Opti- B-Bull 1-6-2011

Happy New Year 2011, Alan opened our first meeting of the new year with the flag pledge and invocation by Wally Johnston.  Followed by this day in history 1941.

This morning’s secret greeter was Bruce Buffington who could not catch anyone not greeting him.  Better luck next time Bruce.  You should try hiding in the closet! Bruce followed that by being today’s raffle winner ($8.00) but you have to come back next week to get your money.  Jack Franklin, last weeks winner, did give his winnings to the Dean Mitchell program.

Marv Thompson announced that letters are being mailed to all schools regarding the Dean Mitchell public safety scholarship. The letters include the qualifying instructions for this scholarship which last year was $1,000.00.  

This day in history (1941) was the day FDR gave a speech on the four freedoms we have in the U.S. These freedoms are the freedom of speech, the freedom to worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear.  All of these are pictured in the Norman Rockwell book which Wally passed around the room.

One auction item this morning was an auto seat back rest. Not sure who won, but all funds for the raffle go into the admin. fund which we need for this years budget.  So Keep them coming.  The bidding is fun to watch.

Our January board meeting will be held on Tuesday 1-11-11 due to the Oregon football game on Monday.  Remember all members are invited to attend any board meeting.

Our guest speaker this morning, Past Pres. Bruce Buffington, talking on the Northwest Bike Safety Organization, gave us the history of the N.W.B.S. They serve over 2200 each year, 2000  of which being kids. We did present Bruce with our donation of $500.00 for this year. Thanks Bruce.

Have a great week, Until then! 

Opti- B –Bull 12-23-2010

Welcome all fourteen members and guests this morning.    Merry Christmas

The meeting opened with our flag salute and Wally’s invocation.  Followed by this day in history 1982, later for those interested.

No secret greeter this morning other than Pres. Alan, which could be considered a little sneaky. However it made for all to greet each other in true optimist style.

This morning’s raffle winner was Marv Doty.  Marv will receive $6 dead presidents next week.

Alan told of one of our members attending last week’s gift exchange that could not wait to raffle off his great prize while on a bike outing.  I understand it was a treasured item of high value. Alan, why did you tell on Bruce??

Our member Richard Hose, after his knee surgery, is recovering at home and Alan said he is doing well.  Hope to see you soon at breakfast, Richard.

This day in history, in 1982 the Missouri town of “Time Beach” was evacuated and demolished by order of the Missouri health department.  Why, you ask. Time Beach had dirt roads which became dusty at times - so the people sprayed chemical dioxin on the road to cut the dust, not knowing it was a health hazard.  The spray was furnished by waste-hauler at low price which gives the lesson, “Watch out what you buy.”  More to the story, you should have been there.

Speakers  this morning was Brian Reynolds the new troop 870 Scoutmaster and Joe Mueller the outgoing troop Scoutmaster.  Each reviewed the troops activities in the past and future coming events for troop 870.  Presently the troop has 42 members from  10 to 18 years of age.  This troop has a very active schedule through the year which keeps a very high interest in the troop.  Starting on January 1st they will be collecting Christmas trees from homes for grinding.  This will last for three weekends and is their major fund raiser.  All funds pay for their troop’s activities for the year.  Thanks Brian and Joe for joining us this morning.  Alan mentioned to Brian that he can have a paid Optimist membership if he would join us through the year.

Happy Holidays Everyone

Until then…

Opti- B – Bull 12-16-10

This morning we held our Christmas breakfast buffet and gift exchange.   As always we invited our spouses, neighbors, and friends. We even had one daughter and granddaughter.

The morning was opened with our flag salute followed by Wally’s invocation.

Prior to breakfast, we made a call to past Pres. Jim Cates in Silverton ( I think we woke him) to sing happy birthday.  I hope this met with your satisfaction Jim.  Happy birthday was on the 12^th.

Each year we order a breakfast buffet (which was great) but there was one thing missing, Pat’s wonderful cookie assortment. Yes Pat, we missed you.

Now on to the gift exchange.    As we entered with a gift we were given a number. As the numbers were called to select your gift at random, you had a choice to trade your ticket for a opened gift or select one from the table.  Simple and no confusion (wrong), some were hiding their gifts so they could not be traded.  All in all we always have a great time and it’s fun to see a full room.

In addition to the gift exchange we collected canned goods for the Sunshine Pantry.  And we added a collection for our server for such good service throughout the year.

Next week 12-23-10 our speakers are the outgoing and incoming scoutmasters of our troop we sponsor though the year. Please plan to attend and thanks to Bob Arneson for inviting them as speakers.

