UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Warm Greetings, Optimists,

Hope all of you had a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Holiday Season.

Here are this week’s updates:

• Our meeting tomorrow, January 6^th, will be held in UC 068. This meeting room is on the lower level  of the UC, where we had lunch the day the World Drummers from LINCS performed for us. This will be a “bring your own lunch” meeting.
• Our speaker for January 6^th will be our own Kim Adams speaking about the February 20^th Trivia Night event.
• Board members, we will have a meeting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, January 13 in UC 069. This meeting room is also located in the lower level of the UC. I know a couple of you can’t make it, but hopefully you can still give input outside of the meeting.
• Tuesday, January 20^th will be a Youth of the Month meeting. We’ll meet in our usual location, UC 259A. Lunch will be catered that day, $7 per club member.
• Wednesday, January 28 will be our evening meeting for the month. 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant.
• I would appreciate any help lining up speakers for our January 20 and 28 meetings and the February 3, 17 & 24 meetings. I have a list of ideas for consideration along with any ideas you may have for speakers/topics.

That’s all for the moment.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

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

Greetings Everyone,

I’m confused… the calendar says it’s November but it feels like the middle of January outside!

For football fans in our little part of the world, this past weekend was pretty good, except for the down-to-the-wire comeback of the Warhawks, that was nerve racking!

We had a very nice turnout for last week’s evening meeting with 17 club members attending. Thanks everyone for attending. Our next evening meeting will be Wednesday, December 10 at 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant in downtown Whitewater.

As a follow up to Therese Kennedy’s email from earlier today:

• Ticket takers are still needed for this Saturday’s football playoff game at Perkins Stadium.
• Our club meeting this week is tomorrow, November 18, at 12:00 Noon in the UC. We will be in the lower level of the UC, not our usual meeting room. Join us at rooms 068 & 069. It will be Youth of the Month and our program will be the drummers from LINCS (Lincoln Elementary school) under the direction of Christine Hayes. Lunch cost is $7.

Remember, no meetings the week of November 24.

Denise Kaminski has been coordinating Breakfast with Santa for the last couple of weeks but is now out of commission for around 6 weeks. Many of you have already stepped up to help with tasks for December 6^th  (THANKS!). Additional help is still needed and always appreciated. I’ve attached the signup sheet that Denise sent out last week. If you haven’t already signed up to help, please consider doing so and send the document back to me. WE COULD REALLY USE A “POINT PERSON” FOR SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 6!

Our December 2 noon meeting on campus will include our two club interns speaking about their experience this semester AND we’ll be stuffing goody bags for Breakfast with Santa.

That’s all for the moment!

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

http://blogs.uww.edu/uwwcommunityoptimist/

http://www.optimist.org/

http://www.swisdistrict.org/

http://uwwstudentoptimist.blogspot.com/p/uw-w-student-optimist-club.html

Hi Everyone,

The Board members will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11 at Noon in the University Center, room 260. I’ll provide a recap of the meeting at our Wednesday evening meeting, along with Breakfast with Santa and Trivia Night updates.

A reminder that this week’s meeting will be Wednesday evening, November 12, 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant.

Next week’s Tuesday meeting will be something out of the ordinary. I have moved the lunch for the Optimist Club on November 18 to University Center rooms 068 & 069 in the lower level. That will give us enough space for the drummers from LINCS, the Youth of the Month students, guests, and staff from the WMS (I think it’s WMS, or else WHS), and the expected 12-16 club members. Lunch will begin at 12:00 PM, served from a buffet line in room 069. Guests and members can disperse between the two rooms to eat at the 8 tables shared between the rooms.

At about 12:20 I’ll ask everyone to move to the Summers Auditorium for the program.

1. We’ll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Then I’ll have club related announcements.
3. We’ll introduce the two Youth of the Month and their guests and take a few pictures.
4. About 12:30-12:35 the drummers from LINCS, under the direction of Christine Hayes, will begin.
5. 12:55, wrap up and saying of the Club creed.
6. Dismissal by 1:00pm.

With the Warhawk football team at least earning the automatic NCAA playoff bid, the campus will likely be hosting one or more playoff games. Be on the lookout for ticket taking signup info coming out this week or early next week.

That’s all for now.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Hello Everyone!

What spectacular weather this past weekend! Hope your were able to enjoy time outside.

There is no Tuesday Noon meeting this week BUT we’ll have a social gathering/party at Kim Adams and Angie Alesci’s home, 640 Stonefield Lane, Whitewater, Thursday October 30, 5-8 pm. Please RSVP to either Kim or Angie if you will attend (you can copy their email address from the list of recipients of this email) Please bring a dish to pass. Thanks Kim and Angie for hosting!!

Next week, November 3-7, is Youth Appreciation Week. Earlier today Therese Kennedy sent out a signup list asking for helpers at the various events next week. Please review the signup form and reply directly back to Therese if you can help. If you didn’t receive the email with the signup sheet, contact me directly.

As part of Youth Appreciation Week, and since November 4^th is the first Tuesday of the month, we’ll have our club meeting at 12 Noon in the UC and have lunch with the Whitewater School District student leaders from all 5 schools. The location with be UC 275, Old Main Ballroom on the 2^nd floor. UW-W Catering will be providing lunch, cost is $7.00 per club member attending. Please RSVP Therese Kennedy if you’ll be attending the meeting that day.

Denise Kaminski is working with Carol and Jim Miller and Connie Murray to gather and write the instructions/guidelines for Breakfast with Santa. Yes, it’s time to start thinking and planning for Breakfast with Santa 2014. It’s also time to start recruiting replacements for Carol, Jim, and Connie, our longtime planners of this event. We also need a  replacement for Santa himself!! If you’re interested in assuming the role of Santa please let Denise Kaminski or Jim Miller know.

We also need someone to lead the planning process this year for the annual Gyro Stand that Barb and Duane Dickens have guided for many years.

The next Board meeting will be November 11. If any club members have an item for the Board to discuss please let me know.

A reminder that membership dues are due this month.

At the October board meeting we finalized our evening meeting schedule through September 2015. Evening meetings will be held on Wednesdays at 5:00pm. The format will be social, plus a little business and/or speaker. Jeanine Fassl is checking with Jessica’s Restaurant to see if they could host the meetings and allow individuals to order off the menu if they want.

The dates are:

o             For October 30, Kim and Angie will host a social at their home

o             November 12

o             December 10

o             January 28

o             February 25

o             March 18 or 25 (final decision to be made in January or February)

o             April 29

o             May 27

o             June 24

o             July 29

o             August 19

o             September 29 – banquet

That’s all for now!

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749