Meeting Minutes March 10, 2011

Optimist Club Meeting Minutes 

March 10, 2011 by Susan

No speaker today

A small group of us showed up and had a blast this morning.  Special thanks to the following people who were able to make it on this rather drippy and windy morning.  Marv D., Marv T., Gene , Bob A., Gary, Noel, Alan, Steve, Barry, Joe and Susan.   Hope I didn't leave anyone off of this list.  

Bob led us in the pledge and Marv D.  said the invocation. 

Alan brought and article in about the importance of riding a bike in order to keep the doctor away.  Steve said he'd rather eat an apple then ride a bike and Barry suggested that Steve ride a bike while eating an apple.  

Member News:   

Bob A. made an announcement that next Monday, March 14th there will be a mid year Honor Cord Ceremony for the Scout Troop that we Sponsor.  It just so happen that this year there are to be 60 Merit Badges being awarded to the scouts.  Bob said this is extremely rare.  Unfortunantly, it does fall on our board meeting night as well.  Bob will get the information to Alan on the time and the location if you are interested in attending contact one of them or look for the e-mail talking about it.  Would be nice to have someone from the club go and support the Boy Scouts.  

Gary's Grandson, who came to show us his amazing talents in Taekwondo, will be getting his 2nd degree black belt this coming week.  He was also inducted into the National Honor Society I believe that is what Gary said.  So not only is he an expert in Taekwondo, he also is very smart!

Henry's wife just got out of the hospital.  She had a bad asthma attack, after not having any real problems for 10 years. It was also discovered she had some pneumonia in her lung.  She is doing much better now.  Plus I heard a muttering that Henry got a new travel trailer though didn't get the specifics.  

Wally got a blood transfusion due to some bad nosebleeds and is back home recovering from his health issues.  Hope you feel better soon Wally.  He mentoned that many of his friends have come by to offer him support and feed him meals and wants to thank everyone for their kindness for all he's been going through.  Get better soon Wally, we miss you at our meetings!

Jack's son, Ted and his family, are doing much better and are at home.  Jack and his wife Carol have taken their new motor home down to Champoeg State Park for some r/r for a few days.  So happy to hear that Ted and his family are doing better.  Thanks for the update Marv D.

Marv T. gave an update on the Golf Tournament.  He has not heard from Bill French yet, though he did say that the tournament would be either the end of September or early October and that it would be at the Forest Hills Golf Course in Forest Grove.  He talked about the cost for sponsoring a hole, which I believe he said would be either $ 100 or $ 125.  Kind of zoned out at this point as I had gotten my breakfast and forgot I needed to be taking notes.  

Susan gave an update on the dinner meeting on April 21st.  It will be at the Peppermill, a Silent Auction will start at 6:30pm, if you are interested in donating an auction item please contact Joan.  Dinner will start around 7pm and Joan hopes to get a friend of her's to come and chat to us from the Native Plant Sale.  It's going to be a fun evening so please plan to be there and bring a guest or a spouse.   Please let Susan know by April 18th if you plan to be there and how many you will be bringing.  Thanks. 

Don't forget, we want to fill the room on March 31, 2011 for the Award Ceremony for the Essay Contest winners.  Barry has asked that 10 extra chairs be out that day.  He hopes to bring in the outside judge that helped in this years contest.  

There is a Board Meeting on Monday at 6:30pm at the PAL Club.  Marv T. made a special announcement to say he would not be at this months board meeting because he and his friends were driving down to Bandon to golf 4 different courses in 4 days.  He did put in a side note that there have been several earthquakes 200 miles off of Bandon and so not only would he have to contend with this while he was golfing, but he also checked out the weather report and said he'd be dealing with driving rain and heavy wind as well.  So none the less we'll hold the board meeting without Marv T, and we'll all be happy our board meeting is inside where it is dry.  

Last week raffle winner was Marv D. he donated his winnings to the club.  And then he subsequently won this weeks raffle, so he'll have to come back next week to claim those winnings.  

This day in history was 1959: Tibetans ban together in revolt, surrounding the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese Occupation Forces.  Thanks Alan for this day in history.  

There was some discussion on what would happen at next weeks breakfast meeting.  I think we decided we were watching the Internet Safety Disk and Bob A. would bring his projector.   Alan also suggested we look at photographs on cd of our optimist in different activities.  Gary seemed to insert his own idea that we could watch the video he made up of the Nethercutt Auto Collection he went too I believe it was last year.  So come and find out next week what we are doing, either way it's great to hang out with all of the Optimist Club Members.  

