UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Greetings Optimists,

A Call for 2016-17 Club Officers. It’s time to create the slate of officers for 2016-17. I have received word from two club members they would be willing/able to be on the board as an officer or general board member next year, depending upon what time of day the monthly board meetings are held. I also want to let everyone know that I WILL continue on the board as past-president and will be more than willing to assist with weekly emails, web site updates and Facebook postings.  So…what would YOU like to do next year to contribute? Perhaps one that you’ve not held  in the past? Please begin volunteering to be an officer for 2016-17. “Many hands make light work.”

I’ve updated the web site so the link for the paper application for the City-wide Rummage should now work properly. If you or someone you know were unable to access the form before, please try again.

We have received one application for the Rummage Sale through the online signup form!

This week’s meeting will be tomorrow night at Jessica’s Restaurant starting at 5pm. Hope to see many of you there.

Other upcoming events to beginning planning for:

Fishing Derby, Gyro Stand, and Jefferson County Fair Ticket Selling. Rick Fassl has indicated he’ll help with the Fishing Derby, Teshona Bennett has indicated she’ll help organize the Gyro Stand again, and I’ll help organize the ticket sellers for the Jefferson County Fair. Hopefully everyone will be able to pitch in on one or more of those events.

Dates for upcoming club meetings and events include:

• Tuesday, April 26, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 3, Regular club meeting. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 10, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Tuesday, May 17, Regular club meeting. Youth of Month presentation. Speaker needed.
• Saturday, May 21, City-wide rummage sale.
• Tuesday, May 24, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 31 (5^th Tuesday of the month). No meeting this day/week.
• Saturday, June 4, Fishing Derby??
• Friday-Monday, July 1-4, 2016, Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration.
• Wednesday, July 6, Jefferson County Fair ticket selling/taking.

That’s all for tonight.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club, will be hosting their final City-Wide Rummage Sale on Saturday, May 21, 2016. Registrations are now being accepted. All proceeds from this event help fund activities to support youth programs throughout the year. Last year saw more than 40 families benefit by having their rummage sale on the same day. More sales draw more people and that means more items you don’t have to store anymore!

The cost to participants will be $10 per household, which guarantees each seller a spot on the master rummage sale list, a sign for their yard, and a brief, 10-word description of the most attractive items available for sale. This is a community service project offered by the UW-W/Community Optimist Club and we appreciate persons registering with us, as the very reasonable registration fee gives them better publicity at a cost savings over running a separate ad. Funds raised cover the costs for the project and any money in excess of costs goes to fund other youth service projects throughout the year.

You may register for the event using either:

1. The “2016 City-wide Rummage Sale Online Application” and submitting the $10 payment via PayPal. You do not have to have a PayPal account to use this option.
2. Or use the “2016 City-wide Rummage Sale paper Application.” Complete the paper form and return with the $10.00 check to: J. Olson, 651 Darcy Lane, Whitewater, WI 53190 no later than May 13.

You can also pick up a registration form at the Irving L. Young Library; the Sweet Spot Coffee Shop, 226 W. Whitewater St; the Sweet Spot Coffee Shoppe and Bakehouse, 1185 W. Main; and Eastsider and Westsider Citgo Stations.

Persons who wish to extend their sale either by starting on Thursday, May 19 and/or through Sunday, May 22nd, should indicate that on their registration form. There is no additional fee and the extra days are “on your own.” Two and three-day sales will be highlighted on the locator list with an asterisk.

The final deadline for rummage sale registration is May 13. This guarantees participants a spot on the rummage sale list. Those lists will be available for pick up at the businesses listed above beginning May 19, as well as at the Sweet Spot Coffee Shoppe, 226 Whitewater Street on May 21ST from 7-11am until the lists are gone.

For further information or questions, phone 262-473-2437 between the hours of 2pm to 9pm.

Greetings Optimists,

How is everyone doing today? It’s been nice to have sunshine most to the day. Puts me in an “Optimist” mood.

Thanks to club member Jim McLernon for donating $100 to the club. Jim presented the check to us at the general member meeting last week, April 5.

No general member meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, April 12.  Instead the Exec Board will meet at 12 Noon in UC 268.

We had some great discussions at our April 5^th meeting. It looks like we WILL organize the event again this year. The date will be Saturday, May 21.

A Call for 2016-17 Club Officers. It’s time to begin planning for the slate of officers for 2016-17. I have received word from two club members they would be willing/able to be on the board as an officer or general board member next year, depending upon what time of day the monthly board meetings are held. I also want to let everyone know that I WILL continue on the board as past-president and will be more than willing to assist with weekly emails, web site updates and Facebook postings.  So…what would YOU like to do next year to contribute? Perhaps one that you’ve not held  in the past? Please begin volunteering to be an officer for 2016-17. “Many hands make light work.”

