The Weekly Bulletin
June 4, 2018
Call to order: by Secretary Sid Sullivan at 12:05
Invocation: Ken Oster
Pledge: Carl Scott
Introduction of Guests
None
Birthdays and Anniversaries
None
Mystery Person –
Larry Fick made today’s award to Charlie Langreder who has returned to our Monday lunch meeting after several weeks helping his wife convalesce.
Greeter –
Announcements
- Sign In or Pay the Pig
Carl Scott paid the pig for absent member, Chuck Boots, who was recently featured in a Columbia Tribune article on the Soap Box Derby.
- Welcome any new or returning members.
- Food Bank – Jim Murphy/Larry Fick
Last week our Food Bank volunteers hit the jack pot packaging hot dog. No more was reported. More of our newer members need to volunteer at the Food Bank to get the hot dog experience.
- Soap Box Derby – Rick McKernan. Date is this Sunday, June 10th. Volunteers needed from 6:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. for 3 hour shifts. Drivers needed from Optimists to drive a $50 – $80,000 2018 Pickup truck hauling kids and derby cars back up the hill. It’s a chance to share the excitement kids have after their exciting race down the hill. Contact Rick McKernan at 573-881-3471 to help out. Also Rick is encouraging members to broadcast this event to their Facebook friends and list of friends they have. Contact Rick for an electronic PDF flyer to advertise this event. Attendance at this event encourages sponsors and businesses to advertise underwriting more of the cost of this event.
- Bike Safety – Mary Dewey. Date is June 7, from 5:30 to 7:00 at Lange Middle School.
More help is needed to support this Downtown Optimist event. Contact Carl Scott to help loading and delivering supplies before the event. Carl’s cell is 573-303-4191. To volunteer during the event contact Mary Dewey at 573-808-1120.
- Evening meeting June 27th. Convene 6:00 at the Food Bank on Vandiver Dr. Greetings & Introductions followed by a presentation from Food Bank staff with a DO Club volunteer activity immediately to follow.
- Jake Jolley – Show Me Games. Co-Chair needed.
- Tree lot status.
Jim Murphy met with John Sapp to get the status on this year’s Christmas tree sales. He noted the cost of trees has increased. Our first order for Scotch Pines was made this past week to a Michigan grower. Additional orders for the other varieties of trees will be made in July. We will need members to step up for this committee as John will no longer be able to handle all the work and coordination of tree ordering, tree drilling teams and preparing the lot for tree sales.
- Computer monitors – Nine computer monitors from upstairs in the club house were loaded Friday night by Sue Musterman, Scott Stager and Ed Musterman. They were taken to the Columbia Hazardous waste collection event Saturday morning by Sue and Ed at a total cost of $90. Saturday morning traffic for this computer, tire and hazardous waste disposal extended down Champions Drive (behind the Stadium) onto the Providence roadway. Rick McKernan disposed of the old stove that was taking up space upstairs. More cleanups are needed in the two west rooms not used by the Soap Box Derby.
- Announcements from the floor.
Our presenter, Meredith Donaldson announced the League of Women Voters annual fundraiser at the Columbia Entertainment Center on June 6 at 6:00 pm for refreshments and the 6:30 show of “Bye Bye Birdie”. Tickets for this fundraiser are $25, 00.
Carl Scott announced two community meetings on Community Policing. The next meeting will be at Hanover Village from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 14. The final meeting will be held at City Hall from 10:00 am to 11:30 am on June 23. Both meeting are open to the public who are encouraged to attend to provide input on the future of community policing in Columbia.
Today’s Speaker
Meredith Donaldson, Friends of Rock Bridge
Meredith celebrated 15 years of service as the Naturalist at Rock Bridge State Park. She prides herself in introducing kids to the outdoors. Studies have shown outdoor exposures at an early age promotes cognitive development and observation skills in children.
Today she highlighted two programs she conducts for children: Nature Detectives for parents and pre-school kids and Urban Population Outreach Program (UPOP) for school kids. The Nature Detectives program invites parents to bring their preschool children to come to the State Park for a time to explore. Kids search for spiders, crawfish and other creature they can discover under rocks. They search through ponds and streams with small handheld strainer nets for crawfish and other aquatic creatures. With a little encouragement the initial reticence and fear of the unknown explodes into screams of joy and excitement. Kids come alive in the wild and more importantly they share what they discovered with their parents. As Rachel Carson once said “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”
The UPOP creates an experience for today’s school kids that will grow into future voters. In this 12th year of this program 2300 students were introduced to wildlife in the state park. They explore Devil’s Ice Box Cave getting an introduction to bats and benefits these bats provide to agriculture by their night time flights. The bats consume half their weight in insects each night. A single moth they consume carries 1,000 eggs that wreak havoc on agricultural crops. Kids, some of whom are so isolated by indoor living cannot tell which way water if flowing in a stream, are introduced into our natural eco-system as water in streams finds its way to aquafers and eventually into our drinking water. The same kids are introduced to prairie life where they observe native wild flowers different birds and insects that frequent the area.
UPCOMING SPEAKERS
June 11 – Amy Weeks, CAFNR – Jefferson Farms
June 18 – Detective Tracy Perkins, Boone Co Sheriffs Task Force to Protect Children
June 25 – General membership discussion and update on club activities.
Adjourn with the Creed: 12:55
Optimistically Yours,
Sid Sullivan
Secretary
Downtown Optimist Club 