Erin Dickerson’s Prayer
“There’s no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let others get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.” – Anonymous
Lord,
We are all made in your image, yet not one of us is perfect. Give us the strength, courage, grace, and love to embrace and appreciate our imperfections and to inspire others to do the same.
Amen.
Thanks for a Successful Americana 5K Event
Beth Duncan said thank you to everyone that helped get the Americana 5k to the starting line! CNO is a big part of putting this event on and making it a fun Independence Day tradition. Twenty-nine Optimists offered helping hands and friendly smiles for two days of packet pick-up, early morning race day registration and other various tasks. The 5k this year brought 977 participants from 24 states, including Hawaii! Thank you to the CNO 5K Committee.
Thank You for a Successful Americana Booth
Beth Duncan gave a special thank you to Karen Charnesky for chairing the CNO Americana booth. She arranged for all the shifts to be filled and passed out 1000 beach balls to parade goers! Thank you, Karen, for stepping up to the plate to chair this event as a brand-new member of CNO! You are a great addition to our club!
Thank You to the Staff at Yankee Trace
Beth called up all the servers, managers, and chefs from Yankee Trace. Each one of them received a thank you balloon and they received a bunch of delicious brownies to share. On behalf of CNO, Beth thanked them for all they do to make our lunches pleasant and delicious.
Bill and Kelly Stone Recognized by Optimist International Foundation
Bill and Kelly Stone were recognized by the Optimist International Foundation at the 2023 Convention last week. Beth asked them to join her at the podium today as she announced to us why they were recognized.
Beth announced that to date Bill and Kelly Stone have donated over $100,0000 to the Optimist International Foundation and they became lifetime members of the William H. Harrison Society. Their generosity is felt worldwide.
Announcements
- Bill Stone announced that the Lebanon Optimist Club is holding their annual fundraiser, “Lebanon Blues Festival” on August 4-5, 2023. On Friday there will be three bands and on Saturday eight. Additionally, there will be food trucks, art and other fun activities and shopping.
- Debe Dockins thanked CNO for its $2500 donation for The Wall That Heals that will be on display at Yankee Park from July 27 to July 30, 2023. They need more volunteers. Sign up to volunteer or learn more using this link.
- Erin Dickerson said that you can download the forms to register for the Ohio District Convention online here. The convention is from August 10 to August 12 with an awesome Gala on August 12, 2023. All members can attend.
- Bob Glavin announced that TOP Soccer for special needs children and adults starts in August. He is looking for assistant coaches with no soccer experience needed. There will be 150 players on 8 fields. All you need to do is be enthusiastic and empathetic for the players. Please contact Bob Glavin if you can help. You may also sign-up online to help using the Member Calendar.
- Erin Dickerson announced the Big Backyard Party will be on 7/29/2023 from 11 AM to 2 PM at Oak Grove Park. They need volunteers to engage the community from the CNO booth and help explain what we do and why someone would want to join CNO. Signup online to help using the Member Calendar.
- Bob Lawson announced that the Optimist Kids Day in the Park will be on 8/5/2023 at Delco Park. Signup online to help using the Member Calendar.
- Katie Calloway announced that the first committee meeting for Safetyville Square 2024 will be Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at 5:30pm at Lizard Apparel (775 Congress Park Drive). If you are interested in helping on this committee, please contact Katie Calloway. She said it is being held right after the program ended to keep the momentum going and talk about how to improve the program for years to come. They will also review the feedback submitted from parents.
- Beth Duncan announced that the Optimist International Convention next year will be held at Niagara Falls. Please consider going as it is a great and informative time. Remember to get your passport updated as it is being held in Canada.
Optimist International Convention 2023 recap
From Beth Duncan:
The OI Convention was a complete success. We had fun, laughter, motivational speakers, workshops, etc.
Keynote speaker Amy Downs is so inspiring. She survived the Oklahoma City Bombing and shared her horrific story of being buried amongst the rubble waiting for the fearless first responders to rescue her. Her message was a true inspiration of Hope.
Keynote speaker Kelly Schaefer was hit by a drunk driver at the age of 19. Before that she was a cheerleader and attending college and instead became a quadriplegic. She, too, was an inspiration. She didn’t let any of this get her down. She became a teacher, got married and adopted two adorable children, who were all in the audience.
We went to many workshops to learn how we can make our Optimist Club even more robust than it is and learned so much from all of the other attendees all across the world!
We ate, drank, laughed and made new friends. It was so wonderful being in a group of people that are like-minded and Optimistic! Being with that group of people made you dream a little about how we can make even more of an impact for our youth, community, and ourselves!
Safetyville Square Recap
Beth Duncan introduced Katie Calloway, the chair of the Safetyville Square Committee. Katie reminded us that she spoke at a March meeting to prepare the club for Safetyville Square, and that she had gone over the structure of the program at that time.
You can view Katie’s slide deck of the presentation here.
From Katie Calloway:
While playing a slideshow of pictures from this year’s sessions, Katie talked in greater detail about what students learn and do. Over the course of four, two-hour sessions, each student gets a chance to learn about pedestrian, bicycle, motorist, playground, fire, home, school bus, and water safety. Beyond just learning about those things, they get to climb inside of a police car, fire truck/ambulance, and school bus. They try on life jackets and practice pulling in life preservers. They talk about avoiding prescriptions and medicines, and how to safely approach animals.
After showing what the sessions are like, Katie talked about the partnership between Centerville Noon Optimist, Washington Township Fire Department, Centerville Police, Montgomery County Sheriff Department, Washington Township RecPlex, Centerville City Schools, and the Mark A. Kreusch Memorial Fund, which makes Safetyville Square possible.
