Marshalltown Noon Optimist Newsletter

I was pleased last month to be able to award the club "Optimist of the Quarter" certificate to Pete Peterson. Pete's enthusiasm is infectious and that's a good thing! He and his wife Sally really took charge with the Courthouse Tree Lighting project. I'm pleased to say that the project netted over $8,500 this year for the club's youth projects. Pete also accepted a moneymaking opportunity for us at the Stroll that brought in over $600. Who will be the "Optimist of the Quarter" for the 2nd quarter?

MOBI is coming up quick! Theresa and I are getting the concessions ready. She's going to have Megan and some of her friends helping on Saturday since I will be in Des Moines representing the club at the 2nd Qtr District Conference. You might want to bring your kids along to help too. It's a good way to let them know what you think is important. You could also bring a friend that you like to do things with. If you haven't signed up to help at MOBI yet, call Brian at (H) 753-8928 (W) 753-6659.

Roger Heatwole is organizing the Oratorical contest with the other two Marshalltown clubs. The contest will be in the afternoon this year. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. I'm bringing cookies.

I'm sorry to say that we've lost a member; Patti Lase. Patti is looking for a new job and is afraid she may need to leave Marshalltown. We'll miss her. She did say that one of you should follow up with Jim Weires of The Boys and Girl's Homes about joining the club.

Anne Fiscus spoke to us last week about adding new members to the club. On the average, each active member positively affects 31 kids in the community. More members mean more kids are helped. It's good that we've raised money to help the youth. That's why we need to be active in the community and attract more active members. Our projects help kids. The money we raise supports the projects. We need to be there to make the projects a success!

Schedule of Events

Board Meeting

Feb 5 – Wed, Noon, at DIB’s

Programs

Jan 30 – Mary Carol Fish – Community Y progress

Feb 6 – Bev Hinshaw, 2^nd Half of Dinosaurs Dig

Feb 13 – Valentines Day

Feb 20 – Pete Drury, Caring Connection

Feb 27 – Matt Scruyver, Green Products

Mar 6 – Larry Kester, Building Development Viewpoint

Mar 13 – Mary Schrader, Housing Initiative

Mar 20 – Richard Doyle, School board bond issue

Mar 27 – Bob Workman, Aquatics Center update

Other Events

Feb 14 – Sweetheart dinner and auction, Regency (Eve Opt)

Apr 3 – Citizen of the Year Roast (Morning Optimist)

Projects

Feb 8-9 – Girls MOBI

Feb 27 – CCC Fund Raiser (multi club) (tentative date)

Mar 8-9 – Boys MOBI

Apr 2 – Local Oratorical (tentative date)

Apr 13 – Zone Oratorical contest

May 4 – Regional Oratorical contest

May 17 – District Oratorical contest

District Schedule

Feb 8 – 2^nd Qtr District meeting and Zone mtg, Des Moines

Apr 12 – International President’s Visit, Amanas

May 17 – 3^rd Qtr District meeting, Des Moines

July 13-17 – International Conv, Kansas City

Aug 6-10 – 4^th Qtr District meeting, Coralville

A record number of 39 girls basketball teams in grades 5-8 will compete in the 10^th annual girls Marshalltown Optimist Basketball Invitational on February 8-9.

The games will begin at 8 a.m. at the Anson, Lenihan and Miller gyms with games scheduled every hour for a total of 39 games. The last games will begin at 8 p.m.

The teams are schedule into one of three pools for their grade level. Grades 5, 6 and 8 will each have three pools and grade 7 will have four pools as 12 teams are entered in 8^th grade.

“This is our biggest Optimist project in terms of people needed to carry out this tournament,” stated Larry Park, MOBI chairperson. “For each game we need two referees, an official scorer, a timer, a ticket taker and 2-3 concession workers. In addition we have site directors at each gym who starts at 7 a.m. on Saturday and work until after 9 p.m. on Saturday, and two concession director who hurry around keeping the concession stands at all three gyms stocked with items. This continues on Sunday with the workers in place from about noon until 7 p.m.”

“We have to reach outside our Optimist club each year for volunteers,” Park continued. “Brian Danielson is in charge of recruiting workers and he has attempted to contact all noon Optimists for assignment on MOBI. Brian and I appreciate the time all volunteers give to this project.”

In recent years MOBI has netted more than $6,000 in profits. “Our club has agreed to donate half of our profits back to the Marshalltown schools,” Park noted. “We use the balance of the money to fund our other Optimist youth projects.”

“It is a great youth project,” Park stated. “At each MOBI (Boys MOBI is March 8-9) we have approximately 350 youth playing basketball and we use the money earned from MOBI to fund many other youth projects in the community. Many business in Marshalltown also benefit because of the money spent on food, lodging and shopping.”

The Oratorical Contest is for youth that have not yet reached the age of 16 by January 1, 2003. The 4 to 5 minutes speech will have the topic of “United We Stand in Optimism”. The District Winner for the boy’s and girl’s contests will each receive a $1,500 college scholarship. Our Local club contest will be held the week of March 30^th, probably on Wednesday April 2, 2003 at 5:30pm.

Childhood Cancer Campaign Fund Raiser

The three Marshalltown Optimist Clubs are working together on a project for the Children's Cancer Campaign. It's a soup supper at the Senior Citizen's Center on Thursday, February 27th. Mark Smith is inviting Gov. Vilsack to attend. The purpose of the supper is to raise awareness about cancer in children. Tom Lloyd, a speaker for Optimists International for the Children's Cancer Campaign will be there to speak. All three clubs are selling tickets. Get some from me. Each club is providing three roasters of soup. I'm making one of chili (not too hot). We need some others to make another one of chili and one that's your choice. We'll also need some deserts, bar cookies and the like.

“Citizen of the Year”

The Morning Optimist club’s official “Fryer’ Club” has met and determined the honoree for this year’s Citizen of the Year Roast. They selected Lew Miller, owner of the Bath and Kitchen shop. Lew has been active, on a volunteer basis, in many aspects of the Marshalltown community, such as the YMCA, the Chamber of Commerce, the MCC foundation, Marshall County I club, and drug court panel member. He was the founder of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Marshalltown, and brought the successful 2002 Iowa State BBQ Championship to Marshalltown.

The banquet is set for Thursday, April 3^rd, at the Best Western Regency Inn. The honoree will be selecting his own Master of Ceremonies, as well as the six persons who will “roast” him. Please help support our fellow Optimist club.

A little Humor

Mick Jagger was on the cover of a recent AARP magazine so it only follows that a few of the "groovy" artists have

re-released their great hits with new lyrics to accommodate their aging audience, some examples:

Herman's Hermits--"Mrs. Brown, you've Got a Lovely Walker"
The Rolling Stones--"You Can't Always Pee When You Want"
Paul Simon--"Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver"
Carly Simon--"You're So Varicose Vein"
The Bee Gees--"How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?"
Roberta Flack--"The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face"
Johnny Nash--"I Can't See Clearly Now"
The Temptations--"Papa's Got a Kidney Stone"
Nancy Sinatra--"These Boots Give Me Arthritis"
ABBA--"Denture Queen"
Leo Sayer--"You Make Me Feel Like Napping"
Commodores--"Once, Twice, Three Trips to the Bathroom"
Procol Harem--"A Whiter Shade of Hair"
The Beatles--"I Get By with a Little Help From Depends"
Credence Clearwater Revival--"Bad Prune a-Rising"
Marvin Gaye--"I Heard It Through the Grape Nuts"
The Who--"Talkin' 'Bout My Medication"