UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Happy New Year, Optimists!

We hope you have had happy and healthy holidays!

On Tuesday, January 10 at noon in UC 268 will be our next Board meeting.  There will be no Club meeting.

Our first Club meeting of 2017 will be on Tuesday, January 17 (the first day of classes at the University).  Our guest speaker will be Artanya Wesley (our new Dean of Students at UW-W).  We hope we can have a good turnout at the meeting to greet and learn about Artanya.  We will continue into the new year with a catered meal.

Thanks and. . . just keep smilin’ in 2017!

Kim & Angie 🙂

Greetings, Optimists,

It definitely looks like a winter wonderland out there!  That means it’s a perfect time for our Mitten Tree Project  and “Gifts With A Meaning!”  Please join us for a fun-filled meeting for both of these projects this Tuesday, December 13 in UC 259A.  We encourage you to bring a guest to join in the fun.  Mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, socks and children’s underwear are still needed.  These items will be donated to the representatives from the Whitewater Unified School District on Tuesday.  You are encouraged to also bring a gift that represents you.  Brenda O’Beirne  will facilitate our guessing activity.  The gifts will then be donated to our toy wrapping project for the Whitewater Food Pantry.

Our next Board Meeting will be on Wednesday, December 14 at Second Salem in Whitewater from 5pm – 6pm.  

We will hold our last meeting of the semester on Tuesday, December 20–featuring “Youths of the Month” from the high school.  In addition, Ryan Callahan (from Continuing Education) will be our guest speaker.

We will not have a meeting on Tuesday, December 27.  Take time to enjoy the holidays, family and friends!​  Our meeting on Tuesday, January 3 will be held in UC 69.  We will not be having a catered meal for this meeting.

That brings us to Friday, January 6 with the opportunity to help with judging the Academic Decathlon on campus.  Therese has put out a request asking for folks to serve as judges.  Please see the email she sent last week–or reply to Kennedyt@uww.edu if you are able to volunteer.

That’s a wrap for now. 

Just Keep Smiling,

Kim and Angie 🙂

Good Evening, Optimists,

Wow–what a successful Breakfast with Santa event!   Angie and I do not know where to begin with our thanks!  Please accept our heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped to plan, arrange and order items, manage the sign up sheet, promote, decorate, cook, staff, play Santa–Mrs. Claus–Frosty–or an elf, pay for items, and clean up for the event, as well as other tasks in-between!  It was great to see so many folks (including children of members, UW-W Student Optimists, and Octagon Optimists) helping to ensure that the event was a success.  The parade helpers (Student Optimists, Intern Brandon and Frosty) are greatly appreciated, as well.

I know we lost a number of our workers by the time we got around to taking the group photo–but it’s still an impressive group.  We will post more photos on the Web site this coming week.  Our numbers included serving 760 guests for the breakfast.  My best guess is that we took nearly 2000 photos (including candids and 2-4 photos per family– depending on their situation).  We were also about 8-10 goodie bags short for our last few Santa seekers.  I will share some photos and other updates at our meeting on Tuesday.

Thank you to those who scooted over to Perkins Stadium to take tickets for the Warhawks’ football playoff game.  It was disappointing for the Warhawks to not come out on top again, but we are grateful for a successful season.  It was a fun run for our Hawks in 2016!

Please note these additional tidbits:

1)  Dues were due by December 1.  Some members still need to pay for the quarter or year.  Our Club’s budget is counting on folks to pay soon in order to balance our budget and to carry out the many activities for youth in our community.  Please connect with Kate or Ken for paying dues–and THANK YOU!  We will review our progress at our next Board meeting.

2)  Caroling at Fairhaven is scheduled for Friday, December 9.  Please email Kim if you are planning to be a part of spreading holiday cheer.  We will meet in the lobby of Fairhave at 4:15pm to begin warming up our voices!  We will be done caroling by 6:00pm.

3)  “Gifts with a meaning” and the mitten tree will take place at our noon meeting on December 13.  You are encouraged to bring hats, mittens, gloves, scarves, children’s underwear or socks for the mitten tree presentation.  You are also invited to bring a gift that represents you–your interests or hobbies (e.g. music, sports, playing games, books, gardening, animals, etc.).  Participating members will guess who brought which gift.  We then bag up the gifts and they will be contributed to the toy wrapping activity for the Whitewater Food Pantry on December 19.