Our December 30^th meeting (if you can attend) will be open for sharing what wonderful gift and Christmas you had with your families.  MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

Until then…

Monday we’ve scheduled a solar eclipse for your pleasure…the mgmt.

Opti- B-Bull December 9, 2010

Once again our meeting was opened on time (7:00 a.m.) by Pres. Alan.  Jack Franklin led us in the flag salute followed by the invocation by Wally Johnston.  (The year to remember is 1921). 

After the bell two folks arrived a little late.  It was great to see Barry and Joe dig for their coins.

Wally Johnston will be retiring from the Sherwood Police force as chaplain on December 10.  Congratulations Wally.

Gary Mahone was the winner of today’s raffle.  Let’s see, April, how much was the pot?  I believe it was around $50.00 so don’t let him tell you it was only $8.00.

This coming Monday is our Board Meeting.  The meeting is held at the Beaverton Resource Center – starting time is 6:30 p.m.  All club members are invited and the meeting lasts 1-1/2 hours.

This day in history, 1921, General Motors engineers discovered that if you blended lead into gasoline, car engines would run quieter – stops engine noise. See what you can learn by attending our breakfast meetings, and without a speaker of the day.

Coming up next week is our annual Christmas Breakfast and gift exchange.  Bring a wrapped gift and join in on the fun of trading and hiding.  Don’t forget, bring a guest.

Next up on December 23 we will have the new and old scoutmasters as our speaker.  This is a great time to be a part of the scout troop we have sponsored for years.

Birthdays:  Last week this writer missed announcing Alan Z’s birthday (retraction).  This week we honored two, Francis Mijo and Bob Primrose.  Thank you all for the great singing.  On December 12 there is another big birthday, Jim Cates.  It would really be nice if we could see Jim and Sharon at our Christmas party and we could sing to Jim.  (If the price is right)

Please try to join us each week.  This week as we did not have a speaker so there came the jokes. (one groaner)  So you see we do have a good time anyway.  See you next week.

Until then…..

Opti BeaBull November 11, 2010

Twelve stalwarts showed up on this Veterans Day for our morning meal. Marv T led us in the pledge to the flag and Bruce gave the invocation. Sheriff Steve did double duty as secret greeter fining Barry in what some viewed as revenge. Susan turned over last week’s raffle winnings to Bruce for children’s bike helmets and then promptly won this week’s raffle. We celebrated Jack’s 49^th anniversary on the 10^th which turned out to be the same day in 1871 when Stanley found Livingston in Africa. The US Marines were also organized on this day in 1775 by the Continental Congress. Sesame Street began broadcasting this same day in 1969. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month in 1918 the guns on the western front fell silent and World War One was over. We celebrated Armistice Day and the war to end all wars was over. Today we call it Veterans Day and haven’t run out of veterans or wars yet.

We will meet again this Saturday at 8:30 AM in the Kmart Parking Lot to cleanup Murray Rd. Our last road party only took an hour. We discussed plans for our annual Christmas Party. The Board wanted directions as to whether we’d allow other members to run around grabbing the really good gifts we’d been lucky enough to unwrap. After a show of hands, we agreed again to allow this heartbreaking custom to continue and Bob Primrose to again arrange things. Mark your calendars for the 16^th of December as you begin searching your basement for appropriate gifts. That talking fish must be in a box somewhere? The question of a food barrel for the Sunshine Pantry also came up at our Board Meeting but our restaurant has already allowed a toy barrel to go in. We may have to find another location to collect food cans.

Wally wanted us to also remember the homeless children at Aloha High. Last week’s speaker, Jennifer Winquist left us a list of needs for these children. The Club has run out of Speaker Plaques so we (by we I mean Bob P) are exploring all possibilities including cups so we have something to give our speaker to remember us by. Marv T is proposing a golf tournament to fund our Dean Mitchell Scholarship program. Hillsboro had pretty good success with theirs last year and our funding from Intell through Commissioner Schouten has come to an end.

At the Board Meeting Monday we learned that Dusty will be dropping his membership for this year because he is traveling to South American so much and won’t be around. And Kyle Rogers hasn’t been around for a long time. In order to help members pay dues, the board discussed quarterly payments of $25 be allowed. Joe would like a $45 payment by mid December so we don’t have to drop any more members. The Club must pay OI and District and our Administrative account is low. Scott suggested we ask members to donate to the account. We will probably send a letter requesting help in bringing this account into a level of a balanced budget.

