The Weekly Bulletin

Dec 4, 2017

 

Call to order by V.P. Mary Dewey

Invocation: Pat Brown

 

Pledge: Steve Winters

 

Introduction of Guests   

None

 

Birthdays and Anniversaries

None

 

Mystery Person  –

Mary Dewey made the award to Kelly Schilling for taking the initiative and carrying through with the “Support for First Responder Christmas Tree.”

Greeter   –

Ken Oster told of events around town where his 4-Part Harmony group, Chordbusters were performing: They sang at the Missouri Theater this past week on Saturday and later sang Christmas carols on Broadway. Next Saturday at 7:00 pm they will perform in concert along with others at the First Baptist Church on Broadway. Admission for this event is $10.00

Announcements

• Sign In or Pay the Pig  All were sign in. Carl Scott spotted a picture of Ken Oster with the Chordbusters in the local paper.
• Food Bank  The food bank crew was preoccupied with our own Christmas tree fundraiser and couldn’t work the Food Bank this past week.–
• Koeze/Certificate update: Steve Winters- Gift Certificates netted $25,925 vs last year’s net sales of $23,700.  Net profit this year amount to $7,777. The latest report on Koeze Nut sales and gift certificates is $97,493.

• Tree Lot – John Sapp, C.O. Scheffer The cost of paid staff was down this past week as more members signed up and work the lot. The last of the Koeze nut orders will be ready for pick up this Saturday. Members are encouraged to pick them up this weekend to provide room for the club’s Christmas luncheon on Monday, December 11.
• Tree lot sign up/ Cash Register – C.O. Scheffer again passed the signup sheets for members to volunteer as lot workers and cashiers. Also, members can sign up online. An email with a link to the electronic signup sheet will be sent for members not present at today’s luncheon.
• Respect for Law – Kelly Schilling- C.O.  Kelly Schilling mentioned a photographer from the “Missourian” came to the lot on Tuesday and returned on Thursday for more pictures. She expects her photo-journalist report on the Optimist Tree lot and the Respect for First Responder tribute will appear in an upcoming edition of that paper. She took pictures of members working the lot on Tuesday. On Thursday she took pictures of Officers Anthony and Thomas and volunteers from Boys and Girls Club who were present at the lot. Rick McKernan reported he had heard a number of positive comments on the Respect for Law Christmas tree and thanked Kelly for all the work and time she has contributed to this effort.
• Holiday luncheon:  Dec 11^th at the Club House.  – Larry Fick reports 40 members and guests are sign up for next Monday’s Christmas luncheon at 11:30 at the clubhouse. He will email members one last time to see if there are any last minute deciders.
• Board – No December meeting

 

Today’s Speaker

Dan Steska, Bike to the Future

 

Dan Steska is a recent retiree who got together with four other retirees to find a project in which they could all invest some of their newfound time. They discovered an unmet need in Columbia where they could apply their time and discover new talents. With the amount of poverty in Columbia they discovered a significant population living in poorer neighborhoods that were unserved by the bus lines. Many of these people were forced to walk to work and find transportation to satisfy their shopping needs. Dan and company wanted to provide a more efficient form of transportation for this group. From this was born Bike to the Future, an organization founded to find, repair and donate bikes to those in need.

 

With no apparent business plan and no skills in bike repair the five men decided they would find a way to salvage old bikes to make them usable. Their decision to go forward would be a work in progress. With a few donated bikes and rudimentary repair skills they began their enterprise. As they distributed these bikes, they discovered a more significant need for their services and a need to grow their business. They had to find a place to work, sources for a significantly higher number of used bikes and a source of revenue to purchase repair parts and additional bikes when donations were insufficient to handle demand.

 

Over the course of year they were able to solve these problems through the faith based community. Love INC (Love in the name of Christ) provided them with a place to work and to store inventory. When the Trailside Bike Rental shop in Rocheport closed and began liquidating its inventory of bikes, repair parts and tools, a revenue source was needed for a bulk purchase of this cache of inventory. A grant from the United Methodist Church came to the rescue. Later, the local bike shops in town offered a discount for the purchases of repair parts.

 

The initial success brought move demand for bikes. The Wilkes Blvd Church’s Turning Point applied for bikes of its homeless clients. And, as word spread more groups made their needs known. Homeless veterans living at Welcome Home, ex-offenders released to halfway houses in Columbia, disabled people, the population of a homeless community living in wooded areas, and refugees (some 220 sponsored by Catholic Charities) all needed transportation. To date Bike to the Future has accepted over 200 donated and purchased bikes donating 135 to needy recipients. They even found a three wheeled bike for a recipient afflicted with Parkinson’s disease.

 

Each recipient gets a bike, a lock, a helmet and a city map. Recipients are on their own for repairs but, according to Mary Dewey, Get About Columbia is offering repair classes this Saturday at the Armory. Bike to the Future volunteers work Tuesday mornings and afternoons and Wednesday mornings repairing bike at the Love INC store. The will accept volunteers as well as unwanted bikes and cash donations.

 

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

Dec 11 – Holiday Lunch at the Club House

Dec 18 – Sonja Boone,  Boone County Administrator

Dec 25 – No Meeting

Jan 1 – No Meeting

Jan 8 – Rachel Finch,  FACE

Jan 15 –TBD

Jan 22 – Jeniffer Clark, Community Programs, MU School of Law

Jan 29 – Peter Stiepleman, Supt. Columbia Public Schools

 

 

 

 

Adjourn with the Creed: 12:44

 

Optimistically Yours,

 

Sid Sullivan

Secretary