4)  Our next Executive Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 14 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm at Second Salem.  Board members, please let us know if you can not attend this meeting.

5)  Our last meeting of the semester will be December 20​.  Our next meeting (in the New Year) will be Tuesday, January 3 at noon in UC 69.  There will not be a catered meal for this meeting.

That’s it for now.  Hope to see many of you this week!

Just Keep Smiling,

Kim and Angie 🙂

Hello Optimists,

We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving weekend.

Please note the following 10 important notes regarding our Club and activities.

1)  Thank you to our ticket takers yesterday.  Thanks to Dick Winz who was staffing the visitor gate (and didn’t make the photo).  While it was still cool and breezy, it was a step up from the previous week.  And, of course, it was a great win for the Warhawks!  

2)  Tuesday, Nov. 29 we will stuff goodie bags for Breakfast with Santa (BWS) at 12:00pm in UC 259A.  Also, our interns will be giving a brief presentation about their highlights from the semester.

3)  Please consult the BWS list that Lanora is coordinating.  Together, let’s make sure all of the slots are filled.  Email reminders will go out  this week from Lanora.  We are grateful that James Lanouette will be serving as Santa at BWS.

4)  The Student Optimists and Frosty will be in the parade on Friday to help promote BWS.  Many flyers and candy will be distributed.

5)  Decorating at Esker for BWS will take place this Friday.  Thank you to Kate, Duane, Jan, and Wes for getting things started at 11:30am.  Many hands make light work.  If you can show up for even an hour to help decorate on Friday, that would be helpful.

6)  BWS will run from 8:00am – 11:00am on Dec. 3.  Workers should note the necessary time times for various positions.  I have sent out several press releases to local newspapers.  The story about the event is on the Whitewater Banner, dated Nov. 25.

7  Frank will be following up with folks about ticket taking for the Warhawk’s next playoff game–which will be on Saturday at 12:00pm.    A few ticket takers will be needed by 10:00am.

8)  Dues are due by December 1.  Several members still need to pay for the quarter or year.  Our Club’s budget is counting on folks to pay dues on time in order for us to balance our budget and to carry out the many activities for youth in our community.  Please connect with Kate or Ken for paying dues–and THANK YOU!

9)  “Gifts with a meaning” and the mitten tree will take place at our noon meeting on December 13.  For new members, this meeting is a fun way for members to learn more about each other.  You are encouraged to bring a gift that represents you–your interests or hobbies (music, sports, playing games, books, gardening, animals, etc.).  Participating members guess who brought in which gift.  We then bag up the gifts and they are contributed to the toy wrapping activity for the Whitewater Food Pantry on December 19.

10)  Our next Executive Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 14 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm at Second Salem.  Board members, please let us know if you can not attend this meeting.

That’s it for now.  Hope to see many of you this week!

Just Keep Smiling,

Kim and Angie 🙂

Optimist Club ticket takers at UW-W football playoff game, November 26, 2016

Greetings, Optimists,

Our Warhawks pulled out a nail-biting win on Saturday, which brings us one step closer to hosting the post-season playoff games.  Frank sent out an updated ticket-taking schedule last week.  Please check your calendars to see where you might be able to help out in the coming weeks.

We do not have a club meeting this week.  The board will meet on Monday is UC 262 at noon.  An agenda will be sent yet today.  Our 2016-17 Club budget has been approved by the board, as well as the Club members (finalized on Nov. 1).

Our next club meeting will be our Youth Appreciation Luncheon on November 15 from 12pm-1pm in UC 259 A & B.  We hope you can join us to support the councils and Optimist groups from the five schools within the Whitewater Unified School District.  They will each give a short presentation at our luncheon.

Please also follow up with Therese if you are able to assist with chaperoning the movie (Nov. 12, 10:30am – 12:30pm) or with bowling (Nov. 16, 4:00pm – 6pm) during Youth Appreciation Week.

If anyone knows of any businesses we can approach for serving as sponsors for Trivia Night, please contact Kim.  A few of our regular sponsors have pulled out for the 2017 event.  We could use some good leads!  Thanks.

Lanora has sent out the Breakfast with Santa sign up sheet.  Please consult the various tasks and how they might match with your schedule.