With the plan to move forward with the City-wide Rummage sale, I’ve been looking into ways to better manage the sign-ups and payments. What I’ve done on behalf of the club is:

1. Created a Club email account with Google. The address is optimist.club@gmail.com.
2. With the creation of the Gmail account, the club now has a 15 Gb file storage space that can be used for file and picture storage.
3. Going forward we could use the Gmail account to move our web site from the University to Google’s free web site hosting, thus making it easier for future officers to access the web site and update content.
4. I created a Pay-Pal account to accept Rummage Sale sign-up payments. I think we’ll be able to also use the Pay-Pal account for dues payment and Trivia Night team payments in the future.
5. I’m planning on creating an online Google form to allow people to sign up for the Rummage Sale event. The form will put their info into a Google spreadsheet. The form will also include a button that will take the person to the appropriate Pay-Pal page to pay the $10 to the club.

Any further ideas from club members about using Google, Pay-Pal, etc. in the future?

Dates for upcoming club meetings and events include:

• Tuesday, April 12, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Tuesday, April 19, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Youth of the Month presentation. Tentative speaker will be Jeremy Reed, Director of UW-W Admission Office.
• Tuesday, April 26, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 3, Regular club meeting. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 10, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Tuesday, May 17, Regular club meeting. Youth of Month presentation. Speaker needed.
• Saturday, May 21, City-wide rummage sale.
• Tuesday, May 24, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 31 (5^th Tuesday of the month). Fellowship Meeting? Other type of meeting? When/where?
• Saturday, June 4, Fishing Derby??
• Friday-Monday, July 1-4, 2016, Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration.
• Wednesday, July 6, Jefferson County Fair ticket selling/taking.

That’s all for tonight.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Greetings Optimists,

PLAY BALL!! Any club members go to the Brewers home opener today?

Our next general member meeting will be tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5, 12 Noon, University Center 259A.

We had some great discussions at our March 29, meeting at Jessica’s Restaurant. Topics included City-wide rummage sale and Gyro stand. We’ll discuss those further at tomorrow’s meeting.

City-wide Rummage Sale. We had discussed whether or not we should continue this project. Many people in the community take advantage of the event but don’t pay the $10 fee to be included on the locations listing. Over the past few years we’ve seen paid participation dropping while overall number of sales in the community seems to be the same. Is the effort worth it? Would we do it Saturday May 14 or 21?

In case we don’t sponsor a city-wide rummage sale this year, here is a comment Jan Olson just shared with me from Palmyra via Facebook (that we might receive also).  “For anyone in Palmyra looking to join the Village wide rummage sale coming up. I was informed at village hall the Chamber of Commerce has chosen not to do the work and advertise this year. This is a HUGE inconvenience to us all. If you would like to call the Chamber of Commerce president I have his name and phone number.” As Rick Fassl pointed out, an event like this doesn’t benefit the Chamber of Commerce members so that’s why they don’t get involved. It seems that it takes someone else, like our club, to organize these events.

A Call for 2016-17 Club Officers. It’s time to begin planning for the slate of officers for 2016-17. I have received word from two club members they would be willing/able to be on the board as an officer or general board member next year, depending upon what time of day the monthly board meetings are held. I also want to let everyone know that I WILL continue on the board as past-president and will be more than willing to assist with weekly emails, web site updates and Facebook postings.  So…what would YOU like to do next year to contribute? Perhaps one that you’ve not held  in the past? Please begin volunteering to be an officer for 2016-17. “Many hands make light work.”

Dates for upcoming club meetings and events include:

• Tuesday, April 12, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Tuesday, April 19, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Youth of the Month presentation. Speaker will be Jeremy Reed, UW-W Director of Admissions.
• Tuesday, April 26, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 3, Regular club meeting. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 10, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Saturday, May 14 or 21, City-wide rummage sale?????????
• Tuesday, May 17, Regular club meeting. Youth of Month presentation. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 24, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 31 (5^th Tuesday of the month). Fellowship Meeting? Other type of meeting? When/where?
• Saturday, June 4, Fishing Derby??
• Friday-Monday, July 1-4, 2016, Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration.
• Wednesday, July 6, Jefferson County Fair ticket selling/taking.

That’s all for tonight.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Enjoy these pictures from the 2016 Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by our Club. The event was held at the Whitewater Middle School.

Greetings Optimists,

Our next general member meeting will be tomorrow night, March 29, at 5:00 PM, Jessica’s Restaurant. I’m still searching for a speaker. Otherwise we’ll discuss the Easter Egg Hunt and City-wide Rummage Sale.

Easter Egg Hunt update. Many, many thanks to Kim Adams, Connie Murray, Rick Fassl, Jeanine Fassl, Jan Olson, Susan Hiscox, Lanora Heim, Jenny Musilek, Michele Filip, Josh Tepps, Linda Kinson, Hans Hahn, Carla Cheek, and Angie Alesci (and any others I’ve missed) for quickly putting together last Saturday’s Easter Egg Hunt!!!

City-wide Rummage Sale. We are in need of a co-chair/co-leader for this event. Michele Filip has volunteered to co-chair/co-lead. Would we do this Saturday May 14 or 21? Therese Kennedy has already received a call wondering when the event would be. Please let me know ASAP if you’re willing to co-chair/co-lead this event.

