UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Happy SUMMER, Optimists!  Since Kim is out of state, Dave and I have agreed to take turns with the weekly newsletter.  I’m happy to share some great news!

As Kim mentioned last week that we Optimists have lots to celebrate;

Most of our major fundraisers for the summer are DONE!  We had good member turnout for those projects like the Gyros Stand and the Jefferson County Fair as well as some fun at the Relay for Life, the paver painting parties and our summer social.  Sure seems like there is always SOMETHING happening with our club and members!

Now for some really exciting news:

1) We are pleased to announce that Lenora Heim, the Special Ed/Pupil Services Coordinator for Whitewater’s School District and one of the creators of the Family Emergency Fund that our club supports, has reactivated her membership in our club!  Welcome back, Lenora and we’re so glad to have you with us!

2) Along with Lenora, Joe Lynch, a member of our club since March of last year, and Whitewater H.S. Vice-Principal, will be helping us to plan a Welcome Back Pep Rally for the Whitewater Unified School District faculty and staff.  We will be presenting a brief program to those attending (250 will be invited) to illustrate the partnerships we as an organization have with the District and actively recruit new members from the District.  Our Advertising Intern, Kelly, will be assisting me with some of the details in using an E-Vite and hopefully we will see many new faces in our ranks by the end of Sept.  The event will be announced as soon as final details are arranged but we are counting on several of our members as well as School district Administrative staff to help with a picnic themed event.  Anyone of our members who would like to help should contact me at your earliest convenience.

3)  It is a pleasure to announce the slate of candidates for the 2014-2015

UW-W/Community Optimist Club for the Executive Board;

The following members have agreed to serve in the following positions:

President – Dave Halbach

Co – Vice Presidents – Jim and Carol Miller (Jim will forgo attendance at Board Meetings but will step up to handle meetings in Dave’s absence)

Secretary – Jan Olson

Co-Treasurers – Kate and Ken Ksobiech (Yeah, for our first year members!)

Board Members – Barb Dickens will complete the second year of her term, while Jeanine Fassl and Denise Kaminski will begin serving the first year of their two year terms.  (Thanks to Al Hutchison and Anne Fellows for their service these past two years on the board!)

Past President  –  Kim Adams

There is still no one who has come forward to serve as President Elect, but we still have time to add that name….HINT, HINT!!!  Also, anyone who is interested is serving in any of the above office still has time to put their name on the ballot!  REALLY, we can have an “election” .

4) Lastly, in light of the Annual Installation Banquet we have every year, we are in need of several members to form the planning committee for that event scheduled for Sept. 30, at a place to be announced later.  Please contact Kim, Dave or me if you are interested in helping with that event.

Let’s all keep our travelers to Burkina Faso and Yellowstone in our thoughts and prayers for safe travels and returns.

Don’t forget, we have only one meeting scheduled for August due to the return of students and staff at the end of August.  Please make every attempt to attend our meeting on Aug. 12 from noon to 1 pm in UC 259A.   We will begin looking to next year’s planning so please be part of the conversation at this meeting.

This is going to be a great year for Optimism!

Jeanine Fassl

UWW/Community Optimist Club

Vice-President

Emeriti Faculty

262-473-4906

Optimists,

This will be a short note.

We do not have a meeting this week (July 22), but we do hope to see many of you at the summer picnic that Angie and I will be hosting on Tuesday, July 29 from 5-8 pm.  We will provide the meat and beverages, and we ask those attending to bring a dish to pass.

Thank you to those who have signed up so far.  If your name didn’t make it to the sign up list, please R.S.V.P. to me via email so that we know how to plan.

Thank you to the group who helped to paint the pavers for the orders we took through the “Relay for Life” event.  We had nine orders to fill and we collected another $105 to contribute to the American Cancer Society on behalf of our team.  I attached a few photos from our painting party!

Hope to see many of you next Tuesday!

Enjoy your week,

Kim 🙂

Greetings Optimists,

I send a great big Thank you to all who helped with the 4th of July Gyro Stand.  I have learned that $5,800 was taken in on gyro sales over the three days of the festivities.  This is a fantastic number given that the fair was one less day this year.  Kelly has already posted pictures and info on Facebook.  Barb also wanted me to inform the group that  there are four tubs of the gyro sauce for sale to any interested members.  Please contact Duane or Barb if you would like to purchase one.  Thanks, too, to those who were promoting our club at the event.  I understand from Brenda O’Beirne that there were two interested individuals.  I have already sent a follow-up email to them.

This Wednesday (July 9) is the Jefferson County Fair.  I know that Lou has emailed the schedule to all workers.  I am requesting that you check and re-check your availability to assist with any additional hours.  We are very short on help for the 10am-2pm and 2pm-6pm shifts.  Please consider asking family members, friends, and/or colleagues if to help out–even if it is for two hours at a time.  I have several “asks” out there, and will follow up with Don and Lou tomorrow. 

