November 2016 | Vol. 44, No. 1
The Optimizer
November 2016
Menomonee Falls Optimist Club
—- Meeting schedule —-
All meetings are at 7:15 am at the Community Center except as noted.
| Nov. 2 | Night meeting at MFHS, meet in the libraryArrive at 6:00, meeting at 6:30Bob Vitale, principal, FBLA students, tour of the high school |
| Nov. 9 | Volleyball, Cross Country or Girls Golf – tentative |
| Nov. 16 | Students of the month |
| Nov. 23 | Barb Schuelke – sex trafficking |
| Nov. 30 | Area weather forecaster – tentative |
| Dec. 7 | Christmas Party at North Hills Country Club |
—- Message from the President —-
The 2016-17 Optimist Club year is starting to shape up as an exciting year for all of our Club members. The evening meeting committee has planned out some very interesting events and locations for our group. This will be a trial plan for a year. The goal is to afford members who cannot attend the morning meetings a chance to be more involved. I would like to thank the evening committee members Lynette Shepherd, Jan Barbera, and Jeanine Dederich for all their time and efforts.
A goal that I have for the coming year is to get newer members involved with one of the nearly forty committees that we have. Working with Club members that you may not know will help bond our group. Many of those in committee leadership have been working those roles for years. They have expressed a desire to train others to take over their duties. They would like to be involved with different activities in our Optimist Club that they may not have had time for.
Being involved with the Optimist Club can be refreshing and rewarding. I hope to see and talk with you at a future Club meeting or event.
All the Best to You,
Don Gorzek
—- Night meetings —-
Trying Something New!
Mark your calendars now for an evening Optimist meeting on the first Wednesday of the month, pending no other evening events occur for that month. See the web site for the list of night meetings.
On Wednesday, October 5 our meeting was held at the Old Falls Village. They graciously welcomed 40 Optimist members, 19 of whom do not typically attend a morning meeting. A tour of Old Falls Village was provided and the Optimists were thanked for their generous donation to their “Halloween Family Fun Night”. Several members gathered at Mr. Brews Taphouse after the meeting for “buy your own” treats and beverages.
Join us on Wednesday, November 2 in the Menomonee Falls High School library at 6:30 p.m. Our normal business meeting will be led by President Don and guest speakers will be Bob Vitale, new high school principal, and the FBLA students. This will be followed by a tour of the high school, including the new weight room which our club has generously supported. You won’t want to miss all of the exciting things happening at the high school! You are welcome to continue the evening at DJs Goalpost and socialize with fellow Optimists!
Committee chairs also are invited to speak about their upcoming events at night meetings and recruit volunteers. We invite you and your guests to attend our night meetings and get involved!
Jeanine Dederich
—- Executive Board Meeting —-
October Board Briefings – October 18, 2016
President Don Gorzek led his first official Board meeting on Wednesday, October 18, 2016. Meeting synopsis is as follows:
- Board position left vacant with Jeanine Dederich moving to 2nd Vice President position. Todd Paulus was given numerous recommendations and was unanimously voted in for a one year term.
- Donation requests:
- Request from principal, special education teacher and kindergarten teacher at Marcy Elementary School for donation for accessible playground for students with special needs. Approved $3000 which includes Optimist Club recognition on a plaque or pathway donor brick.
- Request from Terry Frisk for Falls boys basketball program needs. Approved $500 for sponsorship which includes Optimist Club ad in their program booklet.
- Request from North Middle School for sponsoring “Your Choice” program – alcohol and drug prevention program. The Optimist Club has supported this program the past 2 years and approved $500 for this year’s program.
- Committee reports ~ request for JOOI program at Lannon Elementary School. Todd Paulus will get more details.
- Treasurer’s report ~ thanks to Rick Kohl for providing four years of donation history. This will be beneficial as decisions are made for funding requests.
- Old Business ~ on the agenda for insurance purposes, Don provided a list of 2016-2017 events and committees and included “not limited to” as disclaimer.
- New Business ~ Don requested approval of a free service called “e-Local Link” which links our webpage to the Chamber of Commerce.
- Unanimously approved Kirk Woosencraft as new member. Swearing in to be scheduled.
The Board meets the third Tuesday of every month at 7:00a.m. Members include:
Don Gorzek, President
Lynette Shepherd, 1st Vice President
Jeanine Dederich, 2nd Vice President
Larry Podolske, Treasurer
Ted Klumb, Past President
Board Members: Sue Carney, Tom Dueppen, Len Kimmel, Chris O’Reilly, Todd Paulus, Rose Schwartz
Jeanine Dederich
—- New Members —-
Please join the membership committee in an optimistic welcome to our newest members; Maribel & Steve Luehring (sponsors Mary & Ed Schlumpf), Jason Husslein (from the Rec Dept) (sponsor Larry Podolske) and Kirk Woosencraft (from the SDMF) (sponsor-Don Gorzek) – induction ceremonies to follow!!
