June 2015 | Volume 42, No. 9
From the President…
I don’t know about you, but I firmly believe that it’s easier to be an optimist in summer than it is in winter. Hopefully, you are all having a great start to, with apologies to Andy Williams, “The most wonderful time of the year.”
I want to thank members who came up with some great ideas for new fundraisers, the goal for last month. I’ll get back to each of you after next week’s Executive Board Meeting on June 16th.
The goal for June is simple; please take a few moments to go over the Optimist Creed and select one or two that you might need to work a little harder on. They weren’t brought down by Moses from Mt. Sinai, but they are wonderful guidelines to making us better people. Personally, I’ll be working on “no time to criticize others”, which I’m happy to say I’m getting better at.
Please remember that the July 3rd Parade is just a few weeks away. It’s a very important event for our club and community, but we need help from many club members to keep it successful. Please volunteer in some capacity if you can — the parade committee is counting on you!
Enjoy the summer everyone,
Jerry Mislang
Executive Board Meeting – May 19th…
The Board met as usual on the third Tuesday of the month. Please remember that Board meetings are open to all members.
We started by approving $1,500 for the MFHS FBLA and their trip to Nationals in Chicago. 29 students will be representing MFHS.
We gave $100 to MFHS softball player Justine Ertl who was one a handful of seniors from across the state selected to play in the Senior Softball All-Star Game in Wisconsin Dells.
North Middle School asked for a donation for their Memorial Day Program and we approved $750.
The MFHS Advancement via Individual Determination Program (AVID) was given a donation of $750, the first time they’ve come to the club with a request for funds.
The donations for May totaled $3,100.
A request for the CMH Emergency room upgrade was not granted based on our donation guidelines.
We approved supporting an “Evening on the Riverwalk” on July 18. This is a new event started by the Bruce Russell from AJ O’Bradys. We agreed to sign for the beer and liquor license and in return Bruce will make a donation back to our club.
We spent some time discussing a variety of other topics and agreed that we need to spend more time on items that can strengthen our club.
All in all, it was another very productive meeting, thank you Executive Board members for your time and talent.
Jerry Mislang
Post Prom 2015…
The 2015 Post-Prom was held at Action Territory in Kenosha for the second year in a row. We had 266 out of 283 prom attendees (94%) bus with us from Silver Spring Country Club to Kenosha. 13 of the students who didn’t make it had jobs Sunday morning or AP testing on Monday.
I know this is redundant, but in this case it’s a good thing. The behavior of the students was once again outstanding and MFHS can be very proud of these kids. And man, can they eat!
I would like to thank the Optimist “Night Owls” for meeting at 11:00 p.m. at MFHS and getting back there after 4:00 a.m. Rick Kohl, Kirsten Sperl. John Seymour, Cathy Sharkey, Steve Fleming and Kathy Matthiessen are truly the Magnificent Seven! And before I get any emails (Tim N.), I know there’s only six, I’m including myself…
We were able to lower the student cost with our check for $1,862 and generous cash donations from Hanson Soft Water, Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral Home and Steliga & Harder, the PTO’s from MFHS, North, Riverside, Shady Lane and Ben Franklin.
We also gave out gift certificates donated by Shelley’s Hallmark, Culvers, De Marinis Pizzeria, Village Bowl, Wittlins Service Station, Worzella Photography, Su Casa, MFHS AD Ryan Anderson and Jimmie Johns. Please patronize these sponsors and thank them for their support.
And to echo every Optimist Event Chairperson, where would we be without our truly special volunteers? Thanks again, you’re the best!
Jerry Mislang
Tri-Star Baseball Contest…
Unfortunately, the Tri‐Star Baseball Skills Contest had to be cancelled this year due to rain, cold, miserable weather. Next year I’ll work on a rain date and field with Little League and the select teams beforehand so that we don’t have this happen again.
Now if we could just borrow Miller Park for a Saturday morning…
Jerry Mislang
July 3rd Parade…
The parade is less than a month away and the parade committee is working hard on every detail to make it a great experience for all who attend. We will have some new units this year to delight the crowd. The parade will include Bernie Brewer and the Klement’s Racing Sausages. There are some new music groups including one all the way from north of Toronto, Canada. Charlie Keller, Steve Fleming and their committee have been working diligently, checking into every detail to make the parade a fun night for all who attend.
The Menomonee Falls Police Department will close Appleton Ave in both directions from Lilly Road to Pilgrim Road at 5:30 PM on July 3. This is earlier than previous years. Please pass this information on to all who are attending the parade or others who use Appleton Avenue regularly.
I still have opportunities for a lot of volunteers to make the parade a success for our club. We need people to help with the Bucket Brigade and selling cotton candy and popcorn on foot. A few other areas just need one or two volunteers. If you have not already done so, please contact me at annfreudenthal@gmail.com and let me know how you can join the fun. Jerry Mislang has offered his home again this year for our volunteer post parade party. Those who have attended his parties in the past know that a fun time is had by all.
I thank you so much for donating your time on July 3 to make this parade a huge success for the Optimist Club of Menomonee Falls.
