The Weekly Bulletin
June 26, 2017
Call to order: at 12:05 by President Musterman
Invocation: by Red Leighton
Pledge: lead by Jack Cruise
Introduction of Guests
None
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Last week Red Leighton celebrated his 68th anniversary to wife, Dorcas, with his daughter in Wichita, KS.
Scott Steger will be another year older on Saturday, July 1. He will be celebrating this birthday in the Italian tradition of bringing sweets to the July 3 meeting for all members in attendance. So bring a cup of coffee up to the lunch room to help Scott celebrate.
Mystery Person; Ed Musterman kept the mystery person for himself to make the gift card award to Mary Dewey for her work chairing last week’s meeting. –
Greeter: Cyrilla Galbreath told her story of events last weekend. She spent the time with her family as her daughter visited with Cyrilla’s grandchildren. She met them at the St. Louis airport and spent the afternoon in St. Charles first marveling as the lush greenery along the riverfront then topped that off with a walk down Main Street admiring all the restored buildings. The following day she put the kids to work in her yard before rewarding them with a meal at Les Bourgeois in Rocheport.
Announcements
- Sign In and badge or Pay the Pig: Dave Murphy supported the Pig for being the sole Murphy at lunch today.
- Club Social July 13th. Picnic atmosphere, guests to be invited, Charge is $10 per head. Volunteers needed for set up, refreshments and clean up.
- City of Columbia Volunteer Appreciation Barbecue – Carl Scott was honored by the City of Columbia for his volunteer work representing the Downtown Optimists Club. The event took place at the Norma Sutherland Smith Park, a brand new 50 acre park on Waco Rd. While there, Carl was asked to identify Optimist volunteers to help with a kids’ activity at the 4th of July festivities at Peace Park. To help out contact either Carl Scott (cscottrun99@gmail.com) or Mary Dewey (mcountryfun@hotmail.com).
- New Member recruitment event – C.O. Mike Hatchet, Jessica, and Travis – Will be part of the July 13th social.
- Food Bank – Larry Fick, Jim Murphy, Carl Scott
- Treasurer – C.O. Scheffer – While finances remain strong, revised financials report that $6,000 for scholarship expense was not recorded in the monthly Treasurers report to the board. Updated reporting shows that actual funded grant requests for the fiscal year to date total $45,000 vs the board approved budget amount of $43,000.
- Family Fun Fest – Lacking volunteers to man the booth at the Summer Fun Fest the club will discontinue its participation.
- Ronald McDonald House – Scott Stager took a tour of the Ronald McDonald House and was so impressed he volunteered to spend an afternoon later this summer baking bread for the house guests. Members are invited to help him and make this a fun event.
- Garden Party – Steve Winters.
You’re invited to another laid back, casual dress, evening social 7th Annual Pot Luck Garden Party Bring your favorite snack or drink to share. Burgers, dogs & all the fixings and drinks (youth and adult formulations) will be on hand. When: Thursday, June 29, 6:00-9:00 PM (or whenever) Where: Reng, Steve and Rebecca Winters 2601 Bluff Creek Drive (573-999-0619)
Today’s Speaker
Kelly Wallis, Director, Boone County Community Services
Kelly came to Columbia from southern California in 2003 to study nursing at University of Missouri. She stayed after graduation because of the friendliness of the locals and the low cost of living. After practicing nursing for a short period of time, she returned to school, this time to study law. Upon receiving her license to practice law she worked on both criminal and civil cases before joining the Dept. of Social Services as a litigator for children’s issues. She helped draft legislation and social policy. When her current position was advertised four years ago, she realized she had a near perfect match of her past experience with the job qualification. The rest is history.
She now administers four social service programs for Boone County. She works with a board of nine directors appointed by the County Commission to administer the $6.5 million Children’s Service Fund. She is also responsible for the $500,000 Community Health Fund, the $30,000 Social Services Fund and the $27,000 Domestic Violence Fund. Because of the statutory limitations of the Children’s Service Fund for children 19 years and younger and their families, the other smaller funds are complimentary providing for a gap in services. For example, the Children’s Services Fund allocates 80% of its funds to children ages 6 – 19 and only 7% to the adult parents/guardians; the Community Health Fund allocates 58% for adults 19 – 59 and 12% for 60 and older, leaving 30% of its fund for youth for items, not covered like transportation under the larger fund.
The citizens’ initiative for the ¼ cent sales tax providing the $6.5 million Children’s Service Fund was spearheaded by a former Downtown Optimist Club president, Christine Corcoran (known to us as Christine White at the time), Director of Lutheran Children and Family Services The monies generated by this new law provides services for unmet needs of youth in all of Boone County. Last year, 30 agencies received grants to provide the following summary of services: 1,213 hour of respite for youth, 240 kids stayed at temporary shelters, 1,890 individuals received counseling/therapy, 2,465 received case management/service coordination, 28,421 individuals were screened/assessed (every child K-12 grades in all schools in Boone County was assessed by the University of Missouri-Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition), and 6,211 hours of chemical dependency and psychiatric treatment was provided. One of the successes indicators is the reduction of children referred by schools to police and the courts. Another is the successful outcomes to problems solved through coordination of multiple agencies. Kelly related a story of a young girl whose parents were both sent to prison on drug related charges. Destined to foster care, the coordinated effort of Family Counseling, CHA and Big Brothers/Big Sisters was successful in a different outcome. With counseling, temporary adult support and public house assistance, the child was able to move in with her grandmother in a residence large enough for the two of them.
Each year service providers respond to a series of Requests for Proposals (RFP’s) developed through a needs assessment process by the Children’s Service Fund Board. Awards are granted for one year with a one year renewable option. The programs results are verified for effectiveness through random audits of source documents.
UPCOMING SPEAKER
July 3 – Meeting with no speaker
July 10 – Junior Achievement
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: 12:58
Optimistically Yours,
Sid Sullivan
Secretary
Downtown Optimist Club 