Also please welcome newly installed Gail Heineke (sponsor-Laurie Pollpeter) who was inducted at our Installation Banquet on Sep 22 and Jaspal Arora (Ted Klumb), Rema Kunrath (Ted Klumb), Tim Vanderhorst (Faith Vanderhorst), Dustin Koehler (Del Krueser), Heidi Konrath (Diane Matuszak), Kathryn Hoff (Ted Klumb) and Jerry Behrens (Joanne Wanner) all new members (and their sponsors) inducted over the past few months.
Welcome to the best club in Menomonee Falls!!
We would like to extend a congratulations to new member Jerry Behrens for the Rookie of the Year Award for going above and beyond with volunteer efforts even before he became an “official” Optimist!!
Thank you to all Optimists who joined us at the Three Cellars Wine Store for our Membership Drive Meeting in June!! Especially to the committee heads who came to talk about their events!! It was a great turn out and resulted in a few new members!!
We will be having a New Member Reception in November for them & their sponsors to educate them on all the wonderful events and fundraisers they can participate in to Bring Out the Best in Kids and get to know our other wonderful members. Current membership is 209.
JJ Selland & Lynette Shepherd
—- Upcoming Events —-
Annual Yard Clean-Up
The Optimist Club “Leaf Raking for Seniors” event will take place on Saturday, November 12th this year. Youth Groups from the community will once again gather together this fall to rake leaves for our Menomonee Falls seniors. Homeowner donations are matched by the Optimists and are given back to the volunteers for youth programs. If you know someone that would like their yard raked, have them contact the Community Center at 255-8460 to sign up.
Matt Goihl
Magic Show
The Magic show will be held on Saturday November 12 at 11 AM at Menomonee Falls Middle School Auditorium. This event is free for any optimist and their children or grandchildren. Christin Trist is a renowned Magician with his own Show Palace in Lake Geneva.
Charlie Keller
Holiday Drop and Shop
The 6th Annual Parent Holiday Drop & Shop will be held on Saturday, December 3rd. There will be a Pre Event Instructional/Informational Meeting on Wednesday, November 9th to begin promptly at 6:30 pm. This meeting will be held at the American Legion Post #382 in the basement bar. The American Legion post is located on Main St and Church St (next to Hanson’s Soft Water, Pete’s Headliners and across the street from Nino’s Bakery). If you are interested in helping out, please contact Dawn Mariscal at dmariscal@wi.rr.com or phone/text to 262-442-4952. If you are not able to attend this meeting but are still interested in helping out, please let Dawn know and a meeting recap will be emailed out to you.
Dawn Marsical
Christmas Party
Save the date for a great Christmas party! Wednesday, December 7th, at North Hills Country Club. Watch for more info and a sign-up sheet to be coming around soon!
Carol Schulteis & Kristy Gruenwald
—- Past Events —-
PACKER RAFFLE SETS NEW RECORD
This year’s 20th Annual Packer Raffle proved to be the most profitable ever with net receipts coming in at an all-time record high of $21,659.16. That is $407.42 more than the projected return of $21,251.24 estimated back in July and compares with $21,173.80 earned last year. The previous record was $21,375.18 made in 2013.
The Grand Prize winner was Dave Hintze of Menomonee Falls who chose the Seahawk-Green Bay game on Dec. 11 for his trip. Optimist members Kay Weber and Larry Podolske took home the $1,000 and $600 second and third place prizes. Other club members in the money at $250 each were Dan Knodl, Gerilyn Yanke, Greg Mattson, Joe Ludan and Scott Stein. Another Optimist, Dan Stadler, won a free entry to next year’s event. Jeff Heim of the Falls copped the $400 fourth place prize. Other $250 winners were Tim Kelley, Jean Badzio, Bill Burki, Rita Stelpflug, Mike Lynch and Roger Hucki, all of MF and Kirk Woosencraft of Milwaukee and Patricia Uttke of Oak Creek.
A smaller than normal turnout at Village Bowl for the Sept. 12 tailgate party never-the-less took advantage of a more spacious table arrangement and contributed freely to the in-house raffle and the selling of Packer tickets donated by Ted Klumb.
Special thanks go to many people including….
Pete Riopel and the Village Bowl staff for the facilities, meal and door prize donation.
Donors of In-House Raffle prizes: Malkins Flooring, Joe Ludan and Broadway Limo and Coach Services, the Milwaukee Admirals and Donna Bosch. Also a vote of appreciation to Ted Klumb who donated Packer tickets that were raffled off on behalf of First Weber Realtors. Donating door prizes were Larry Hebbring, Main Street Framing in Lannon, Ann Freudenthal, Dennis Steinle and Paul Dross.
