UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Greetings Everyone,

After being very busy two weeks ago and out of state for a conference last week, I’m back and ready to get caught up on most/all things Optimist.

• A “shout-out” to club member Jim McLernon!!! Jim organized a “Super Bowl Squares” event for “The Big Game” this past February 1 and was able to make a $100 donation to the club at our Tuesday, February 3 meeting.
• Tuesday, February 17 (tomorrow) we’ll meet at 12 Noon in UC 259A for our Youth of the Month meeting. Lunch will be catered and cost is $7.00 each.
• Our speaker for tomorrow, February 17, will be Jan Bilgen, Associate Director, UW-W Career and Leadership Development. Jan will be speaking about the value of joining student organizations, how to find out about student organizations, general categories of student organizations at UWW, and (if time permits) basic overview of career development and those related services from C&LD.
• Friday, February 20 is the second annual Trivia Night. We presently have 23 paid teams for the evening with the possibility of one more team. Helpers are still needed for setup and cleanup on the 20^th. The team putting this together has been outstanding! Further updates will be provided at our Tuesday meeting.
• Speaker for upcoming meetings are:
  • Wednesday, February 25 – no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, March 3, UW-W photographer Craig Schreiner
  • Tuesday, March 17, UW-W Provost, Dr. Beverly Kopper
  • Tuesday, March 31, Tom Grosinske, Washington Elementary School Principal and new Whitewater High School football coach
  • Tuesday, April 7, Kat Shanahan, UC Promotions Coordinator
  • Tuesday, April 21, Deb Weberpal, Senior Coordinator for the Seniors in the Park program in Whitewater.
  • Wednesday, April 29, – no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, May 5, –  no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, May 19, Tami McCullough, UW-W Campus Facilities Planner.
  • Wednesday, May 27, – no speaker yet

• Other dates coming up for club events include:
  • Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, April 4 at the Whitewater Middle School, pending approval from the school district.
  • City-Wide Rummage Sale, Saturday, May 16. (The one and only planning meeting will be Thursday, February 19.)
  • Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration, July 2-4, 2015 (based on calendar but still to be confirmed)
  • Jefferson County Fair ticket selling, Wednesday, July 8.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Greetings Everyone,

Ok, who’s sad we’re not getting the 1.5 – 2+ feet of snow forecast for the east coast tomorrow? Think of the snowmen we could build, and the sledding!!

This week our meeting will be Wednesday evening, 5pm, January 28 at Jessica’s Restaurant. I plan on having the induction ceremony for one or two of our new members. I’ve also asked them to briefly “introduce” themselves and mention why they joined our club and where/how they will be able to helps us.

I would appreciate any help lining up speakers for our February 3, 17 & 25 meetings. I have a list of ideas for consideration along with any ideas you may have for speakers/topics. Your help in making one or two phone calls to secure speakers will be greatly appreciated by all.

Jan Olson has received initial information regarding Relay for Life. However, she is unable to chair that event this year. Who would be willing to lead the club in participating in the event this year? Contact Jan or me if interested and we can pass the information. The Relay will be Saturday, June 27, 2015, from 3 p.m. – midnight at the Whitewater High School track.

Lanora Heim has sent me the updated Trivia Night information form and registration form. I’ve updated the web site with the new documents. She also reported she put a challenge out to the each building in the Whitewater School District to enter a team into the trivia contest. The high school and LINCS already sent back registration forms with teams. She also reported that the high school is working on a second team and that there are people trying to put together teams at the other buildings. Thanks Lanora!!

That’s all for the moment. Hope to see many of you Wednesday evening.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Warm Greetings, Optimists,

How ‘bout those Packers!? Any club members attend the game? Any stories to share if you attended?

