August 2015 | Volume 42, No. 11

From the President…
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as the MFHS Boys State Baseball Champions has. It’s been very exciting for the team, school and Menomonee Fall’s community. Congratulations to all involved!

The goal for August focuses on your membership renewal. You should have or will be getting your 2015/2016 renewal form. It’s important to remember that your membership fee supports not only the Greater Menomonee Falls area youth programs but also the youth programs of our parent club, Optimist International.

We occasionally lose several members this time of year for one reason or another. But for those of you who are “on the fence”, please take some time to remember what your membership fee is for; your “Friend of Youth” club. This isn’t just a slogan; it’s what your club really believes in.

Your membership fee is very important to programs that encourage, develop and enrich the kids in our community. Many groups come to us first or when they have no other place to turn to for monetary help.

I believe that when you think about all the good things your membership fees and your club does for literally hundreds and hundreds of kids, your decision to “re-up” for at least one more year will be a little easier.

Now, let’s enjoy the rest of our summer and remember the NFL season is right around the corner. “Go Packers”!

AND since I don’t want to offend members who root for other teams AND knowing this is membership renewal month, “Go Vikings” and “Go Bears”. Jeez, I never thought I could do that…it hurts!

Jerry Mislang

 

Here Again…..
With the Brewers hopelessly mired in the basement, it’s time once again for the Annual Packer Raffle. In this our 19th annual effort, we plan to surpass $20,000 in profit to make this our year’s biggest fundraiser once again.

Team captains met on Wednesday, July 15 and the 17 teams are already rolling. Tickets were given to all captains, and by now all members should have been contacted by their captain. Those who have not been, and need to know what team they are on, should see the complete list found elsewhere in this newsletter. Phone your leader as soon as possible to be sure that you at least get a ticket for yourself, and hopefully some to sell. However, no one is required to either buy or sell any tickets!

For the 30 new members and those veterans who may have forgotten the particulars….

• First Prize is a trip for eight people to Lambeau Field to see the Packers play in any of their eight regular season games. Also included are a luxury limo to and from the game, a tailgate party at Lambeau, Packer wearing apparel, food and beverage enroute to Green Bay, and $1,000 cash to be used however the eight winners the limo ride from anywhere in Wisconsin.
• Tickets cost $100 each, but remember it’s for eight people. So four couples could pay $25 each, or eight buddies could chip in $12.50. $70 of the ticket cost is tax deductible.
• Second prize is $1,000; Third prize is $600; Fourth prize is $400. Thirteen more prizes of $250 will be given, and one person will win a free entry for 2016.
• Sales are limited to no more than 350 tickets. Therefore, with 18 prizes, contestants have a better than 1 in 20 chance of more than doubling their money.
• Each ticket allows one person to come to the drawing and tailgate party held at the Village Bowl on Monday, Sept. 14 starting at 5:30 p.m. Over $2,000 in door prizes will be given out to those in attendance that night. Others who have contributed to the purchase of the ticket can attend for $10. Free food, beer and soda make it a fun event.
• When you get your ticket(s) from your captain, please try and sell them. They’re really an easy sell. At least, consider buying one yourself or with a friend. Those you don’t sell should be returned to your captain not passed on to someone else.
• Stubs and money should be returned to your captain or can be turned in to Dan Schwind at Town Bank in the Falls.
• Deadline for turning in stubs and money or unsold tickets is Wednesday, Sept 2.
• Remember to write your name on the back of each ticket you sell/buy as there is a $50 cash award to the person selling the winning ticket and an additional $50 cash prize to the person selling the most tickets
• You may download the attached flyer to use in your sales. They will also be distributed at the regular Optimist meetings. Let’s get on board to raise some big money for the youth of our community!

Ed Schlumpf

 

Welcome New Members….

Rob and Lisa Baumhardt
sponsored by Lynette Shepherd
Mike and Tracey Wilson
sponsored by Lynette Shepherd
Kimberly Wenzel
sponsored by Kay Weber

 

Distinguished Young Women….

