Haunted Hayride pictures...Witches Corner....

WITCHES CORNER A HIT AGAIN WITH THE VISITORS.....

2008's Haunted Hayride was faced with some challenges. During the day it threatened to rain and had a breeze that put a chill in the air. Those who came to help set up were faced with billowing winds that had the tarps flying until the hay was delivered that was used to hold down the tarps. Once we got going we had traffic for a while until about 9:00 it died down. We have the honor of having BATMAN this year as our alternate character and had his time in the spot light where some of the kids wanted BATMAN instead of the witch but the surprise is some of the kids were afraid of our dynamic hero and chose the WITCH as the person to take their picture with. The popcorn hands were passed out and we gave out over 130 of them. We took about 50 pictures and many of them took their own pictures as well. Overall, a good night. So if anyone has pictures they would like to post, please send them to me and I can add them on the blog. WE had a friend of Larry Chitwood who stopped and helped us with the tarps before we started. He put in a lot of time and energy and we are glad he stopped by. His name is Sam Latrelle (hope I spelled right). Thanks Sam. We had one student who was looking for community service hours and we put him to work as well. His name was Mitchell Askew, Again thank you Mitch. Please enjoy the pictures......

Larry helping with the tarps , as you can see it was breezy and cool.

With John on the ladder, he got support from left to right: Larry, Dave and Sarah.


Mitch Askew (volunteer) along with Sheila

Witch Christy sharing a romantic moment with hubby John. Don't they make a nice couple!!!
The Davis' at their best...

Visitor that would not get close to the characters...

Pinocchio took time to take a picture with Witch and Batman

Guess who??? Left to right; Kathy Doty, Witch Christy, Erma Doty and John Davis

More visitors with our characters...

ride baby ride.......

Larry Chitwood's granddaughter didn't seem to like being near characters...

Another group with our characters...

Caley kids come for their picture....

Pictures of the Jr Optimist with Witch and Batman, they had the time of their life with their set up for the visitors and we could hear all of the screams as people passed them.

Optimist works on hands for Witches Corner....

Halloween is right around the corner and the Optimist Club is getting ready for the Haunted Hayride event. Last year we stuffed some gloves to make them look like popcorn hands and we decided to do them again. This year we had a lot of popcorn and just made them until we ran out of gloves. They can be tricky but we did good and made over 270 hands to pass out to the kids as they come through Witches Corner. Look for pictures in the near future.
We had some guests who stopped by to visit and we put them to work. Larry Chitwood invited the guys from Shaw Supply who are located on Jefferson Ct, just north of I70. They came for a visit and we put them to work and filled them in on the fabulous things we do in our club. Hope they come again, we can always use an extra set of HANDS.... hee hee..

Kathy, Erma and Ann.
Danni Arnold and her friend Amy Waltrip.
Larry with the fellows from Shaw Supply. From let to right: Larry, Mike Reeder, Patrick Shaw, Brian Shaw and not in photo, John Shaw. Their business is in electrical supplies, lamps, tools and Balis items. Welcome to the our club meeting and thanks for your help.

workign as a team.
Arnolds, Carol and Amy
Jim and his youngsters.
More of Jim and JOOS

a little dark but another picture of the workers
Arnolds
Dave, Carl and Carol.
Ann caught in the picture with ladies in the background.

Grain Valley Band wins big....

At our meeting on Saturday 10-11-08, Jim Brown updated us on the band. 12 of the 13 members of the JOOS club are in the band. Jim mentioned that Grain Valley got their first invitation to go to the Blue Springs Invitational and were in Division 4A on 10-4-08. GRain Valley made 1st place and missed grand champions by one point.
Very good for their first attendance.

Thanks for the information and let me know if I got things incorrect or left something out.

Dictionary responses.... 10-11

At Saturday meeting, we got to read some of the thank you notes that we got from the kids who received the dictionaries. I found one that was really interesting and thought I would post it for others to read. I rewrote it as it is written.

October 8, 2008

Dear Optimist Club,
thank you so much for the dictionary. It's so cool, and even the cover is awesome. Our class did not even have any. There was only like four or five dictionaries in our class. These dictionaries are handy because I love writing. I like writing books so I could just pull some words out of the dictionary. I really just use the dictionary in all my subjects. I use my dictionary on big reports. I often use my dictionary about three times a week. Maybe even more. You guys do alot of fun activitys like the haunted hayride. Thank you so much for the dictionaries. I really needed one.

Your friend,
Mariah Gilbertson

Pillar of the Community coming up... please read

Hello, today in our Saturday meeting we went over the Pillar of the Community and Jan undated us on the Pillar of the Community guidelines. It was established that a recipient of the award was not to get it more than once. If you a member of one community gives it to an individual, then they cannot receive it in another club or organization. Below is a list of our members who have received the award either through the Optimist or through another organization. Please review and keep in mind those that have held this position already. We will be selecting a member to represent the Optimist soon.
in 2004
Ann Ronchetto
Jerry Vaughan

in 2005
Aaron Ambrose
Shiela & Dale Arnold
Carl Condra
Steve Gildehaus

in 2006
Jim Meyer
Robert Morse
Kim Roam

in 2007
Dave Hackett
Carol Barnes
Dr. Chris Small

in 2008
Lon & Mary Harper
Chuck Johnston
Christine Davis
Jan Reding received Cornerstone.