Our most up-to-date version of the Optimist calendar is attached here: new_optimistclubcalendar_updated_2016-17 Please refer to this version of the calendar going forward for club meetings and locations. This version also includes which club meetings are catered so that we can plan to keep up great attendance for the catered meals.

That’s it for this week.  In this time of transition for our government, please help to keep Optimism going strong.

Thank you,

Kim and Angie 🙂

Greetings, Optimists,

Here are a few updates for this week:

1)  Our noon meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 1 will feature guest speaker Matt Amundson.  Back by popular demand, this will  be our first of ongoing catered meetings (on Tuesdays).  Just as a reminder, we need to strive to have 15 members in attendance and paying the $7.00 for lunch in order to cover our costs.  Also, please note that we will be voting on our Club budget on Tuesday.  This was emailed last week.

2) Our Warhawk Football team is on a great run.  Frank will be emailing regarding post season ticket taking sometime soon.

3)  Thank you to those who were able to attend the Halloween Fellowship Party last Tuesday.  We were happy to present a $400 check to Mariann Scott from the Whitewater Food Pantry.  The money presented was from the remaining Trivia Night (2016) proceeds.

4)  Please note that Ken and Kate have sent out dues letter–indicating that all dues are due by Dec. 1.

5)  Our next board meeting will by on Monday, Nov. 7 at noon in UC 262.  We will not have a club meeting on Nov. 8.

6)  Kate has encouraged me to share that a student organization (C.H.I.P.​–Communicating Health In Practice) she advises is collecting new or gently used socks for a local shelter.  If you are interested in donating socks, please contact Kate or bring them to the Youth Appreciation Luncheon on Nov. 15 in UC 259A&B.  Also, please let Dave know if you are able to help chaperone the movie on Nov. 12 at 11am or let Therese know if you can assist with the bowling event on Nov. 16 from 4 – 6pm.

7)  Keep an eye out for the Breakfast with Santa sign up list.  Lanora will be organizing the list and emailing folks to sign up in the near future.  We will decorate on Dec. 2, and the event  will be held on Dec. 3.  Last week, I was able to reserve Esker Hall (and the Whitewater Room) for the Breakfast.

8)  We are celebrating a great first month of the new Optimist year as we have added six new members to our club.  We encourage you to keep inviting guests to our meetings and programs.

That’s it for this week.  Happy Halloween–and “just keep smiling!”

Thanks,

Kim and Angie 🙂

​​“Just Keep Smiling” Optimists!

 Greetings to All,

 Tuesday, October 18 there is a Noon meeting in UC 259A.  Our speaker is Angela Meldonian.  She will be talking about new features in UW-W Dining Services, including the new Food Truck coming to campus.   This is a catered lunch where we will be honoring youths of the month.

 The Student Optimists are preparing for Homecoming next Saturday, October 22.  They are in need of a vehicle and driver to pull their float.  If you are able to assist, please email Kim at adamsk@uww.edu or call at 608.201.2151.

 Tuesday, October 25 from 5:30pm – 8:00pm, Kim and Angie will be hosting a “Spooktacular Halloween Potluck Dinner.”  We are planning to provide the main entrée and beverages.  Please plan on bringing a dish to pass.  Please RSVP by October 22.  (Details are on the attached flyer.)

 Attention Optimist Board Members – Mark Your Calendars: We have a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 19, 5pm-6pm at Jessica’s Restaurant.  As always, we have a full agenda and your voice and support are needed for the conversation.

 Final details for Youth Appreciation Week will follow soon in an email.

 Finally, keep your eyes and ears open for Football Playoff ticket-taking information.  We are hopeful that we will be needed at the gates for post-season play!

 As Coach Kevin Bullis said–thanks for being Optimists in Action!

Enjoy your Week,

 Kim and Angie 🙂

Greetings, Optimists,

This will be a short note this week. We are writing from beautiful Door County.

We do not have a general member meeting or a board meeting this week. On Tuesday, Oct. 18, our general member meeting will be a catered meal and will feature Youths of the Month as well as guest speaker Angela Meldonian on some new features through Dining Services (including a new Food Truck on campus).

Next Wednesday, October 19 will be our next board meeting at Jessica’s starting at 5pm.

Thank you to Dave for researching some new options for Youth Appreciation Week. More info will be sent out soon.

That’s it for now. Have a great week!

Angie and Kim 😃