• 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. Your help in making one or two phone calls to secure speakers will be greatly appreciated by all.
• Please note the information I sent out last week regarding Trivia Night on Feb. 20. Please help spread the word about the event, and to feel free to form a team.
  • Also, we are still looking for more helpers from 6:30pm – 10:00pm that evening. Please let me know if you are able to help out for even a portion of the evening.
  • A reminder also that I would appreciate any assistance to line up speakers for our January and February

That’s all for now.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

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

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

Greetings Optimists,

Thank you to Kim Adams for her leadership of our club in 2013-14. And thank you to all of you for your commitment to our club, as well as to the ways in which you help serve our youth and our community.

Tomorrow is our first meeting of the new Optimist year but I guess technically it’s already week 2 of the new year.

Here is this week’s note:

Oct. 7, 12:00pm— UC 259A (our usual meeting place on campus) This will be a “Bring Your On Lunch” (BYOL) meeting. Guest speakers will be Eric Runez and Nathan Jaeger from the Whitewater Unified School District speaking about State of the Whitewater Unified School District and the upcoming referendum.

Oct. 14 — No club meeting but the first Board Meeting will be held. Time and location to be determined.

Oct. 21, 12:00pm – UC 259A. Youth of the Month with guest speaker. Lunch will be provided by UWW Catering. Lunch cost is $7.00 per member attending.

Who can help me line up speakers for our club meetings? I already have a list of possible topics but could use the help of one or two people to share phone calling and scheduling of speakers.

See many of you tomorrow!

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Club web site: http://blogs.uww.edu/uwwcommunityoptimist/

Optimist International web site: http://www.optimist.org/

Southern Wisconsinn District web site: http://www.swisdistrict.org/

UW-W Student Optimist Club: http://uwwstudentoptimist.blogspot.com/p/uw-w-student-optimist-club.html

Happy Monday Optimists,

It’s hard to believe that we are at week 40 for our Optimist year!

Another terrific fund raising project took place this past Wednesday–and we had picture perfect weather.  Thank you to Don and Lou Zahn for coordinating our workers–and to all of our helping hands (Optimists, family members, and one UC student volunteer–Elaina) for the Jefferson County Fair!  We’ll look forward to learning how much we raised.

We had a board meeting this past Tuesday.  Here are a few highlights:

*  Our slate of officers is almost complete.  Thank you to those who have agreed to serve–including Dave Halbach as president.  The rest of the slate will be announced soon as we are waiting to hear back from a few individuals.

*  We are recommending to try two meetings per month next year–one noon meeting and one evening meeting.  More discussion will follow at a club meeting.

* We need to review the planning and budgets for larger projects for next year, such as Breakfast with Santa and Trivia Night.  The goal is to ensure we continue to serve needs, have successful projects, allocate appropriate funding, and/or raise budgeted monies.

* Jeanine will facilitate a discussion at the club meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 12 to address various topics like the ones above, as well as how we implement Youth of the Month in the future.  We invite you to attend the noon meeting in UC 259A.  Discussion about a less expensive approach for our installation banquet will also take place.

This week’s meeting will be at noon in UC 259A and will feature Steve Bertagnolli as our guest speaker.  Steve will share an informative presentation about many of the grounds projects on campus that he and his team oversee.

Next Sunday, July 20 from 12pm-6pm at Kim and Angie’s House will be our second paver painting party.  We have some orders to complete from Relay for Life. Please email me to let me know if you would like to participate. Even if you don’t think you are very creative, you are welcome to participate–to share ideas (and to partner up with someone).  We are confident you will have fun.

Finally, this is a reminder that we will have our summer picnic–also at Kim and Angie’s house on Tuesday, July 29 from 5:30pm-8:30pm. Please R.S.V.P. to let me know if you can attend and what you will contribute to the potluck.  We will provide the meat and beverages.  We look forward to having some good fellowship time with you.  The pool and hot tub will be open, and several backyard games will be available.  For those who don’t want to be outside, we  will have some tables with board games set up inside.  Please note that Angie is very hard to beat in “Bananagrams!”  We hope you are able to join in the fun!

Have a good week!

Kim 🙂