Don't forget to check out our website at:  www.beavertonoptimist.webs.com  However this afternoon I have tried to get on and it just won't open anything up.  

Have a great week.  

Optimist Club Minutes

By Susan Nordstrom for Bob Primrose, who is vacationing in Hawaii

Alan rang the bell, Bruce led us in the pledge and Marv gave the invocation, which included several prayers to members of our club.  

Barry gave update on the Essay Contest.  He has scheduled the winners to be at our club meeting on March 31, 2011.  Please mark your calendar and let's fill the room for these folks!  

Wally has a staff infection in his leg.  He is home from the hospital, but in a lot of pain and isn't very mobile.  He continues on with his antibiotic treatments, let's all keep Wally in our thoughts and prayers.  I know that Lillian has been helping him out a lot as well.  

Jack shared with us this morning that his youngest son, wife and kids were driving back from  vacation, when a driver entering the highway going the wrong way nearly hit his son, his son had to swerve to miss the oncoming wrong way driver and ended up rolling his SUV Expedition many times before it came to rest on the roof.  His wife was able to crawl out of the wreckage and I believe also get the kids out.  Jack's son had to be cut out of the car.  The son is in the hospital in Yuma Arizona, he has the following injuries:  bruised lungs, a gash in his head that has 11 staples,  swelling on the side of his head, a mangled left arm and a broken left shoulder.  The wife is bruised up but OK and the kids are ok as well.  Thank goodness!  Jack wasn't planning on being at the meeting this morning but thank you Jack for coming and sharing this with us.  Please keep us posted when you find more news out about your son and his family.  Jack is waiting to hear more before deciding what to do next.  

Dave Chrisman mentioned that on May 14th and June 4th that there are opportunities to help out with two playground install projects.  I do know that on May 14th  and June 4th that NWBSC will be having bike safety fairs.  So for me, Susan, I would not be able to attend either playground build as myself and Rudy and Joyce volunteer at all the NWBSC Bike Safety Fairs.  

I will be sending out an e-mail, separate to this one, to see how many people will be showing up for the Optimist Evening Meeting on April 21st. 

It was decided this morning the evening meeting on  the 21st because it is a Thursday and so that day will have the evening meeting at the Peppermill Restaurant and not hold our breakfast meeting.  Joan and Susan are on the committee to get this together.  Joan will be calling to reserve the spot at the Peppermill this afternoon as the scheduler was not there this morning when we were meeting.  After the time slot is affirmed I will send out the e-mail. 

Pin and Badge check:  Dave and Barry both paid a fine.  

Meredith was late, but Alan shook her hand and said that since he was the secret greeter he was not going to fine her.  What a nice President we have!

Our Speaker today was, Ed Proulx from Love Inc.  His group mobilizes churches to meet the needs of the community.  Check their website out at: www.loveincbeaverton.org 

In August Love Inc. gathers money and backpacks for their Packs of Love program.  It costs $ 25.00 for a full back pack and $ 5.00 for the actual backpack.  Bob Arneson brought up that this would be something maybe our club could do.  I think if every member donated a backpack that would be an awesome idea.  $ 25 is a very good price to help a child in need in the following school year.  

Ed also mentioned they have volunteer opportunities available:

- Volunteers to man the phones on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

- Men to move furniture

- Pick people up and take to doctors appointments, grocery shopping, outings etc. and bring back home.

- Mentoring

Please remember to check out our website at http://beavertonoptimist.webs.com/

Have a good week everyone, see you next week.  

Opti-B-Bull 2-24-11

          Our Flag salute was led by Gene Grosse and Marv Doty gave the invocation. Our Chaplain Wally was missing because the doctors discovered an infection in his leg.  According to his Facebook they made him come in last night for an operation. He’s at St. V’s in room 904 and Linda says he can have visitors. Now he only has pain when putting pressure on it whereas before it hurt all the time. We all signed a get well card.

After a careful review of Bob’s roster dated Jan. 2011, as he implored me, I detected no birthdays for this week. Our numbers were pretty small because it snowed a little over the night and even Beaverton closed their schools. Dick S didn’t make it to the meeting to collect his raffle winnings…perhaps it was too slippery for his bike? And our Treasurer failed to show up so I took possession of the money. We skipped a raffle but Bob A paid for our speaker’s breakfast. He is my hero! Berry was here hoping Joe would bring a check because we need to send the Essay contest packet with our winner to the Pacific NW District Chairman. Berry enclosed his own check so he is my hero also. He has arranged to have her and her family come and read her Essay March 31^st. Our members were so delighted with the publicity Marv T achieved by getting the Oregonian to publish the info on our Public Safety Scholarship, they hope we can also publicize our Essay contest. We all expressed our appreciation to Barry for his hard work.