Katie shared the impact of this project next. There were 240 students from rising Kindergarteners to 2nd graders registered in one of the six sessions. These students represented 32 schools from Centerville/Washington Township and surrounding areas.
We had over 120 student volunteers sign up and awarded 2,255 volunteer hours to these volunteers, who were between 11 and 18 years old, and who came from all 3 Centerville middle schools, plus CHS, Incarnation, and Alter.
Thank you to all the CNO volunteers who helped by taking a shift at Safetyville Square or offered to do so. Thank you to Debbie Wright and other members of Centerville Evening Optimist for turning over this well-prepared project and for their guidance along the way.
To keep the momentum going, the Safetyville Square committee will be starting meetings right away and talking about how to improve the program for years to come. The first committee meeting is Tuesday, July 25, at 5:30pm at Lizard Apparel (775 Congress Park Drive). If you are interested in helping on this committee, please contact Katie Calloway.
Community Partners for Safetyville Square
- Washington Township Fire Department
- Centerville Police Department
- Centerville City Schools
- Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
- Washington Township RecPlex
- Mark A Kreusch Memorial Fund
Impact Of Safetyville Square
- 240 children registered
- Students from 32 different schools – majority (151) from PVS, PVN, and Incarnation
- 107 entering Kindergarten
- 70 First Grade
- 63 Second Grade
- 120+ registered volunteers
- 2255 volunteer hours
- Volunteers were between 11 and 18 years old
- Attend all 3 Centerville middle schools, CHS, Incarnation, and Alter
Thanks to the CNO Volunteers for Safetyville Square
- Paul Stull
- Beth Duncan
- Salli Duncan
- Diane Arehart
- Sharon Baker
- Tom Duncan
- Evelyn Griffin
- Carol Smerz
- Bob Myers
- Mike Creech
- Thanks to Rachel Goetz, Bob Foster, Gail Aiken for offering their time
- Special Thanks to Debbie Wright from Centerville Evening Optimist
Welcome Guests
| Guest | Guest Of |
| Alice Onady | Bob Glavin |
| Christy Clemmer | Tim Clemmer |
| Cindy Lowndes | Suzanne Werts |
| Jorge Noj | Craig Dring |
| Julie Woodruff | Kelly Stone |
| Leah Goeke | Matt Goeke |
| Molly Moreland | Kelly Stone |
| Tracy Sommers | Katie Calloway |
New Member Readings and Inductions
| Name | Sponsor | 1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction |
| Julie Woodruff | Bill Stone | 1st Reading |
| Chastity Irwin | Brent Richburg | 2nd Reading |
| Nancy Henson | Jackie Powell | Induction |
| Matt Goeke | Chris McAlpine | Induction |
Happy Bucks
| Member | Reason |
| Bob Glavin | Just returned from an AWESOME week playing golf in Scotland with his son, daughter, and her husband and a special “Happy Buck” for his wife Sheila, who watched the 2 year old for the week so all of them could go! |
| Megan Dalton | Glad to be back for some Optimism after missing a couple of months |
| Myron Rheaume | Great time with 12 CNO members at the OI Convention – he highly recommends going since you get to interface with people from all over the world |
| Myron Rheaume | Granddaughter Kira got married last weekend and his son Scott (a CNO member) danced with a bridesmaid at the reception |
| Gary Anderson | Scott Langer misled him where the turn around was for the 5K when Gary was the rabbit the runners were following; there were several obstacles that gave him a good story |
| Paula Kalaman | Thanks to all the members for going to see their son’s name at the Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington DC |
| Jean Pummill | She has attended numerous OI Annual Conventions and the one last week was one of the best and the one next year it is not over the Independence Day so hopefully more members can attend |
Sergeants at Arms
| Member | Infraction |
| Bob Glavin | Forgot to grab his name badge |
| Bob Lawson | Gave the wrong date for the Optimist Kids Day in the Park Event during today’s announcements |
| Myron Rheaume | He and Charla were great dancers at the OI Annual Convention, like Dancing with the Stars good! |
| Myron Rheaume | Hiding Beth Duncan’s dinner at the OI Annual convention |
| Diane Arehart | Not wearing an Optimist pin when shown on TV while attending a Reds game at the Washington Nationals |
| Jean Pummill | Not wearing an Optimist pin when shown on TV while attending a Reds game at the Washington Nationals |
| Mark Karns | Not wearing an Optimist pin when shown on TV while attending a Reds game at the Washington Nationals |
| Bill Stone | Not wearing an Optimist pin when shown on TV while attending a Reds game at the Washington Nationals |
| Kelly Stone | Not wearing an Optimist pin when shown on TV while attending a Reds game at the Washington Nationals |
| Mark Karns | Asked Beth for help to order Optigear at the OI Convention at a bad time |
Membership Anniversaries
| Member | Joined | Years |
| Dave Gaines | July 14, 2022 | 1 |
| Cameron Langer | July 14, 2022 | 1 |
| Terry Lewis | July 14, 2022 | 1 |
| Steve Mays | July 14, 2022 | 1 |
| Bob Bargmeyer | July 17, 2014 | 9 |
| Tom Beery | July 17, 2014 | 9 |
| Jeff Papanek | July 17, 2014 | 9 |
Birthdays
| Greg McAfee | July 12 |
| Denise Green | July 15 |
| Sue Brubaker | July 16 |
CNO Donations – 2013 through July 2023
Click here to see a summary of donations the club has made since 2013
Thank You Notes Received
No Thank You Notes were received this week.