The Weekly Bulletin

Sept 25, 2017

 

Call to order:  Ed Musterman, President – at 12:05

Invocation: Charlie Langreder

Pledge: C.O. Scheffer

 

Introduction of Guests   

Kelly Schilling, new member and mother of recent Soap Box Derby winner was introduced.

John Weber, Environmental Scientist with US Fish and Wildlife came to check out the Optimist to possibly join the club.

Neil Carr, Downtown Rotary, joined the luncheon group to announce his club’s recent fundraiser.$20.00  Raffle Tickets to win a 2017 BMW 328i/Mercedes Benz GLA 250/Harley Davidson StreetGlide Special winner’s or 50/50 cash split – winner’s choice. Only 3,000 tickets will be issued. Funds are to benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, Welcome Home Veterans, Rainbow House, Voluntary Action Center, Food Bank, Youth Empowerment Zone, Central MO Humane Society, Ronald McDonald House and Local Rotary Service Projects. Drawing will be held Tuesday, Nov 21 at Downtown Rotary Luncheon (Courtyard Marriot on 3301 Lemone Industrial Blvd. 11:30 – 1:00. (Need not be present to win), If you missed Neil and want to get raffle ticket: go to https://tinyurl/y7rvm4jy or http://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaDowntownRotary/

 

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Cyrilla Galbreath celebrated a birthday on August 31.

 

Mystery Person  –  Red Leighton awarded this week’s luncheon ticket to Dave Murphy.

 

Greeter   –  Sid Sullivan greeted more than 25 luncheon guests and explained his absence last week as he attended the musical “Hamilton” in Chicago. Two minutes is insufficient time to describe all the staging, costumes, choreography, musical orchestration and clever dialogue that went into this 2 ½ hour production of 34 musical numbers. Instead he talked of the wonderful musical portrayal of the remarkable immigrant American, Alexander Hamilton, who came to this country from a French speaking Caribbean Island at age 14 to take his “shot’ at the American Dream.  He graduated from Columbia University with a law degree at age 21, joined the Revolution to gain fame in battle only to become Washington’s aide. He handled all Washington’s correspondence and was successful in getting the reluctant Confederation to belatedly pay for the War. Fluent in French he befriended the Marquis d’Lafayette and may have been instrumental in gaining French support for the war. He wrote 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers to convince the country (mainly New Yorkers) to adopt the U. S. Constitution. He was appointed this country’s first Treasury Secretary where he established our banking system, established tariffs and created the coast guard. As an overachiever committed as a federalist, he attracted some influential rivals including Jefferson, Madison and Burr. The uncompromising defense of his civic character ultimately lead to Hamilton’s untimely death. We all know he was killed in a duel with Vice President Raymond Burr. Only in death did Hamilton’s detractors extol his accomplishments.

 

Announcements

• Sign In or Pay the Pig-Carl Scott paid the pig for getting notoriety in the “Columbia Tribune.” Cyrilla Galbreath also paid the pig as her name was mentioned in an article of the “Missourian” announcing a program expansion at the Thompson Center for Autism.
• Food Bank – No comments.
• E MO 1^st Qtr Convention – Moberly, Oct 27 – 28^th – Need attendance.  Location: Comfort Inn, 1801 W. Outer Road, Moberly.  Registration form to be emailed with the Newsletter this week.  Or let Ed or C.O know by Oct 8^th for the early discount.  Program to be “Optimist Strong” training by Bob Schiller, Certified International Trainer.
• Club Social and Installation of Officers. – October. Dave Murphy & Steve Winters are organizing a shrimp feed with “dirty rice” and all the fixings for a Tuesday or Thursday in the last week in October. (TBA)
• Koeze/Gift Certificates – Steve/Jake.  Sell, Sell, Sell.
• Sept Board Meeting – No grant requests. Ratification of votes for new members, Kelly and Evan Schilling, and a $2,999 payment of bill for AC repair.
• Jabberwocky Mural dedication – Optimist Park – 9/24 – Attended by Red Leighton, Carl Scott, Pat Kelly, Sue and Ed Musterman. Columbia Care (City of Columbia’s Youth Grant) and another sponsor paid for the mural.
• Ronald McDonald House – 9/26 – Sasha’s House dedication 11:00 to 11:30

 

 

Today’s Speaker

Liz Bird,  Food Bank for Central and Northeast MO.

Liz Bird has been with the Food Bank for 8 months and recalled her first grateful encounter with the Downtown Optimist securing a grant of $5,000 for the Buddy Pak Program. She introduced her new assistant Crystal Backer, Regional Coordinator for Southern Boone. She mentioned upcoming events “Taste of Tiger” fundraiser on Thursday Oct 5 from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. Tickets are $50.00 per person. Head football coach Barry Odom will officiate. More information is available at: www.scoreagainsthunger.org/  Also Kids Helping Kids event will be held on October 14 at the Central Missouri Food Bank. Kids 4 to 12 are invited to package food for hungry kids. There will be two session: 9:00 – 11:00 for the 4 – 8 year olds and noon – 2:00 pm for the 9 – 12 year olds. Call 73-447-6609 for more information.

 

CMFB serves food to 100,000 people each month in a 32 county area covering 18,000 square miles of land in central and northeast Missouri. That number equates to one in six (1 in 6) people in this area are touched by this food bank. CMFB is the only food bank in Missouri that provides food free of charge thanks to donation of time and money from people and organizations. They have 140 partner agencies to distribute food including food pantries, soup kitchens and shelter. And, because of their transparency have received a 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator.

 

Food Programs include Senior Boxes for the fastest growing group needing food assistance. 2,684 senior boxes are distributed each month. VIP Veteran Pack, a new pilot program sponsored by Veterans United provides 650 VIP Vet Boxes to veterans in poverty. The program will need permanent funding to continue. Buddy Packs serve 7,500 kids in 155 schools each week at a cost of $180 per child per year. Summer Food 4 Kids where weekday lunches are served to kids 18 and under for free.

 

There is a focus on fresh food to include produce protein and dairy to provide better nutrition. These items are more expensive but with the contributions of growers like Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, Share the Harvest (4-5,000 deer contributed by MO hunters and processed into individual 1-pound packages of venison annually) and individual farmers and gardener costs are contained. In addition 46,000 2-hour shifts of volunteers save staffing costs of approximately $2 million. More information is available at www.ShareFoodBringHope.org/

 

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

 

Oct 2 – Phil Rodrigues, Member Spotlight

Oct 9 – Great Circle

Oct 16- Jane Whiteside’s, MO Symphony.

Oct 23 – Capt Jenny Atwell, Boone Co Sheriffs, Detention

Oct 30 – Boone Co Commission, Sales tax ballot issue

Nov 6- Jerry Kiesling, MU Adult Day Care Program

Nov 13 – Nikki Burton, Great Circle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjourn with the Creed: 1:00

Optimistically Yours,

 

Sid Sullivan

Secretary