The Weekly Bulletin

March 19, 2018

Call to order: Ed Musterman, President

Invocation: C.O. Scheffer

Pledge: Red Leighton

Introduction of Guests   

None

Birthdays and Anniversaries

None

Greeter

Rick McKernan was overtaken with the Optimist spirit last Saturday.  While purchasing office supplies at Staples he spotted 8 pak boxes of crayons for kids on sale. Realizing that he had Staples Rewards points that he would otherwise spend on things for himself he purchased 180 boxes of the crayons. Monday, following the Club meeting, he was delivering boxes of crayons for the kids at Nora Stewart Day Care and Mary Lee Johnston Community Learning Center. Realizing that he had plenty of crayons to give, Rick was contacting Bonnie Yantzie to provide crayons for Fun City kids.

 

Mystery Person  –

Steve Winters made today’s candy award to Jim Beckett

Announcements

• Sign In or Pay the Pig

All were signed in.

• Food Bank – Larry Fick, Jim Murphy and Jack Cruise left early for today’s adventure working at Food Bank.

• Soap Box Derby – Rick McKernan, Chuck Boots. Rick McKernan reported they are ahead of schedule. All the derby cars have been assigned. The next meeting is scheduled for April, exact date to be determined. Any questions contact Rick at (573) 881-3471 or mckernan@mchsi.com
• Scholarships – Cyrilla received twenty applications from Rock Bridge H.S. five from Battle H.S. with the expectation of five more later today. Hickman H.S. and Douglas H.S. have both submitted applications. The deadline for application submissions is March 20.
• Bike Safety – Mary Dewey says the event is still scheduled for Thursday, June 7 from 5:39 to 7:00 at the Lange Middle School parking lot. There is still time to volunteer to help Mary.
• Announcements from the floor.

Jack Cruise agreed to coordinate this year’s OI Golf Tournament. Ed Musterman will email the applications to him.

Official neighborhood meeting for Ridgeway Neighborhood Association will take place at DOC Clubhouse 5:30 – 7:00 on Thursday, March 22 on “How to Make Central Columbia More Safe.”

Jabberwocky has meeting this week with Kiwanis Club at Columbia College

• President Musterman announced we have a full slate of officer for next year. Slated by the nomination committed for the April election for the 2018/19 Board are Phyllis Nichols and Kelly Schilling for vice presidents, John Westbrook, Adam Bako and John Sapp for two year board members. (Mike Hatchett, Nadia Ryakhmyatullov and Tony Parisio will continue their second year as board members). Jack Beard accepted Mary Dewey’s invitation to be her treasurer as did Ron Berg for secretary. Upon election the elected will assume their offices on October 1.
• Board Meeting: Thursday, March 15^th at the Clubhouse.  The Board chose to fund the Food Bank Buddy Pack program for $5,000 and Friends of Rock Bridge for $1,600.  Kings Daughters Dental Aid Program requesting $1,000 and Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services requesting $3,000 were both denied.

 

 

Today’s Speaker Joe Bradley, Day Dreams Foundation.

Joe Bradley is the Communications Director at Fr. Tolton H.S. and the founder of the not-for-profit Day Dreams Foundation in Columbia. He got the idea while serving as a Big Brother for an 11 year old boy, Desean, whose father was serving time in prison and whose mother had recently been released from prison. Desean wanted to play football but his mother didn’t have the wherewithal to pay the $135.00 program fee. The Voluntary Action Council offers a $50.00 stipend to kids for these situations but there are limited funds in this account and there is a waiting list. In response Joe used a Go-Fund-Me account to query his friends and family for small donations to chunk together the $135.00 fee. His small fundraising effort was successful and he displayed a picture of young Desean with a smile on his face dressed in his football gear. The experience led Joe to realize lots of kids were deprived from extracurricular activities for want of program fees. He researched what it would take to establish a not-for-profit to accomplish this. The rest is history.

 

The Day Dreams Foundation was established in 2014 to support kids without the means to participate in extracurricular activities. Its mission is “to eliminate financial barriers to participating in extracurricular activities and promote healthy life styles, goal setting, academics, teamwork and respect for others.” Its vision is: “That every child can fulfill their dream of participating in an extracurricular activity without ever worrying about the cost.” Any child 18 years of age or younger, on the free or reduced lunch program in CPS can apply with a letter of recommendation from a non-family member and a short essay from the child. Applications are reviewed by the board of directors for final approval. The funding is limited to no more than $500.00 per year though the average scholarship is $188.00. Funded activities have included sports, dance, drama, martial arts, theater even horseback riding through the Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center

 

Since its first scholarship in 2015, Day Dreams has awarded $38,300 for activity fees and $3,746 for equipment to 166 kids for a total of 222 scholarships. Award certificates and tee shirts are provided to each recipient. Recently Day Dreams has added a $1,500 annually renewable college scholarship to a selected recipient. Anyone can help Day Dreams by referring a family, attending a fundraiser, donating a prize, sponsoring an event, serving on a committee or writing a letter in support of a Day Dreams kid. More information is available on the Day Dreams website: www.daydreamsfoundation.org/

 

 

 

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

March 26 – Donna Pond, Stroke Program Coordinator, Boone Hospital Center

April 2 – Dean Berry and Allen Jennings, Columbia Youth Basketball Le

April 9 – Andrew Biggs, Supt. Bradford Research Center

April 16 – John Weber, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

April 23 – Representative from Boone county Sheriff’s Dept. on Computer Safety

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjourn with the Creed: 1:00

Optimistically Yours,

 

Sid Sullivan

Secretary