Members no longer in club or have moved:
Gary Hanson
Brad Knight
Matt Farlin

New Month, New President... October 4th...

On October 4th, Ann Ronchetto ran her first meeting as the new president for 2008-2009. With Jan reding as Secretary and Jerry Vaughan as Treasurer, she will have the support she needs. This is a strong team.

Ann brought a few things to the board that were received really well and they were good suggestions.
1) is that Board meetings will be the first Saturday of the month at 7:30 am.
2) that on the months when we have 5 weeks, that the last week is a bye and no meeting, giving us a well needed Saturday off. These were great suggestions and were accepted immediately as all of us could use that extra day off. Ann will send out more information on this.
There were some good discussions and topics of the Halloween Hayride event coming up and that the club will need to elect a member for the Pillar this year, so get your thinking caps on to make your selection when it comes time.
Christmas is right around the corner and we have our dates set up. They will be December 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 & 21st. If you received one of the flyer's from the City View, it stated it would also be on November 27th but not for the Optimist Club.
The Santa Train will be coming on Friday the 19th. So get prepared as we all like to see this.
Jan will be getting the information together for the Nuts and Candy and will looking into the popcorn with the Marshall group. More to come on this.

Jan presented with a beautiful plant from Dale for her work this last year, she was not at the banquet as she had just gotten back from Egypt.
Visitor who learned of the club at the Community Center. Jennifer Bailey came to visit and she may be a member soon???
Ralph Houx from Lake Lottawana Optimist Club came to bring some books for the officers and stayed to visit and attend our meeting. Thanks for coming Ralph, we always welcome visitors.

Dictionaries distributed to schools...

Dictionaries were distributed at all of the Grain Valley schools on Tuesday and Thursday. Carol had a lot of help with about 13 different members who went to the assigned schools and helped to distribute over 250 dictionaries. Great job Carol and with Ann's help it was another successful job.

Jim, Sharon and Bob went to Prairie Branch to pass out dictionaries and were met with a wonderful site. They got the biggest thank you card we have received yet. Jim brought to the meeting on Saturday and presented it to Carol Barnes and for the rest of the group to see. Great job you guys and thanks for the picture. I think this is the first one we have gotten from the dictionaries.

Jim Brown, Sharon and Bob Morse.

Final Banquet-Awards for 2008....

September 28th, at the Historical Society building, the Optimist had their annual award banquet. The main dish was fried chicken with everyone bringing in a dish to share. Dale had a large crowd too as some of the Jr. Optimist and their families came to enjoy the fellowship.The following pictures were some taken during the event and Dale did a great job on handing off the President position to Ann Ronchetto. Ann and her new incoming staff took their oaths and will give her the best support needed during this next year to come. Please enjoy the pictures, some may have come out a little dark as the lighting in the room at evening may not have been the best in some areas.

Our banners were displayed with honor.

The Optimist Club celebrated 15years in the month of September.
Our youngest member, Danni Arnold.

Kathy and some of the young Jr's who attended.
Ann takes time for a picture.
Jim Brown taking time to talk to a parent and Jr Optimist.
Going through the snack line.

The Brown's and another Jr Member and family.
Dave Eames and wife, so there is a real Mrs Eames.
Jeanette with the Caley's.
Carl, Barb John, Erma and Mary S.

Erma and Mary S.
Chris & John Davis
Danni, Carol and Sheila talking with Dale.
Gary and Cheryl.

Ed and Kristy Caley
Mr & Mrs Capranica
Picture of group.
Nick Jackson

Jim is given award for his work in getting the Jr's Club together. Bryan McDonald gets award for Bike Safety, accepted by Chris Small.
Dales gives awards to Chris S., Annn Ronchetto, Annette Barker and Chris Davis for their help running meetings through out the year.
Dale being Dale.

Caley's receive the Bob Doty award, left to right: Erma, Kathy, Kristy, Dale and Ed.
Christy Davis get award for her rescue mission of 10,000 eggs. (Easter Hunt).
Jim and John get award for their work with the Frog Jump.

Jr Optimist in attendance were introduced to club and family members.

Induction of new officers and board members.

New officers and board members, induction.

Some of the new officers and board members: left to right: Dale, past President, Ann, incoming President, Jerry-Treasurer, Carl-board member, John-board member, bel0w: Christy-1st Vice President, Jim- board member, Jeanette board member, not in attendance is Mary Harper, 2nd vice-President, Jan Reding- Secretary, Bryan McDonald, Board member and Shawn Brady, board member.

Old and new: Dale is out going president along with Cody for the Jr's take pictures with the ladies who will now be new presidents for the clubs.

Group picture of the past and present, president and Sheila Arnold who is the other office to leave position after two terms. Great work Dale, Sheila and Cody.