The Weekly Bulletin

November 28, 2016

Call to order: 12:08

Invocation: Mary Dewey

Pledge: Jessica Kempf

Introduction of Guests: None   

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Jack Cruise has his 53^rd anniversary

Ed Harre had his 13^th Anniversary

Mystery Person

Harold Rowe gave the gift card to C.O. Scheffer for all his work on the Christmas trees and for the excellent job of training cashiers.

Greeter

C.O. Scheffer recapped his week: He had Thanksgiving with his wife and family including his parents.

He brought his father to help out on the tree lot and he brought his two sons aged 3 and 7 to a rare winning Mizzou football game on Friday.

Announcements:

• Koeze Nuts – Steve Winters: Koeze nut sales to date total $94,000 vs $107,000 last year/ There is $1,000 of nuts at the clubhouse and together with the last order (which goes in Tuesday, 11-29) sales for the year should total $96,000.
• Christmas Trees – C.O. Scheffer reported opening week end tree sales totaled $22,000 vs $24,000 last year. But, he noted last year’s opening week end went into December. We still have time to catch up. Also, as of Sunday, there were only 5 of the big trees remaining.
• Holiday lunch set for December 19 at 11:30 – 1:00 at the clubhouse: Larry Fick reported e has 32 signed up from those present at the luncheon meeting. He will contact others who have missed the last two meetings.
• Past members list: President ED circulated a printed copy of the list asking members to review it for any former members who might be interested in rejoining. Members who prefer not to make the contact should pass names to Larry Fick who will keep a list of those we choose to contact so. Larry or Ed will contact designated former members that you don’t want to personally contact.
• Club Annual Dues were to be paid October 1. There are still some outstanding dues. Members who are delinquent are encouraged to send in the payment ASAP.
• Kids First celebration – Dec 14 – Members are encouraged to attend this event at the Sunrise Optimist Clubhouse at 6:00. Diner is only $10:00 per person. Ed Musterman and wife, Sue have signed up.

Today’s Speaker

November 28 – Jessica Kempf gave a presentation on the updated website. She explained the many features of the new website which should help in marketing our programs, create a user friendly way for people to contact appropriate programs or committee chairs, assist members and interested people with an interactive calendar, and attract potential new members to the club.

The website address is: downtownoptimistclub.org The new website will no longer be hosted by Socket

In addition Jessica added an email address for anyone interested in contacting the club and for members to request use of the clubhouse or to post calendar events. She will monitor the email and forward it to the appropriate officer or chair. This will help coordinate frequent changes and additions to the website. The email contact address is: downtownoptimist80@gmail.com

Some of the feature of the new website include: sign-up for the Christmas tree lot, the hours for tree sales, a Donate button for anyone wanting to support our club’s work through donations and the weekly bulletins.

The website is organized under TABs: About Our Club, Fundraising, Funding Requests, and Weekly Meetings. In addition, the website will link to our Facebook page. Members on Facebook are encouraged to go to our page and “like it” and spread the word to friends and family. This along with updates and other activity will help optimize the new website for higher visibility on google searches. Facebook is a great source of free advertising and club members are encourage to use it for posting of club events and to share postings with friends.

For New Member recruitment the club is planning a Happy Hour from 4-7 pm at Laser Lanes. Jessica suggested we target employers who have a significant number of employees in their mid-20 to 35 or 40.

An example of such a company is Veterans United. Events can be ongoing on the first Thursday of each month with a focus for anyone interested in one of our upcoming programs. Mary Dewey suggested promoting the May Bike Safety event at the February meeting. The first Thursday meeting could become a separate subgroup of the Downtown Optimist like EPIC (Emerging Professional in Columbia) is for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

Many thanks to Jessica for the work well done and for taking the time to highlight the features and benefits of this updated tool.

Meeting adjourned with the Creed at 1:00

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

December 5 – Major Jack Holloway, Salvation Army

December 12 – Tom Darrough, Boone County Treasurer

December 19 – Christmas at the Club House with the Ridgeway Elementary School Choir 11:30 – 1:00

December 26 – No Meeting

January 2 – No Meeting

January 9 – Member Spotlight – Mary Dewey

 

Adjourn with the Creed: slightly after 1:00

Optimistically Yours,

Sid Sullivan