A review of history revealed that in 1803 the chief justice of our supreme court decided in Marbury v. Madison that the court decides whether laws congress passes are constitutional. This drove Jefferson crazy because this power isn’t found in our Constitution. In fact, the Constitution says none of the three independent branches of government can interfere with any other branch. Oh well… A hundred years later our navy was delighted and obtained a new base (drum roll) Guantanamo! In 1991 a ground offensive began which we know as the Gulf War. This thing still lingers around. I forgot to mention to our group that in 1848 the Communist Manifesto was published. Let’s hear it for Feb 24…

We ran thru a quick review of upcoming activities: golf tournament with the Hillsboro Club, wood stacking, evening meeting hosted by Joan and Susan, yard sale in June, 5K walk for childhood cancer and serving food at the Faith Café. It turns out that our guest speaker was also involved with starting the Faith Café. Bob A introduced Joan Goldhammer who reminded us about Rebuilding Washington County. We have participated in their projects in the past. Our timing is off this year. The National Rebuilding Day is the last Saturday in April each year and they formed up the teams on the 17^th. We could offer our services to help out sometime this summer and she promised to find us a project. In past years, we painted and repaired some trailers on a Saturday which enabled the invalids to remain in the trailer park.

It turns out that Rebuilding Together is a national, non-profit volunteer low-income housing preservation organization. I thought it was just local. It helps preserve affordable housing by repairing and rehabbing houses of homeowners in partnership with the community. They have been performing free repairs in Washington County since 1994. She was interested in our golf tournament as they also run one. Apparently it takes a lot of work so we may have our work cut out for us. We presented her with our new Speaker Gift Coffee Mug which Bob obtained from a secret Newberg source and then fled the state to warm his toes in Hawaii. But who are we to begrudge the man his sybaritic , sensuous pleasure while we must remain buried in snow?

Press Release - Scholarship offered to students pursuing education in Public Safety

The Beaverton Optimist Club will again offer a $1000 scholarship to a student from the Beaverton area to pursue a career in public safety.

Optimist International is an international service organization whose motto is "Friend of Youth". Optimist clubs current main thrust is support for children with cancer. Other activities include oratorical and essay contests, support for scouts, reading programs, bicycle safety, and various other activities of benefit to the youth of the community.

Dean Mitchell, a local business man, was a former club president and district lieutenant governor who had an avid interest in law enforcement. He was instrumental in implementing an annual Beaverton Police family picnic and the club to celebrate respect for law week. After his death his widow assisted the club in establishing the Dean Mitchell Law Enforcement and Public Safety scholarship fund.

For information about the scholarship contact your local High School counselor's office or call Marv Thompson at 503-439-0901.

We invite anyone with an interest in serving the youth of the community to join the Beaverton Optimist club, who meet every Thursday morning from 7:00 to 8:00 AM at the Peppermill Restaurant at 17455 Farmington Road, Aloha, OR.

Opti-B-Bull 2-17-11

Welcome new member Meredith Weber
shown with sponsor Joe Coss

            Flag salute by Jack Franklin and Alan the invocation, the meeting was off and running.  Alan you are correct, no birthdays today. Just as a reminder please use the roster dated Jan. 2011 to be sure.

            Alan reviewed last Tuesday’s board meeting where we discussed joining the Hillsboro club this summer to co-host a golf tournament.  Marv Thompson hopes to raise enough money for our Dean Mitchell Public Safety Scholarship. Joe Coss explained our club’s possibility of helping at the Faith Café serving Sunday meals to hungry families which could lead to more out reach  and perhaps members in our club and wood sales.  An Optimist night out is in the planning stages in April at a local restaurant for dinner. This would be for members, wives, and guests with a chance to maybe get some new members, more later.

            Reaching back Alan’s this day in history 1817 is when Baltimore was the first city to install gas street lights. That was so the horse and buggies rides through the streets would not get lost. In today’s time, older men like younger women so they can drive at night. This year Optimist International is holding its Annual Convention July 3-5^th in Baltimore. And Thomas Jefferson was elected our third President on this day in 1801.

            Commish, Dick Schouten announced THPR has received an easement to Roy Dancer Park, this will allow better access to Roy’s park.  Oh, by the way while Dick was here this morning he won the raffle (AGAIN) $6.00.  Thanks Dick it really was my turn.