On Saturday, August 1, Ritika Punathil, an incoming senior at the high school, participated in the Distinguished Young Women of Wisconsin program. Ritika represented Menomonee Falls in the most positive way both on the stage and in the community. I overheard so many people complimenting her poise, sense of humor, kindness, and overall attitude. She received the overall Scholastics award and scholarship, which is given to the participant with the highest academic score based on her GPA, class rank, course schedule, and ACT score. The academic competition was incredibly tough this year, with many participants bringing ACT scores in the 33-35 range. Ritika taking home this award is a huge honor.

Ali Dwyer

 

Membership Dues….

Invoices for membership dues for the 2015-16 year will be ready for distribution on Wednesday, July 15, 2015. The due date to receive your payment is September 1, 2015. The dues structure remains the same for the upcoming year.

Fees
Member:
Couple:
Life Member:
(Life Member = Past Presidents
before 2001 who were eligible.)
Life Member & Spouse: $140

As you can imagine, collecting dues from 201 members is a huge job for the treasurer and the membership committee. We must have our roster set with Optimist International by October 1, 2015. It is critical that we have an accurate roster by that date as our club is charged quarterly dues at that time.

Optimist International collects $62.37 annually per regular member. The bulk of that is used to provide liability insurance coverage for our club. Other expenses include payroll for the OI staff, travel for the OI President and Board of Directors, and the Optimist magazine.

If, for any reason, you do not wish to or are unable to continue your membership with the club please let me know. While we are sorry to see anyone leave we also understand that things change in your life. We just need to know one way or the other so that our roster is as accurate as possible. If there are financial reasons that make it difficult to pay your dues please see me make arrangements for payment. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Cathy Sharkey

 

Speaker’s Schedule….

8/19 – MFHS Football Team and the State Champion Baseball Team
8/26 – Dr. Pat Greco, Menomonee Falls Superintendent of Schools

 

Popcorn Wagon
Captains….
8/9 – 8/15 Tom Ciskoski and Greg Mattson
8/16 – 8/22 Larry Barbera
8/23 – 8/29 Dan Schwind
8/30 – 9/5 JJ Selland

 

Girls Soccer Coach Stein, introduced eight of the 24 ladies that represented Menomonee Falls High School at the WIAA State Meet. This year makes the first time the Girls Soccer team made it to the State Meet in MFHS history. The Optimist Club provided special funding to help the team during the State Meet.

 

Optimist Club member, Ann Freudenthal and of the Patio Players’ Kids Summer Camp presented a club program at the July 22, 2015 Club meeting. She introduced nine of 75 youth that took part in this years training program. Jake Koch, age 12, attended camp for his fourth year and sang for Optimist members. Finishing her seventh camp year, Mary Antrim, age 15, talked about the many skills she learned over the years. Mary attends Dominican High School. Anna Antrim, age 13, sang for the Optimist after completing her sixth year of camp. Anna attends St. Anthony Parish School. The MF Optimist Clubs provides funding for the youth attending theater camp.

 

The Menomonee Falls Optimist Club evening meeting was held on July 29, 2015, The special program for the evening was “Beer Basics” presented by Mike Barney, a brewing biochemist.

 

“A Nght on the River Walk” took place on July 18, 2015. The event was organized by Optimist Club member Bruce Russell, owner of AJ O’Brady’s, and sponsored in part by the Menomonee Falls Optimist Club. Dawn Mariscal, of the Optimist Club, developed a welcome booth for the event. About forty businesses were represented with booths along the river walk. The characters from the Disney production of “Frozen” sang songs and posed for photographs with children attending the event.

Be sure to visit the club Facebook page for more photos.

 

August Birthdays….

6 Jason Goetze
6 Walt Wyczawski
7 Terry Fitzsimmons
8 Cory Kleeba
10 Barb Price
10 Scott Krause
12 Barb Schmit
15 Linda Christman
15 Randy Newman
15 Terry Thomas
15 Diane Matuszak
16 Don McInnes
17 Janet Perry
19 Nick Barbera
19 Kathy Mattheissen
20 Deborah Mattson
26 Jeff Steliga