Phather Phil’s Prayer

Heavenly Father let us all take a deep breath and rid ourselves of all the sad things we’ve been holding onto, including the Winter blues. It’s a New Year and a new season lets be thankful for all our blessings. It’s Spring a
time when youth are happiest and age remembers. It’s time to count our blessings and be happy with what we have and thankful we don’t have what we deserve. Have us put on the persona of Optimism, go out and Spread the joy of Optimism to every person we meet and share the love You so generously heap upon us. Amen!

Committee Notes

Tom Novak thanked those that helped with Avenue of Flags pre-season checkup.

Donna Huss announced that it is only 68 days from the golf outing. Get your forms in soon if you are planning on golfing. Meeting tomorrow night.

Beth Duncan: Derby Party was last Saturday. Thank you to Vida McDowell, Kelly Stone and Diane Arehart. A very special thank you to Cindy and Kirby Gaboury for donating the use of their party room at Audio Etc. Thank you to Charlie Tapp for making and serving the mint Juleps.

Nancy Lehren, “Build a Bear” went great, thanks to all involved. About 80 Children were at build a bear and 9 more children that couldn’t make it had bears made for them. An additional 36 bears were made to send upstairs for later use. A total of 125 bears were made. A special thank you to Lisa Tucker of Bill’s Donuts who donated $3000 for the event. Thanks to Sarah Umbreit for running this event.

Today’s Presentation

Bob Burkman kicked off this year’s John P. Kalaman Respect for Law Award. We honor one law enforcement person from the Centerville Police Department and one from the Washington Township Sheriff’s Department. Bob thanked Gary Anderson and Jesse Gaither for producing the brochure on our tables showcasing the two award recipients.

The honoree from the Centerville Police Department is officer Fauopo Lauofo. He came to the Centerville Police Department on January 2, 1997. He thanked the Optimist Club for giving him the award and for our huge turnout at the blood drive last week in memory of his friend John P. Kalaman. He remembers the day John lost his life serving his community. He said, “It was a cold morning, I was the last face that John saw. It was a rough time.” He thanked John’s parents John and Paula Kalaman for their support.

After Officer Lauofo spoke, Paula Kalaman made some remarks. She thanked Fauopo for being with John, trying to save his life and comforting him.

The honoree from the Washington Township Sheriff’s Department is Detective Linda Shutts. She has been with law enforcement for 13 years and with Washington Township since the fall of 2014. She has been assigned over 1000 cases. Her case clearance rates are well above national averages and she has recovered thousands of dollars for victims of crime. She comes in early and leaves late. Linda tries hard to recover stolen items. Even if she can’t recover the items she likes giving comfort to victims. Linda thanked the Optimist club for naming award after John P. Kalaman and said she is very honored to receive the award.

John and Paula Kalaman came up to the podium after the honorees spoke. Paula said thank you to the Optimists for doing this every year. It doesn’t feel like it is 20 years, it feels like yesterday. Having this honor every year is a great comfort, thank you to the Centerville Noon Optimists.

Today’s Guests

Guest	Guest Of
Josh Boyle	Honoree’s Family
Barb Krizman	Tom Novak
Faupo Lauofo	Honoree
Matt Lauofo	Honoree’s Family
Michael Lauofo	Honoree’s Family
Chu Oparah	Art Hung
Ruth O’Toole	Bob Burkman
Mary Ann Riskus	Mary Madden
Linda Shutts	Honoree
Alex Simon	Bob Duffy
Kate Vriner	Jane Fiehrer

Birthdays

Member	Birthday
Beth Duncan	May 09
Jon Fox	May 10
Jessica King	May 11
Marge Back	May 11

Membership Anniversaries

Member	Month	Day	Joined	# Years
David Kay	May	8	05/08/1992	26
Paul Bowell	May	8	05/08/2000	18

New Member Readings and Inductions

Name	Sponsor	1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction
Wendy Hattan	Robin Golden	3rd Reading
Brendan Cunningham	Mike Bevis	3rd Reading

Sergeants at Arms

Member	Infraction
All members voting for Carol Burkman’s hat at the Derby party.	She won most festive hat at the Derby party. If you voted for her you owe a buck because it was the fifth year of the same hat and you just now figure out it was the best!
Donna Huss	Inappropriate balloon behavior at the Derby Party.
Tom Novak	Drinking a mint Julep that wasn’t his.
Mike Yoder	The assisted entrance button for the front door didn’t work, fined for missed code violation.
Paul Stull	Welcome back to lunch.
Greg Wasmund	For showing up and not bringing a guest like last week.
Gary Aiken	On Derby Party sign up sheet, signed up as Gary and Gary Aiken.
Roland Rapp	Heckling in the badge line.
Brian Nolan	Saying he was ready for a fine.
Jane Fiehrer	Not meeting guest on time.
Chris McAlpine	Starting meeting at 12:01.
Beth Duncan	Talking about going to Napa for her brithday.
Joan Cordonnier	Sitting at the birthday table when it is not your birthday.
Everyone at birthday table without a birthday	Sitting at the birthday table when it is not your birthday.

Happy Bucks!

Member	Reason
Joan Cordonnier	Please vote yes for the rec center levy on May 9, 2018 ballot.
David Ladd	Birth of first great grandchild
Donna Huss	Great Derby party and had a lot of fun not being in charge of it.
Dr Dan Passidomo	Daughter graduated from UK over the weekend.
Melissa DeShurko	Son graduating from DePaul University.
Nancy Lehren	Birth of 7th grand child.
Nancy Lehren	Successful build a bear.
Paula Kalaman	Successful blood drive, thank you to optimists that came out to support.
Myron Rheaume	At Ohio District, 21 CNO members recognized for their Dime a Day donations. He was also nominated for 2019-20 Optimist Governor of Ohio.
Wes Cleaves	Grandson graduating college.
Bob Burkman	Can finally retire Carol’s hat from the Derby party since she won best hat this year.