A Call for 2016-17 Club Officers. It’s time to begin planning for the slate of officers for 2016-17. What would YOU like to do next year to contribute? How about an Exec Board position? Perhaps one that you’ve not held  in the past? Please begin thinking about volunteering to be an officer for 2016-17. “Many hands make light work.”

The February Exec Board Minutes were approved at the last Exec Board meeting. I’ve posted them on the web site for your reading.

Dates for upcoming club meetings and events include:

• Tuesday, April 5, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, April 12, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Tuesday, April 19, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Youth of the Month presentation. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, April 26, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 3, Regular club meeting. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 10, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Saturday, May 14 or 21, City-wide rummage sale?????????
• Tuesday, May 17, Regular club meeting. Youth of Month presentation. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 24, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, May 31 (5^th Tuesday of the month). Fellowship Meeting? Other type of meeting? When/where?
• Saturday, June 4, Fishing Derby??
• July 1-4, 2016, Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration.
• Jefferson County Fair ticket selling, Wednesday, July 6, 2016.

That’s all for tonight.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

UW-Whitewater Student Optimists and a service-learning student, along with Angie Alesci and Kim Adams presented a $3,000 check to Washington Elementary Art teacher Mareta Hale on Wednesday, March 16.  The money donated is on behalf of the UW-Whitewater Student Optimist Club and is from part of their portion of the proceeds raised at the Third Annual Optimist Trivia Night held on February 19, 2016.

The Student Optimist Club is hoping that they will be able to donate additional monies towards to project, but the club and school are also asking for additional assistance for the large-scale project.  The mural painting will begin yet this spring and will continue into the summer.  The children at Washington Elementary will be (and already have been) involved with the project.  Ms. Hale has worked with them from the beginning in researching landmarks, native plants and overall themes for the mural.  The hope is to get children, teachers, parents and other community members involved with the project.

Anyone wishing to donate to the mural project can send a tax deductible donation to Washington Elementary.  Checks can be made out to Washington Elementary School and indicate Mural Project in the memo line.  For more information, contact Kim Adams (UW-W Student Optimist Co-Advisor) at adamsk@uww.edu or 608-201-2151, or art teacher Mareta Hale at Washington Elementary.

Save the Date:  The 4th Annual Optimist Trivia Night is planned for February 17, 2017.

Trivia Night Check Present Photo1 March 16 2016

Trivia Night Check Present Photo2 March 16 2016

Flowers Example from Washington Elementary students, January 2016

Washington Elementary Outdoor Mural Wall

Greetings Optimists,

Our next general member meeting will be tomorrow, March 15, at 12 Noon, University Center 259A. This is a “catered lunch day” ($7.00). There WILL be a Youth of the Month presentation at this meeting. We’ll have two shorter presentations, one from Bunny Schoen speaking about Delta Kappa Gamma, an international group of educators.  This group does a lot for kids, and the teachers who teach them, similar to Optimists.  The other speaker will be Whitewater High School Principal Doug Parker speaking about the alternative graduation program.

City-wide Rummage Sale. We are in need of a co-chair/co-leader for this event. Michele Filip has volunteered to co-chair/co-lead. Would we do this Saturday May 14 or 21? Therese Kennedy has already received a call wondering when the event would be. Please let me know ASAP if you’re willing to co-chair/co-lead this event.

A Call for 2016-17 Club Officers. It’s time to begin planning for the slate of officers for 2016-17. What would YOU like to do next year to contribute? How about an Exec Board position? Perhaps one that you’ve not held  in the past? Please begin thinking about volunteering to be an officer for 2016-17. “Many hands make light work.”

THERE IS NO MEETING NEXT WEEK, MARCH 21-25 OF ANY KIND for the club. UW-W and the Whitewater School District are on spring break which will mean some/many people will be on vacation, including me.

Our final meeting for March will be an evening meeting on TUESDAY,  March 29 at 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant. I’m still looking for a speaker.

The February Exec Board Minutes were approved at last week’s Exec Board meeting. I’ve posted them on the web site for your reading.

Dates for upcoming club meetings and events include:

• Tuesday, March 15, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Youth of the Month presentation. Speakers will be Bunny Schoen and WHS Principle Doug Parker.
• Saturday, March 26, Easter Egg Hunt???????
• Tuesday, March 29, Evening meeting, 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant.
• Tuesday, April 5, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, April 12, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Tuesday, April 19, Regular club meeting, 12 Noon, University Center 259A. Youth of the Month presentation. Speaker needed.
• Tuesday, April 26, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant.
• Tuesday, May 3, Regular club meeting
• Tuesday, May 10, Executive Board meeting, 12 Noon.
• Saturday, May 14 or 21, City-wide rummage sale?????????
• Tuesday, May 17, Regular club meeting
• Tuesday, May 24, Regular club evening meeting, 5pm, Jessica’s Restaurant.
• Tuesday, May 31 (5^th Tuesday of the month). Fellowship Meeting? Other type of meeting? When/where?
• Saturday, June 4th, Annual Fishing Derby????? (DNR Free Fun Weekend)
• July 1-4, 2016, Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration.
• Jefferson County Fair ticket selling, Wednesday, July 6, 2016.

That’s all for tonight.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749