Matt Hakes’ VFI firm covered the cost of the winners’ tailgate party to be held at Lambeau Field. Dan Schwind and Town Bank donated funds to pay for the food and drinks on the winners’ limo trip to Green Bay. Barry Landowski’s Minute Man Press printed the flyers at no cost to the club. Rog Rogers’ State Farm Insurance and Terry Marcou/Schmidt Bartelt Funeral Services paid for the printing of the tickets.
Volunteering as auditors, ticket-takers, raffle sellers and door prize coordinators were Mary Schlumpf, Tom Ciskoski, Tom Dueppen, Meg Latus, Herb Gross, Dan Schwind, Larry and Marcia Hebbring, Tex Reiter, Greg Mattson, Tony Bawiec, John Seymour, Del Kreuser and Joe Ludan.
Team captains this year were Tim Newman, Jerry Mislang, Donna Bosch, Dan Schwind, Terry Fitzsimmons, Larry Hebbring, Chad DeLuka, Meg Latus, Del Kreuser, Herb Gross, Carl Trapp Sr., Diane Matuszak, Steve Fleming, Mary Schumpf, Joe Ludan, Tom Ciskoski and me. A big shout-out goes to Brenda Foote, a non-club member who sold 16 tickets again at her Water Street Pub in the Falls.
Finally, without the tireless efforts of co-chair Dan Schwind who coordinated advance ticket sales and who took control while I went to Canada fishing, this huge undertaking would never have been the success that it was.
As per usual, suggestions for improving next year’s event can be voiced to any of the captains listed above.
Ed Schlumpf
Football Craze
This year’s Football Craze Raffle was a success due to club participation and Jan Barbera. We’ve always increased our ticket sales each year, but with Jan as Co-Chair we doubled what we did last year and sold 1000 tickets. This is not an easy task when trying to keep everything organized matching money and ticket sales (like herding stray cats). The club raised $12,800.00.
Most club members helped by buying tickets or taking to sell. Jan set up 18 team Captain’s along with 4 local establishments with 20 or more tickets and they blanketed the USA to sell out this year’s tickets. Captains were: Linda Zylka, Don Barranco, Kevin Mitschke, Bill Haise, Diane Matuszak, Carl Trapp, Brad Bence, Nick Barbera, Kirstin Sperl, Herb Gross, Rick Kohl, Greg Mattson, Tom Ciskoski, Lenny Kimmel, Dan Schwind, Tim Newman and “JJ” John Selland. All the Captains did a good job, but we had some stand outs with Jan leading ticket sales with over 132 sold. Kirstin Sperl sold 65 and had 60 sold before June 30th, Dan Schwind and Carl Trapp sold 55+, Don Barranco sold 50, Brad Bence 40, team Ciskoski/Mattson/Carini 49, Terry Frisk 31, Rick Kohl 30, JJ 28, Nick Barbera 28, Gary Pollpeter 25, Linda Zylka 23, Lenny Kimmel 19, Dawn Mariscal 18, Kevin Mitschke 18. We had a slew of members selling multiple tickets and really contributing to the success of the sales; Todd Paulus, Kristy Gruenwald, Diane Matuszak, Herb Gross, Larry Barbera, Tim Newman, Jerry Behrens, Terry Fitzsimmons, Terry Marcou, Jean Dederich, Jean Christian, Ryan Anderson, Tracy and Mike Wilson, Mike Yanke, Charlie Keller, Don Gorzek, Dick Muenich, Robin Turtenwald and Del Krueser. Players Pub, AJ’s and Sal’s did a good job selling to their patrons, but Don Matavich at DJ’s sold all 40 tickets most of them to his family. Remember to thank them for their help. Again, this was a club effort and thank you for your help and enabling us to “Do the Best for Kids”.
As of Week 5 we’ve had 11 winners for a total of almost $400.00. We still have 12 weeks to go.
Larry Hebbring
—- JOOI Club —-
The Junior Optimist Club is happy to be back to school and back to building up membership. We participated in the high school’s co-curricular fair and are happy about the number of interested students we were able to talk to. So far this year we have had the opportunity to volunteer at the “Run with Wolfes” race benefiting brain cancer research and at the MFHS Band’s Recycling Drive. We also had a pizza social at our meeting a few weeks ago as we collected membership dues and forms. We are looking forward to being a part of the Optimist Club organized leaf raking event in November!
Alison Leon
—- Students of the Month —-
Menomonee Falls Optimist Club Student of the Month, for October 2016, from Menomonee Falls High School, Seniors David Koier and from North Middle School, Caden Wilson, and Mariel Hood, with Don Gorzek, Optimist Club President. Not pictured is Colin Cooksey of MFHS,
—- This Month in Club History —-
November, 2003 – Incoming president Chris Pitrof unveils a new name for the club’s monthly publication. “The Newsletter” becomes “The Optimizer” and features new graphics and print.
—- Thank You Notes —-
The club received thank you notes from the following:
- Cops & Kids
- Wheeling for Healing
- Blessings in a Backpack
