day from Rob Clingaman:

Girls High School Basketball district playoffs start THIS week.

Brags:

Carole Zackary bragged on being unretired and working for Notre Dame.

Liz Capron bragged that she and Dee have bought a house kiddie-corner from the Ferry Street School Resource Center and are renovating it.

Guests:

Liz Capron brought employee Justin Panczyk.

Michelle Morse brought her son Aaron Carroll .

Bills for dues have gone out. Included is an interest finder (the pink sheet). All members, please fill out the form and return it to Michelle Morse.

Members were honored with gifts as thanks for bringing in new members. Tom Majerek, John Willis, and Michel Listenberger all received optimist notebooks. Tom also received an optimist coffee mug for bringing in the most guests/members at 5.

The Sunday 6pm Music Series at Riverfront Park has been moved to Riverfront Cafe for the winter. Rick Schpok's band plays next week!

Dr. Todd is need of Programs, please get ahold him if you have a program for us.

50/50: $13, won by Liz Capron.

Curious the Monkey: The monkey is still MIA.

Michel Listenberger spoke briefly on his week of extreme highs and lows. He showed off his "+1" membership recruiter pin and encouraged every member of the club to get one of their own.

Dave VanStrien reports that the Cassopolis club meetings continue to be well-attended and that the club appears to be going strong.

John Willis shared information from an email he received from Michigan District Governor Don Brose. The Michigan District is #1 for growth in our region at +36 members. Even more impressively, our local Zone accounts for 35 of those 36 additional members all by itself!!!

Program:

Lisa Busby is the Director of the Ferry Street School Resource Center. Lisa says that while she prefers to speak extemporaneously, there is so much going on at the center that she had to bring notes!

This program has been 3-4 years in the making. The community response was so strong for a backpacks-for-kids drive that it was clear that the "central-side" community was ready to make a comeback. The CDC oversees the program, which is run by Lisa with the help of many volunteers.

The Resource Center is an advocacy and enrichment program for the entire Niles community, though their primary focus is on the central-side area, roughly bounded by Sycamore on the West, Wayne on the North, and Main on the South. Their main focus is on empowering residents and restoring community pride.

The Center provides a supplemental literacy program for 4-5 year-olds. An after-school book club for 6-9 year olds that also includes writing and art. Art classes for ages 10 and up. An Adult illiteracy program, as well as job training and job placement. They have started a United Veterans Coalition. The Resource Center is also developing a rite of passage program for 10 to 20 year-olds stressing respect, responsibility, and character.

The Resource Center has its own Drill Team, run by Lisa's sister and aunt (both with military backgrounds) and composed of 15 girls from the neighborhood. The drill team made its public debut at the Apple Festival parade. Lisa says that participation on the drill team has had nothing short of a life-altering affect on many of the girls participating.

It truely sounds like the community is very fortunate that they were able to find someone like Lisa to run this program, and our congratulations go out to her on her early successes.

Shirt Orders: If anyone is interested in ordering polo shirts like those awarded at the optimist banquet, please see Tom. The minimum order is 15 shirts, so we will take down names and contact people for payment if enough interest is generated to support an order. White polo shirts with the Optimist logo are currently available from Tom for $10 each.