Bulletins are arranged in chronological order. Scroll down to find the date of each meeting.

July 11, 2005

Pat Brown rang the bell at 12:20 as the meeting was called to order for the approximately 47 members attending.  Dotty Stoerker-Peters gave the Invocation and Pete Bakutis led the Pledge of Allegiance.   

Jim Casey, a retired MU professor, was the guest of Jim Pinkstaff and the sole guest at the lunch.  Jess Weaver was this week’s mystery person and he gave the free lunch to Phil Weedin.  After the awarding of the free lunch, Steve Henderson followed with his normal caliber of high-eyebrow humor.

There were a number of announcements pertaining to upcoming events:

• Pat Brown informed the club that a reception in honor of Tony & Karen Aulisa, who are moving away from Columbia, will be held at the Clubhouse this Saturday, July 16^th from 5:00 – 7:00. 
• Pat also announced that a Board Meeting will be held at the Clubhouse on July 21^st at 7:00 and that all members are welcome to attend.
• Larry Fick reminded the members that the Show-Me State Games are fast approaching and that the club is once again volunteering to help with the medal presentations for the soccer events.  The volunteers will be needed on Sunday, July 24^th and Sunday, July 31st and T-shirts are in for those who have already signed up through Larry to work the event.

Rick McKernan followed these announcements with a report on his recent attendance of the Optimist International Convention that was held in New Orleans.  There were over 800 clubs represented at the conference that was attended by over 2000+ members.  One of the major points of the conference was that clubs need to be looking for and be accepting of new ways to attract members.  Rick also distributed quite a few bead necklaces that he had brought back from New Orleans, but refused to divulge how he had acquired them as he explained “What happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans!!”

This week’s program was by Meredith Donaldson, who gave a presentation on Rock Bridge State Park and some of the various Youth Programs that are associated with the park. 

• For example, “Bats on Parade” is a current program that children can participate in where their art work of bat coloring sheets are being hung in the library.  
• Actual viewings of the bats leaving the “Devil’s Icebox” are also available in the park.
• Nature Detectives is a program in the mode of  “Parents as Teachers” that strives to teach parents and grandparents to explore the outdoors in a fun and educational way with their preschool age children.

Meredith also talked briefly about the plans for a new Community Center to be constructed in the park.  The planning for this center has been underway for a number of years and a good start on some of the needed fundraising has already been obtained. 

After the program presentation, the meeting was concluded with the recitation of the “Optimist Creed”.

Submitted by Ed Harre

July 18, 2005

Pat Brown rang the bell at 12:15 and the meeting was called to order.  Jim Beckett gave the Invocation and Valerie Goodin led the 45 members present in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  This week there were several family members as guest attending the lunch.  Dorothy Stoeker-Peters had her son, Burt, as a guest and Al Jones had two guests, his wife, Jo Ann, and granddaughter, Morgan. 

This week’s mystery person was Bo Bossaller and he added some fun and suspense to the meeting by giving the free lunch to the person sitting in a specially marked chair, who just happened to be Jessica Hudson.  Steve Henderson added his own brand of fun to the lunch by sharing several tail twisters.

The announcements for the week were as follows:

§         Bo Bossaller discussed the importance of trying to sign up new members for the club.  One step that is being taken to try to achieve this goal is the introduction of Guest Program.  Please read the e-mail that was recently sent out regarding this contest for the details; however in short, the more guests you bring to next several meetings, the better your chance of winning 1 of 3 “rewards”.

§         Jess Weaver announced that Steve Henderson has graciously agreed to put on another dinner at the clubhouse next month.  Please mark your calendars for a fabulous Shrimp Dinner on Wed. August 24^th at 6:30.  More details will be coming.

§         Larry Fick reminded those members who have volunteered for the Show-Me State Games that this Sunday will be the first date that they are needed.  As in past years, please report to the area near the concession stand at the soccer fields in Cosmo Park in order to help with the awarding of the medals.  If you are a new member and/or volunteer to the games, the Optimist banners and volunteer T-shirts should be easily visible.  If you have any questions, please call Larry at home at 445-2743.

