UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Greetings Everyone,

What a bright and sunny day (somewhere else in the world that is)!

Go Warhawks! What a tight game this past Saturday against Linfield College. Thanks to all the club members who helped with ticket taking at the home football games this fall. It’s one of our lesser known fund raising events but is important for our budget, so again, thanks to all who helped at the gate.

Tonight is the annual Toys for Kids project at 5pm at the downtown Armory located on North Street.  Please join us for the wrapping and sorting of the toys to get them ready for the distribution by the Whitewater Food Pantry. Pizza and soda will be provided by the club for all those helping.

Our Tuesday, December 16 meeting (tomorrow) will be at 12 Noon at UW-W in the University Center, room 259A (our usual location). It will be Youth of the Month with catered lunch. Lunch cost is $7.00 per person. We hope to have representatives of the Whitewater Unified School District to receive the mittens and hats collected for our “Mitten Tree” program.

I’ve received a new packet of brochures and applications from OI. Let me know of anyone who might be interested in learning more about the club and/or joining and I’ll happily sent them the OI brochure and a copy of our own club specific brochure.

Remember there will be no scheduled club meetings December 23 or 30. We’ll meet again on Tuesday, January 6.

Enjoy the holidays and time with family!

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Greetings Optimists,

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped in anyway with this past Saturday’s “Breakfast with Santa.” Carol Miller reported at the club board meeting today, that 718 people were served, a new record. The board members took a little time at today’s meeting to share stories from the event. I would encourage all of you who helped to look back for any special moments from Friday or Saturday, write them down and share them with us. I would like to share you stories about the day on our web site and Facebook page.

Our board meeting covered the proposed budget for this year and a review of Breakfast with Santa. I’ll share more at our monthly Wednesday evening meeting, December 10th.

Speaking of our monthly evening meeting, it will be Wednesday, December 10 at 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant. We will have speaker, Reggie Hayes from Milwaukee, speaking about a program titled the “The Inner City Sportsmens Club” that introduces inner city children to outdoor recreation.

Our Wednesday evening will also be your chance to contribute a toy to this years “Toys for Kids” program. Presents for very young children and 13-15 year old are always very useful.

Speaking of the annual Toys for Kids project, this year we will be wrapping up the event Monday, December 15th at 5pm at the downtown Armory located on North Street.  Please join us for the wrapping and sorting of the toys to get them ready for the distribution by the Whitewater Food Pantry. Pizza and soda will be provided by the club for all those helping. Helpers are also needed at 1pm for toy/gift pickups. If you can help at that time, contact Duane Dickens and plan to meet him at the downtown Armory.

Our Tuesday, December 16 meeting will be at 12 Noon at UW-W in the University Center. It will be Youth of the Month with catered lunch. Lunch cost is $7.00 per person. We hope to have representatives of the Whitewater Unified School District to receive the mittens and hats collected for our “Mitten Tree” program.

That’s all for tonight. Hope to see many of you at the evening meeting tomorrow (or today, depending upon when you read this).

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Greetings Everyone,

Hope you’re staying warm today! I see that Saturday’s forecast is “Mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid-30s and lows in the upper 20s.” Should be an ok day for Breakfast with Santa, ticket taking at the Warhawk football playoff game in the early afternoon, and the UW-W Gala Holiday Concert in the evening.

We will be meeting tomorrow, December 2, at 12 Noon, in the University Center, room 259A. It will be a “bring your own lunch” meeting day. While you are enjoying lunch, our two interns for the fall semester, Alix Thornton and Amanda Kuspa, will be our presenters about their internship with the club and all that they did on our behalf. After Alix and Amanda are done, we’ll use the rest of the hour to stuff the goody bags for Breakfast with Santa. Mills dropped off the boxes of goodies in my office today. Come and help us out tomorrow.

I’ve attached the latest Breakfast with Santa helper signup sheet. Please review it. If you haven’t already signed up to help, please consider it. There are still a number of areas that could use more helpers. Decorations and equipment moving begin at 11:30 am on Friday, December 5 and decorating in Esker begins at 1:00 pm.

Our Warhawk Football Team continues to have success, so we will indeed need those football ticket takers who signed up for this Saturday, as well.  Kickoff against #5 ranked Wartburg College (my undergraduate alma mater) will be at 12:00 pm.

Next week there will be a Board meeting at 12 Noon on December 10. Our monthly evening meeting will also be December 10 at 5:00 pm at Jessica’s Restaurant. We had a great turnout at the November evening meeting and hope to see many of you on the 10^th.

Monday, December 15 will be our annual “Toys for Kids” work evening. There will be more information to share with you this week.

Tuesday, December 16 will be our “Youth of the Month” lunch at 12 Noon, on campus in the University Center. Lunch will be catered and cost will be $7 per club member. Also, please bring mittens, gloves, hats, and/or scarves to this meeting as these items with be presented to school officials for our local children.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Happy Thanksgiving Week, Optimists!

Thanksgiving week always seems to go too quickly.

• A reminder, there is NO MEETING this week.

• Football ticket taking will continue for our group as our UW-Whitewater Warhawks claimed a victory over Macalester College this past Saturday. We will be hosting Wabash College (of Indiana) this Saturday for a 12:00pm kickoff.  Ticket Takers, be sure to dress warmly for the upcoming November 29 game!!

• On Tuesday, Dec. 2 during our 12:00pm meeting, we will be stuffing goodie bags for Breakfast with Santa.  Santa, Mrs. Claus, Frosty and all of their helpers will be on hand on Saturday, Dec. 6 at Esker Hall for the big event.  Breakfast will be served from 8:00am – 11:00am.  Tickets are $1.00 for children and $5.00 for adults.  Many tickets will be available through the Whitewater Food Pantry.

• We could still use help with equipment pickup on Friday, December 5, in the kitchen on December 6 and with cleanup on December 6. If you’ve been waiting with signing up to see where help is still needed, now you know so please let me know.

• Lastly–mittens, gloves, scarves and hats are needed for the children in our community.  We will be arranging for school officials to come to our club meeting on Dec. 16 for our annual mitten tree presentation.  Please bring any contributions of these types no later than the 16th.  A tree will be set up outside of our meeting room for the presentation.  I believe several other trees will be set up throughout the community.

• Please continue to invite  friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc., to our meetings.  It would be great to add some new faces and willing hands to our club’s membership roster.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749