We discussed an evening meeting pot luck dinner for members and spouses and inviting friends and acquaintances we’d like to have join our club. Joan and Marv D will look for a place to hold this event.

Linda Sneddon from Beaverton Together was this morning’s speaker. It is a coalition of partners against substance abuse with the goal of reducing smoking and drinking among our school children. The partners include:

Beaverton School District
Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
Department of Human Services
Westside Police Activities League
Beaverton Police Department
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Washington County Sheriff’s Office
Jesuit High School
Washington County Commission on Children & Families
LifeWorks NW
Beaverton Valley Times

They sponsor Prom Perfect programs and have in the past been involved in getting the PAL Club off the ground and those big children’s parades over to the Park and Rec. District involving thousands of kids. They have compiled interesting statistics showing much lower involvement  in drinking and smoking than most people believe. And it has been dropping over the years. They will be partnering with a Cristmas tree farm this year to raise funds. There is a U-Cut farm out near the Mountaindale  exit off Hwy 26 and a tree lot at Oaks Park which includes a mini train ride with a tree purchase.

BeaBull from 11-5

A quick reminder that our Board Meeting is scheduled for Monday at 6:30 PM in Beaverton's Resource Center where the PAL Club is located. And I'd like to thank Secretary Bob for compiling Thursday morning's meeting minutes so quickly which I'm sure you've all read under the caption "Newsletter"on our Internet web site at: http://beavertonoptimist.webs.com/index.htm.

I also wanted to remind everyone about our Murray Rd. cleanup scheduled Saturday Nov. 13th. We'll meet in the Kmart parking lot at 8:30 AM. Thanks again to Gene and Marv who made the arrangements.

There was a misunderstanding during our Thursday meeting where my instructions to Barry, our secret greeter, were taken out of context. In a concern for his health due to the prevalence of flu and colds, and the fact my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren are sick with these bugs, I mentioned to him that he needn't go around shaking everyone's hand. This was mischaracterized as sneaky! My only motive was to protect the health of our Essay Contest Chairman. (Glad I could clear this up.)

Jenn Wenquist

Barry did get a chance to explain to our speaker, Jenn Winquist, about the $2,500 first prize towards college. This year's topic is: "How my education is the key to a successful future." As an Aloha High School counselor, she can help us spread the word around about the scholarship.

Again, I don't want to beat up on dead horses but, a nice picture of Jenn with Wally's arm about her because he's known her since she was 12, appears on our web site located at: www.Beavertonoptimist.webs.com.
Speaking of pictures, our newest member Joan invited her friend, Marcia Paige, to visit us Thursday so I hope everyone shook her hand and made her feel welcome. Her picture can also be seen on our web site conveniently located under the caption, "Photo Gallery." That album is titled Aloha's Homeless Kids because that is what Jenn spoke about. You may also look at the other albums if you want. Marcia sat next to Susan who won this weeks raffle and was probably surprised at Susan's little victory dance over her win. At least Susan was more gracious than Joe who insisted upon being paid his winnings from the week before last which I accidentally forgot because of our celebration of Vern's 90th birthday what with the cake and all.
Vern thanked everyone and was pleased to report that the balloons were still flying. Dick had to sing happy birthday to himself and Marv made everyone sing to him and I think they were a little disappointed about the lack of balloons for them.

Dick seemed very pleased last night at the CPO 6 meeting where it was announced that Washington County was the only county in Oregon to be awarded $2,000,000 by the federal departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and will also get funds from Metro to study and come up with plans for the economic development of our Aloha-Reedville area. It will be a three year project with the Town Center on 185th and TV Hwy coordinating with Hillsboro on transportation and housing and BIKE paths and this is Commissioner Dicks area. This was just approved two days or so ago and the County staff is already swinging into action. They need lots of community input.

If you were to be uncertain about upcoming events, did I mention the helpful Calendar section on our Club's web site maintained by Wally located at www.Beavertonoptimist.webs.com.  You can even look up info on the club's Essay Contest on that very same web site.

Jenn brought a list of needs for the homeless students at Aloha High which I'll attach as a PDF file if my printer cooperates. To reach her to offer help with supplies or perhaps as a tutor her email is jennifer_winquist@beaverton.k12.or.us.

Happy Birthday Vern!

What a wonderful celebration we had today in honor of Vern Williams's 90th birthday. Vern is a charter member of the Beaverton Optimist Club and has been with us since February 2, 1967. Please enjoy our slideshow of the party.  Slideshow courtesy of Alan Zehntbauer.