§         Valerie Goodin announced that the newly designed Downtown Optimist Club logo is now available.  If anyone is interested in having the logo embroidered on their clothing, Embroider It will be able to perform the service for $6.50 per item.

§         Pat Brown reminded the club that, due to a previous booking of the normal dining room, next week’s meeting on the 25^th will be held in the adjacent conference room.  Pat also asked for volunteers to help sell programs for the horse shows to the Boone County Fair.  Enough members have already volunteered to work on Wednesday and Thursday, but some were still needed to work this Friday and Saturday from 7:00 till 8:30.  If available, please contact Pat Brown.

§         Lastly, Dottie Stoerker-Peters informed the club that a club near and dear to her heart, The Friends of Rock Bridge State Park, will be holding their monthly meeting at the Pasta Factory on July 26^th at 6:00.  This month’s presentation will be on how children (both past and present) have utilized and enjoyed the park and anyone is welcome to attend.

The program was presented by Mike Whitworth with the Central Missouri Chapter of the Dream Factory.  This volunteer organization grants wishes to 3 – 18 year olds who are chronically ill or have had their quality of life affected by an accident.  They grant about 30 dreams annually at a cost of about $2500 each.  Twelve dreams are currently pending.  He presented a video showing several local children and the dreams they were granted.  You can help the organization by volunteering, donating money, and referring children who have a dream.

Submitted by Ed Harre

Monday, July 25, 2005

Rick McKernan (in place of Pat Brown) called the meeting to order by the ringing of the bell at 12:10. Bo Bossaller gave the Invocation and Bob Meriman led the approximately 38 members present in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Bob Meriman also sponsored the only guest attending this afternoon’s lunch, Kay Neil. 

The mystery person this week was Pete Bakutes and he gave the free to Jerry Brown. The meeting was almost canceled on account of there not being a tail twister this week since Steve Henderson was not in attendance! The club decided to press on anyway and hopefully Steve is gathering more material for future meetings.

The announcements for the week were as follows:
§ Jess Weaver reminded members that a “Shrimp Dinner” is being planned for Wed. August 24th at 6:30 at the clubhouse. Jess expects to begin trying to get a head count of those wishing to attend beginning next week. He also expects to have a figure at that time of what the meal should cost..
§ Larry Fick thanked the 16 members who volunteered and helped work at the Show-Me State Games this past Sunday. Larry estimated that approximately 1,400 medals were awarded by club volunteers on Sunday. The club will also be handing out medals again this coming Sunday, from 9:00 a.m. till nearly 6:00 p.m. If you have any questions about what time you may have agreed to volunteer, please call Larry at home at 445-2743.
§ Connie Howe announced that next Wednesday, August 3rd will once again be the night for the club’s monthly volunteering at the Central Missouri Food Bank and that he was still in need of 4 volunteers. If you would like to help out on that night, please contact Connie.

This week’s program was presented by Les Wagner, the Executive Director of Boone County Family Resources (formerly known as Boone County Group Homes). The organization provides various services to Boone County residents who have a developmental disability (either mental or physical) that is life long or of an extended duration and which occurred before the individual had reached age 22. 

The goal of the organization is to provide services that help teach these individuals to do for themselves whatever they can while keeping them in the community and having them live as normal a life as possible. The organization currently helps support 45 individuals who are living in semi-independent apartments owned by Boone County Family Resources. This is in addition to the approximately 1,200 individuals that the organization serves in some fashion annually. Funding for Boone County Family Resources is provided by 3 sources: Medicaid (40%), Boone County (30%), and private pay (30%). 

The recent talk of State cuts to the Medicaid funding will likely have a major impact upon some of the individuals who receive some of the organizations services as the individual will now likely not be able to afford paying for the services without the State funding support. 

If you know if someone who could be helped by the organization its website is: www.bcfr.org  and the phone number is (573) 874-1995.