Call to order: Ed Musterman, President at 1:08
Invocation: Sid Sullivan
Pledge: Jim Murphy

Introduction of Guests
None

Birthdays and Anniversaries
Larry Fick celebrates his 54th wedding anniversary with his wife, Paulette, on Thursday
Charlie Langreder celebrates many loving years with his wife, Bonnie, on Friday.

Mystery Person – John Sapp awarded this week’s gift certificate to Max Miller for all the unsung work he does for the club and for driving a Soap Box retrieval truck despite forgetting his hat.

Greeter – Carl Scott talked of the work done by our club. He referred the last couple of weeks to our own Trifecta: Art-in-the-Park a week ago Saturday and Sunday, Bike Safety last Thursday and the Soap Box Derby this past Sunday. Also, this past week there were two events: an East District of MO meeting and the Junior Golf Tournament. Additionally while Carl was presenting the scholarship award at Battle H.S., the student mentioned an A-Plus program other optimist Clubs in town are sponsoring at the other high schools. Carl will research this as a possibility for our club to sponsor an A-Plus program at Battle H.S. He will present his finding to the Board.

Announcements
• Sign In and badge or Pay the Pig This was a big day for the pig: In addition to Carl’s desire to support childhood cancer by willfully forgetting to wear his badge, Rick McKernan left his in his car. And, Ed paid big because he inadvertently wrote Bonnie Langreder was married to Harold Langreder. It didn’t bother Bonnie much but husband Charlie Langreder was highly agitated and looking for Harold.
• June 20th at 6:30 the city of City of Columbia is hosting a dinner and recognition ceremony for Volunteer Appreciation. Hotdogs and brats will be served at Waco Park, 3350 Waco Road. Carl Scott is one of those being recognized for volunteer work. Carl is invited to bring up to 5 people with him for the event and since Carl performed his servicing in the name of the Downtown Optimist we should have some members join him as his service is recognized. You need to let Carl know by June 16th, this Friday so he can inform the city of how many are attending with him.
• Carl Scott noted the City Manager recently commended Justin Anthony & Andria Heese of the Columbia Community Police for their work with Columbia Youth Basketball. He also mentioned this was made possible by a grant from the Downtown Optimists Club.
• July 13th is the date set for a social at the clubhouse for members, invited guests and new recruits. Picnic atmosphere, Charge is $10 per head. (As usual, kids eat free.)
• New Member recruitment event – (C.O. Mike Hatchet, Jessica and Travis Kempf) – Will be part of the July 13th social.
• Soap Box Derby – (Rick, Chuck) Rick reported this 12 hour marathon (to complete all the races before Broadway had to reopen) event came off well. Volunteers started moving derby cars from the clubhouse to Broadway before 6:00 am. All the Derby cars were lined up on both sides of Broadway east of Seventh Street. Starting ramps were set up. Cones marked to course. Traffic cones and hay bales were positioned at the bottom of the hill as a fail-safe to stop Derbies from entering vehicular traffic at the race terminus. Local news reporters awaited the early drivers at the finish line. Spectators anxiously awaited the start-in their pop-up 10 x 10’s along the sideline of the race course and the retrieval trucks awaited their drivers. The Derby competition continued into the hot sunny afternoon with minimal mishaps (thanks to Rick’s careful planning and management of the day.) Rick thanked all the volunteers: the Optimists for their help driving the retrieval trucks, Nissan Motors for the loan of four 2017 trucks, the MU Swim Team that loaded Derbies onto trailers for their return up the hill, the Old Wheels club that manned the barricades for the truck passage and trove of other volunteers, many from the Soap Box Derby Club that unload derby cars, changed wheels between heats, while others worked in a make shift repair shop and spare parts trailer.

Rick mentioned Kansas City had to send its Master Drivers to Columbia because they couldn’t produce their own race. Special thanks to member, Don Provost with the Civil Air Patrol, who sponsor the CAP Derby car (and thanks to member Keith Snyder who matched the paint job on the CAP plane). Also, new member Tony Parisio, showed up at 6:00 am to give his enthusiastic support. Rick asked for and got volunteers to return the trucks to Nissan. Special Kudos for the work Rick has done over the past 10 plus year to upgrade this event to what it is today.
• Food Bank – (Larry Fick, Jim Murphy, Carl Scott) Larry and Jim both said they could use more help. Last week they packaged chicken breasts and chicken fingers. (No hotdogs packaging in sight.)
• Bike Safety, June 8th – Mary Dewey reported the turnout was light but there were enough kids and volunteers to make the event worthwhile.
• Show Me Games volunteers needed – Jake Jolley circulated sign-up sheet for the two dates, June 23 and 30 and collected volunteer waivers from members
• Board Meeting this Thursday with 2 grant requests: Junior Achievement and Friends of Rock Bridge Park’s Urban Population Outreach Program (UPOP).
• 99th Optimist International Meeting will be held in Albuquerque, July 6-8.

Today’s Speaker: Ashlee Smith, Director of Development, Ronald McDonald House
Ashlee Smith has lived in Columbia for the past 11 years. She attended MU and is pleased to be the Development Director at the Ronald McDonald House. She explained the first Ronald McDonald house was established in Philadelphia in 1974. The original 9-bed RMH in Columbia opened in 1983 (with community support and a $10,000 grant from the DOC). The new RMH with 13 private rooms and 32 beds opened in October ’13. It’s a place where families can stay and be close to their hospitalized child.

The Ronald McDonald House (RMH) provides temporary residence close to Women’s and Children’s Hospital for families in need of housing support while their child recovers in the hospital. Admission to RMH is opened to any family outside of Boone County with a hospitalized child 21 years old or younger. The referral is made by one of the hospital social workers and is subject to a background check for the safety of all the families. The average stay is 10 days but families have stayed as long as 121 nights. Rooms provide privacy but the living conditions are communal with a common dining room, kitchen and laundry. One hot meal is prepared by volunteers each day and health snacks are available. Toiletries and in some cases clothing is provided to the guests. Volunteer help and donations help keep cost down. Families are not charged but can give a donation but some families can’t afford that. The house serves predominately central Missouri families but several families have come from out of state and one family came from another country.

Ashlee presented a number of statistics related to the services provided. For example, 1,850 people (434 families) for a total of 5,374 nights were served in 2016. While the annual operating cost for the RMH reported in a separate grant request is over $800,000, the house couldn’t functions without the 9,200 volunteer hours provident by local residents.

UPCOMING SPEAKERS
June 19 – Natalie Thornton, Site Director, Phoenix Family, Columbia Square & Claudell Homes
June 26 – Kelly Wallis, Director, Boone County Community Services
July 3 – Meeting with no speaker
July 10 – TBD Open for member suggestions
July 17 – Monique White, Pascals Pals
July 24 -Steve Winters, Koeze Nuts
July 31 – TBD
Aug 7 – TBD
Aug 14 – TBD
Aug 21 – TBD
Aug 28 – Steve Winters, Koeze Nuts

Adjourn with the Creed: 1:00
Optimistically Yours,

Sid Sullivan, Secretary