Our next board meeting is tomorrow (July 8) at 5:30pm at Jessica’s.  If you haven’t responded to me yet, please email me to indicate your attendance.  A review of finances, slate of officers for 2014-15, membership recruitment/letter to new teachers, and planning our trivia night for next year will be among our agenda items.

July 15 at 12 noon will be our next on-campus Optimist meeting in UC 259A.  Our guest speaker will be Steve Bertagnolli who will discuss our campus grounds–current and future projects.

We will have another paver painting gathering on Sunday, July 20 from 12pm-6pm at Kim and Angie’s House.  We have some orders to complete from Relay for Life.  Please email me to let me know if you would like to participate. We had a great time at our first session.  It’s a fun fellowship activity for sure!

Thanks–and enjoy your week!

Kim 🙂

Happy 4th of July Week, Optimists!

We have a lot happening these few weeks.  Here are the highlights:

June 28 –thank you to Jan and Kate for chairing our Relay for Life Team.  Thanks, too, for our other Optimists who supported our team by walking and staffing our site.  Don and Lou, Hans and Carla, Carla’s daughter and son, Angie, Kate’s daughters Shelli and Laura, Jim Mc. and I were all involved at different times.  Our intern Kelly also helped to set up our site–which included hauling all of the pavers.  I learned from Jan that our team came in third place with the fund raising, bringing in a total of $3,098!  Way to go team.

This Tuesday (July 1), we will have a meeting to set up and clean the gyro stand at Cravath Lake.  We will also have an informal social meeting and will order food the the crew.  Duane will send out an updated work schedule for the 4th of July festivities this week.  Duane–could you please confirm what time you would like folks to show up?  THANKS!

On Wednesday, July 9, we will be staffing the Jefferson County Fair (for “Kids’ Day).  PLEASE check your calendars to see if you can volunteer for even a few hours.  There are still many open slots and we can’t put all of the pressure on the Zahn family to staff the entire event.  I have reattached the sign up sheet for the fair.

Kelly is doing a great job sending out updates on club activities via Facebook.  She just sent out another update.  Feel free to check it out!

Our next board meeting is Tuesday, July 8 at 5:30pm at Jessica’s.  If you haven’t responded to me yet, please email me to indicate your attendance.

July 15 at 12 noon will be our next on-campus Optimist meeting in UC 259A.  Our guest speaker will be Steve Bertagnolli who will discuss our campus grounds–current and future projects.

We will have another paver painting gathering on Sunday, July 20 from 12pm-6pm at Kim and Angie’s House.  We have some orders to complete from Relay for Life yesterday.  Please email me to let me know if you would like to participate. We had a great time last Sunday.  It’s a fun fellowship activity.

Thank you–and Happy 4th!

Kim 🙂

Happy first full day of summer!

We had a great day June 22 painting pavers for Relay for Life—which is scheduled for this Saturday, June 28 at Whitewater High School. Thank you to Angie for organizing the paver party. Special thanks to all of our creative participants: Angie, Kate and her daughter Shelli, Jan, our friend Edie, Angie’s sister Monica and her daughter Anna, our intern Kelly and her sister Bridget. I enjoyed being part of the process, as well. I have attached a few photos. Kelly will be putting some of the photos from our activity on Facebook within the next few days. I have shared 46 photos in Dropbox.

Please remember that we have an evening meeting June 24 at 5:30pm at the Lakefront Pub. This is also the banker’s night for Relay for Life. Jan or Kate will be stopping by our club meeting for a short time to collect any final donations for Relay for Life, and then they will head off to turning in our money.

The gyro stand and Jefferson County Fair are also just around the corner. Thank you to the coordinators of these important fund raising activities for our club and to all of our hard working participants!

Board members, please respond to the note I sent out on Friday regarding our upcoming board meeting on July 8 at 5:30pm at Jessica’s. Thank you to Jeanine and Angie for putting together our slate of officers for 2014-15.

See many of you soon.

In Optimism,

Kim 🙂

Here are some of thephotos from the paver painting party we had on Sunday!

Pavers are the bricks that people use to pave paths in their yards. We painted these to sell at Relay For Life; all of the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society. The pavers will be $20 a piece but extra donations are welcome. They would look beautiful in a garden! If you’re interested in purchasing one, send an email (with the paver you’d like) to either Jan Olson at olsonj@uww.edu or Kate Ksobiech at ksobieck@uww.edu. Thank you to all of the volunteers that helped paint pavers yesterday.
If you’d like to donate to our team you can visit http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=60365 and press Donate.
Thanks!
Optimists, we hope to see you at Relay For Life this Saturday from 3pm-Midnight!