Ann
Scholarship Golf Outing…
The scholarship golf outing took place on May 20th at Ironwood Golf Course in Sussex. Thanks to everyone involved, from a great committee, to the volunteers that day, to the golfers, and everyone that donated items to the outing, we were able to clear $13,745.26 in profit. Although down from previous years, when I went back and compared numbers, we were at about the same number of golfers (98 18-hole golfers and 10 9-hole golfers). However, we had 6 fewer items in the voice auction, and 10 fewer items in the silent auction. This led to those totals being $4,000 less than the previous year.
I would like to thank my committee of Ken Rutsch, Dean Christianson (even though he is no longer a member, he stayed on for one more year), Don Barranco, Terry Marcou, Larry Barbera, Terry Frisk, Greg Mattson, Tom Ciskoski, and John Yusko. Ken has informed me that this was his last year. His preparedness for meetings and the outing will be truly missed. Thanks, Ken. Special thanks to Matt Hakes for stocking our beverage cart that was sponsored by Matt and Don and VFI. Thanks also to all the volunteers that helped that day – Marcia Hebbring, Dawn Mariscal, Barb Mosley, Steve Fleming, Robin Price, Laura Ciletti, Kirsten Sperl, Kathy Matthiessen, Kristy Gruenwald, Carol Schulteis, John Feltman, and Meg Latus. Sometime jobs may seem small, but knowing once I turned responsibilities over to these volunteers, I did not have to worry that things were getting done properly. Thanks also to Don Gorzek for putting himself in harm’s way sometimes to capture those precious moments with his camera. A noted thanks goes out to Sal Zizzo and Trysting Place Pub. Sal’s donation to our outing this year was $2,200. If you see Sal, please thank him for his donation. Although the day was overcast and a bit cooler than temps we had earlier in the week, at least it did not rain. I hope everyone had fun. We are already planning for next year with a few changes already in mind. The key is getting golfers for the event. Start recruiting now – the 3rd Wednesday in May. Thanks for everyone’s help and donations. It truly is a club effort to raise this much money to give back to the students.
Todd Paulus
Fishing Derby Recap…
A special thanks goes to all who donated time, talents, and enthusiasm to the “2015 Falls Optimist Kids Fishing Derby.”
The final totals showed 149 kids ages 2 to 16 participated in the event; 11 trophies, 55 scoops of Pop’s Custard, 100+ containers of bait supplied by R.B. Enterprises, 149 games of bowling from Krueger’s Entertainment Center, 149 tee-shirts, 149 certificates for frozen yogurt furnished by Yo-Cool Frozen Yogurt and over 130 door prizes were given away. The crowd was estimated at 350 to include the participants, parents, grandparents, friends, etc.
79 of the participants caught a total of 243 fish that included bluegills, bullheads, trout, largemouth bass, a perch, a northern pike and a sucker.
Next year’s event will be Saturday, May 14, 2016! (Photos by Don Gorzek)
Thank you,
Tom Walkner and Tim Newman
Event Co-Chairs
Students of the Month…
Menomonee Falls Optimist Club Student of the Month, for May 2015, from MFHS, is Senior, Kyle Schwister with Optimist Club President Jerry Mislang. Ashley Shaw, Senior, was also named as a Student of the month. (Photo by Don Gorzek)
Menomonee Falls Optimist Club Student of the Month, for May 2015, from North Middle School, is sixth grader, Quentin Redding with Optimist Club President Jerry Mislang. (Photo by Don Gorzek)
Spring Cleanup…
Menomonee Falls Optimist Club 2015 Spring Highway Clean-up took place on May 9. The Optimist Club received helped from Youth League Baseball players. About forty children, with the help of about twenty parents and Optimists members, cleaned Pilgrim Road between Mill Road and Appleton Avenue. (Photos by Don Gorzek)
June Speakers…
June 3rd — Scholarship winners
June 10th — Brent Morris from the Lombardi Foundation
June 17th — Terry Fitzsimmons and the Baseball Team; Oratorical Contest Winner Bhakti Anbarasan
June 24th — Respect for Law with Chief Anna R.
June Birthdays…
| June | |
| 2-Jun | Lynn Grimm |
| 4-Jun | Trudie Yunto |
| 7-Jun | Dr. Brian Stark |
| 9-Jun | Chris Derivan |
| 11-Jun | Jack Pitroff |
| 15-Jun | Bill Hathaway |
| 18-Jun | Terry Marcou |
| 18-Jun | Diane Rawski |
| 19-Jun | John Barnes |
| 19-Jun | Ben Luczak |
| 20-Jun | Meg Latus |
| 20-Jun | Tex Reiter |
| 22-Jun | Ed Jessen |
| 24-Jun | Cathy Hazzard |
| 25-Jun | Dick Muenich |
| 26-Jun | Bruce Russell |
| 27-Jun | Duane Wolfgram |
| 28-Jun | Tom Rutledge |
| 30-Jun | Larry Hebbring |
| 30-Jun | Pat Lynch |