            Speaker this morning was Teresa Huntsinger from the Oregon Clean River council. Teresa spoke on the best ways to maintain clean rivers in our area, we live on Tualatin River basin. Keeping our storm drains clean from foreign materials is every ones duty. Don’t buy “Antibacterial” soap as the active ingredient triclosan combines with Clorox in our water treatment plants to make dioxin a potent carcinogen. To get involved in clean rivers and find out what to do, get on line to Love Your Rivers.Org.          Thanks Teresa

            Alan and Joe Coss were pleased to swear in our newest member Meredith Weber. Meredith came to us from the SMART program. Welcome Meredith!

Next week’s speaker will be Joan Goldhammer from Rebuilding Washington County.

      Have a nice March everyone!!                           Until then.     

Opti-B-Bull 2-10-11

This morning meeting was opened by the ring of the bell, Michael Stack (flag) and Dave Chrisman (invocation). It was a sunny 7 A.M. morning with smiles all around.

Reports:  Lillian reported that Wally Johnston is doing well from a knee problem and should see us next week.  Barry Baxter announced he now has eight entries in the Essay contest coming up on the 24^th of this month, district finals on the 28^th. Joe Coss introduced our newest club member Meredith Weber from SMART (pending board approval on the 15^th).  Next Tuesday the 15^th is our board meeting starting at 6:30. We meet at the community center on Allen all are invited.

This Day in History:  In Wally’s absence Alan tries, but I’m not sure where he gets his information. This day in the 1960’s Gary Powers (the high flyer) crashed in Russia and was supposed to take a pill (not sure what kind)[cyanide!] then Ralph Nader had something about car safety. Last item was that if you’re in politics in Belgium you’re not to have any Hanky-Panky (sex) until a new government is formed. (Otherwise, it will have taken them longer than Iraq to get their act together)   I wonder how long before elections, in the U.S. it can take two years. Wally hurry back!!!

Speaker:  Bob Arneson introduced Eric Hearn the District Director of the Sunset Trail District for the Boy Scouts. This being the 100^th year of Scouting Eric reviewed all about their program successes. Our local District serves over 3100 youth and young adults within 131 units, cub packs, and ventures programs.  Bob Arneson announced our troop is very strong and after completing this year’s tree recycle program, they now have ample monies to cover this year’s programs.

Next Speakers:  February 17^th  Teresa Huntsinger  from the River Keepers will talk on a program to clean our streams. Coming up is a river restoration day March 5^th at Munger Lane Farm with the Tualatin Riverkeepers. More from Teresa on the 17^th.

February 24^th we have Joan Goldhammer from Rebuilding Washington County.

Isn’t  it fun being a Beaverton Optimist…………………Until Then           

Opti-B-Bull 2-3-11

Did I hear right, this morning, Noel Franz while walking in grabbed the gavel from Alan to ring the bell to start the meeting and then Marv Doty gave the invocation. Mr. President you need to protect that gavel at all time.  (ask Gary Mahone)

Raffle:  A payment was made to Marv Doty ($7.50) for last week, then this weeks winner is Gene Grosse ($8.00). Did anyone else notice these two winners sit next to each other each week.  Do you think some payoff has been paid??HMM.

Secret greeter: Marv Thompson is too friendly and caught nobody greeting him, or did he greet everyone.  Marv better luck next time, we need the money.

Announcements:  Marv Thompson (Dean Mitchell) all letters have been sent to schools and Local papers.  Barry Baxter (essays) has three letters returned so far from applicants. Joe Coss announced he has had contact with the person from SMART with an interest of joining our club, great Joe.  Alan has sent pictures of the wood piles we have to stack and sell from the Jenkins Estate, work party coming soon. Noel Franz has a new E mail address now that his old one is in the hands of others.

Speaker:  This morning Arnie Leppert from the Faith Café reviewed what is the Faith Café. The Faith Café is a partnership of faith communities who, in love and justice, are dedicated to serving our neighbors in Washington County who are hungry for food and advocating for long-term social changes that reduce poverty and hunger. The Faith café serves free meals each Sunday evening at 6 P.M. to anyone who comes in at Beaverton first united Methodist church .  All this by volunteers from eight local churches, and each week serve more than 100 meals. In addition to meals they give out groceries and some clothing when they have it. Arnie being a past Optimist knows what it is like to serve the youth and the community.  Come back soon Arnie, join us!!

Next Week Speaker, Surprise!!!............Until Then