Phather Phil’s Prayer
| Heavenly Father too many times we venture into the dark waters of life. We find ourselves treading water with no relief in sight, it is then that we turn to You for help. Your love for us provides the bridge over the troubled waters and puts us back on the road You intended us to walk. The static of the world sidetracks us too often. Help us to turn off the worlds temptations and stay with You in the fullness of our faith. By consistently staying with You, we can avoid the bargain basement temptations that dot our paths and led the young people in an optimistic way of life. Amen! |
Today’s Guests
All Photos from the Meeting are Here
Special Announcement
Donna Huss announced that the next NOW event will be Tuesday, March 26th at St. Leonard’s Station House. This event will be held from 5-6:30 pm for the residents of St. Leonard. NOW is an acronym for “New Optimists Welcome”. Read more about it here.
Upcoming Social Events
4/1/2019, 6 PM Trivia party run by Scott Hall of @HallAroundTown at Chappy’s Social House
5/4/2019, Kentucky Derby Party at Remodeling Designs in Miamisburg
5/11/2019, Dayton Dragons game in a luxury box
Committee Announcements
Pat Behn announced that we need volunteers to help stuff Easter eggs on April 13, 2019 at 9 AM at St Leonard’s restaurant. The actual Easter egg hunt will be April 20, 2019 and will be held on the grounds at St. Leonard’s.
Gary Hansen and Diane Arehart will be chairing a new committee called the Engagement/Activation/Retention Committee. The objective is to ensure that our new members become engaged quickly and, therefore, choose to stay in our club. You can join the committee or choose to be a mentor to a new member. If you are interested, plan to attend our next meeting on Thursday, April 4, at 5:30pm at Panera Bread in downtown Centerville. Reach out to Gary Hansen or Diane Arehart for more information.
Annual Essay Contest
Kelly George, the CNO club chair of the Optimist International Essay Contest, explained the contest to us. Fifteen essays were submitted to CNO. She thanked this year’s volunteer judges of the essays: Debe Dockins, Glenn George, and Evelyn Griffin.
Kelly will be the chairman at the district level next year, so our club is looking for a new chair for the next year. Let her know if you want to volunteer.
Seventy clubs participate in this in Ohio. One winner from each club will compete at the state level and the winner at the state level will receive a $3500 scholarship ($2500 from Optimist International and $1000 from The Great Ohio District of OI).
The top 3 essays were read today. The scoring was very close. Out of 300 possible points, only 6 points separated 3rd to second and only 8 points from 2nd to 1st.
The topic for the 2018-19 school year is: “When All the World’s Problems are Solved, is Optimism Still Necessary?”
Emily Whitehead, a Senior at CHS, took third place. Emily received a Youth appreciation award from CNO in November, 2019. Receiving this award inspired her to write her essay.
Emily read us her essay. Excerpts from her essay follow:
Optimism is a proactive lifestyle. As a band member at CHS and using optimism she helped fellow student Sarah who has Down’s syndrome learn to play the saxophone. She tutors students from third grade through high school. To help them succeed she gets them to replace the words “I can’t” with “I can”.
Benjamin Thomas, a senior at CHS, took second place. Benjamin could not attend today’s lunch and Kelly George read his essay to us. Excerpts from his essay follow:
Galileo Galilee championed the Scientific Method. Galileo wrote a book that condemned himself to a life sentence of house arrest. He optimistically believed it was the right thing to do. Throughout history optimism has allowed the world to lift itself by its boot straps.
There must be a belief in progress to make progress.
Optimism is the ability to believe in a better future. Optimism is difficult, messy and painful, but it is necessary to push society forward. Even in a perfect world, optimism is necessary to maintain perfection.
Madelyn Thomas, a Freshman at CHS took first place and she will participate at the district level. Excerpts from her essay follow:
Humanists brought a new way to view the world. There needs to be a shared spirit of ingenuity. It takes hard work and a strong sense of optimism. You must believe you are capable of a discovery to make discoveries.
If a perfect world with no problems were to exist, this would make everyone lazy, and this then is a problem. Optimism solves this paradox, by believing you can make a perfect world better.
Optimism can still create innovation in a perfect world. Innovation and improvement are necessary in a Utopian world to give a driving force to the human race. Without optimism the world would collapse. Optimism is the infrastructure to keep a perfect world perfect.
Thank you to our three contestants and their families for sharing their essays with our club.
Birthdays
| Member | Birthday |
| Dana Dring | March 20 |
| Larry England | March 20 |
| Shane Wilken | March 20 |
| Andy Dickerson | March 21 |
| Bryan Miller | March 21 |
| Sara Hemmeter | March 21 |
| Tom Novak | March 23 |
| John Kalaman | March 25 |
| Steve Blake | March 25 |
Membership Anniversaries
| Member | Month | Day | Joined | # Years |
| Joan Cordonnier | March | 22 | 3/22/2008 | 11 |
| Jeff Brown | March | 25 | 3/25/2015 | 4 |
New Member Readings and Inductions
| Name | Sponsor | 1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction |
| Bob Crawford | Nick Tarkany | 3rd Reading |
| Amy Blakeman | Ron Tinnerman | 3rd Reading |
| William Pace | Jean Pummill | 1st Reading |
Sergeants at Arms
No time for sergeants this week.
Happy Bucks!
No time for happy bucks this week.