Phather Phil’s Prayer

In Honor Of Mother…
This past Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day. Which always brings a smile to my face – twice ! The first smile comes when people find out I was an only child. Oh! I’ll bet you were spoiled rotten! WRONG. Since I was the
only child I received Mothers full attention. It was like Jonny Cash’s song. I walk the line. If I made a mess or broke something I didn’t have a brother or sister to blame it on. Telling the truth came automatic for the
consequence of a hairbrush or razor strap was readily available. You said “yes sir” and “yes mam”. Mother wanted to know what I was doing and whomy friends were, including their last name. I ate breakfast every morning of Quaker Oats or cream of wheat. Had Soup and sandwich for lunch. Supper was meat, potatoes & a vegetable. If you didn’t like the vegetable you could sit there till you did. The radio was turned off during meal time. I didn’t date till I was a Junior in High school. Then had to pick her up and take the bus to wherever and take the bus back home . No time for any sparking or you’d walk 5 miles home cause you missed the bus. Mother raised a square as I didn’t smoke, drink or become a father before I was married. I wasn’t arrested for shoplifting or busted for DUI. And who do I have to thank for this? You’re right – my mean mother ! I raised our children the same way and got tickled when they said I was mean. Our country doesn’t need a good 5-cent cigar. It needs more mean Mothers like mine. Now for the rest of the story! The reason for my second smile. I was a
young man and it was Mothers Day and I asked my father “When is Fathers Day? Without missing a beat my father replied,”9 months prior to Mothers Day. “

Today’s Guests

Guest	Guest Of
Darlene Irwin	Ken Irwin

Committee Notes

Mike Bevis announced it is 60 days until the golf outing. Time is running out to sign up and play. The 27th Annual Tom Frazier Tee Off for Youth to be held Monday July 16, 2018 at Sycamore Creek Golf Club. Forms available at : https://centervillenoonoptimist.com/golf-tee-off-for-youth/

Ellie Parker requested donations for the golf outing gift bags from businesses and others. Some examples would be snacks (chips, pretzels), gift cards, and more. She will come to you and pick up your donations.

Jerry Stahley is still looking for OI Junior Golf Championship donations for junior golf. He also has two Dragons tickets for 5/18/2018.

Chris McAlpine reminded everyone that the Safety on Wheels bike Rodeo is this Saturday May 19, 2018 at Miami Valley South.

Myron Rheaume announced he just came back from the OI district meeting in Columbus. They gave him a boxful of Dime-a-Day Pins. He kindly reminded us how to do the math, remember that a dime a day means $36.50 per year. He presented a pin to every club member participating in the Dime-a-Day program.

Chris McAlpine read some recent touching thank you notes, including a recipient of a scholarship and a previous speaker from the BOLD program at CHS.

Today’s Presentation

Tom Novak spoke to us about the Avenue of Flags (AOF). Thanks to Greg Griffin for the Power Point presentation. The program started in 2005. AOF puts flags out 5 times during the year for 3-5 days each on the following flag holidays: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day.

To test the fundraiser the first year they put out 30 flags for free in Quail Run. If Chuck Dickerson had not put up the initial $3000 in funding, the program probably would not have started.

Thank you to David Watkins of Turf Nerd Lawn Care 75 Westpark for storing our flags free of charge.

Thank to the AOF committee and all the helpers. There are over 100 helpers, not all of them CNO members. There are groups that volunteer together from VFW Teams and Bluestar mothers. The are also 40 subscriber volunteers that are not CNO members.

The Avenue of Flags committee have learned by doing. They offer volunteers flexible delivery times and early flag loading. GPS helps a lot. New routes are added every year. Trucks, vans and SUVs are great flag vehicles, but some routes are handled by cars and convertibles.

There are now 62 Routes. There are a few mega routes with over 100 flags. The largest route, handled by the team consisting of Mike Bevis, Donna Huss and Rhonda Meeker, delivers 129 flags. The average route size is 25-35 flags and only takes 1 – 1 ½ hours to distribute. The smallest route is 4 flags. The routes are designed to be concentrated which speeds distribution.

Neighbors sharing the service idea with neighbors helps increase subscribers each year.

Tom introduced Mike Brubaker, who went over the statistics of revenue. Last year AOF raised over $62,000.

Last year we reached 1831 flags for Veterans day. This year so far AOF has 1846 flags for Memorial Day. This is the first year the flag subscriptions at the beginning of the year exceeded the number of subscriptions at the end of the prior year. New orders are coming in every day and they will continue as the season progresses.

After today’s lunch a group picture in official AOF tee shirts was taken.

Birthdays

Member	Birthday
Kristina Rainer	May 16
James Long	May 17
Amy Barker	May 19
Mike Brubaker	May 19

Membership Anniversaries

Member	Month	Day	Joined	# Years
Jay Hoffman	May	15	05/15/2017	1
David Ladd	May	16	05/16/2012	6
Natalie King Dunlevey	May	16	05/16/2012	6
Chris Elrod	May	18	05/18/2011	7
Melissa DeShurko	May	18	05/18/2011	7
Rafael Santillan	May	18	05/18/2016	2
Bill Marker	May	18	05/18/2011	7
Heather Kuth	May	19	05/19/2010	8
Jeff Rolf	May	20	05/20/2015	3
Kelly George	May	20	05/20/2015	3
Tony Lombardo	May	20	05/20/2015	3

New Member Readings and Inductions

No readings or inductions this week.

Sergeants at Arms

Member	Infraction
All those who do not have an avenue of flag subscription	Not having Avenue of Flags subscription
Charlie Tapp	Told golf cart person to not pick up Don Kelley in the parking lot
Christie Gariety	For needing change for a $20 for their 50/50 ticket
Dan Beck	For needing change for a $20 for their 50/50 ticket
Bob Bargmeyer	Needed change for a $20, waited for it to be counted out then realized he had a dollar after all

Happy Bucks!

Member	Reason
Roland Rapp	First Grandson born
Ken Irwin	31st wedding anniversary
Gary Smiga	Centerville Optimist’s team won the golf outing at the Airforce Base for the second year in a row
Myron Rheaume	In the parking lot today, a young lady with a golf cart gave him a ride. As she dropped him off she said she felt good helping a senior.
Cherie Gentry	She and Myron are officially field representatives for OI, they are building clubs
John Spears	Please participate or donate to the Blue Star Mothers golf outing on June 14, 2018
Jeff Zaret	Glad to be back home from Alaska