Sam gets honored.....

I got an e-mail today that stated Sam Packham was named "National Plant Manager of the Year". Congratulations Sam. I hope to get more information from Chris Small or Sam to share more on this.

Way to go.

Updates and sad news for some members...(updated)

The Memorial Holiday is behind us and many of us had to return to work. Oh well, that happens.
I have included a couple of items that came to me through e-mail.

• We have a board meeting on June 2nd at 7:15 AM, see you there.
• Bike Safety is June 9th.
• Golf Tournament is June 14th.

I received an e-mail indicating that Gary and Barb Hanson would not be coming out for the golfing as his father at the age of 86 passed on. We send our condolences to the Hanson's.

Correction: I wrote that Annette's mom passed on and it was really Jerry Vaughan's mother. Jerry I do apologize as I did not read who the message was originally from. I just thought the message was from Annette.

Jerry we extend our condolences for your loss and will continue to hold you in our prayers.

Members let us keep our friends in our hearts during their time of healing.

Respect for Law BBQ

May 18th the Optimist Club had the Respect for Law BBQ at Armstrong Park. Lead by Kristy and ED Caley, we had a nice cool day and everyone seem to enjoy the food. Chief Ambrose gave a thank you speech on behalf of his group and we were introduced to new officers and administrative employees through out the event. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and glad to feed our fellow officers for a job well done. Thank you Arron and crew and thanks to all of the Optimist members for making this another successful even.





Above, Kathy and Arron Ambrose





Bob taking a nap.

Plants, Plants, Plants....

Jan leading the team......

May 11th and 12th, was the annual Plant Sale for the Optimist Club. I went to the parking area across from the Bank of Grain Valley early Friday morning to get some pictures as the set up was getting started. Jan and Ann did a nice job with the plants this year. We had most of them on consignment which meant those not sold could go back where we got them from. They had some really nice arrangements and hanging bags this year. Jan will naturally give us a good update when she has it all figured out but it looked like it was another successful year and the weather held out. The sunscreen came in handy but some of the ladies really still got sunburned.

Unloading of plants and arranging tables

Enjoy the pictures. The plants came from: Dream Scapes, Cyn-A-Mark Herbs and More. 816-578-HERB.

Saturday morning setting up again. Carl took trailer home and brought back Saturday morning. Ladies worked from 9:00AM until 1:30 when loading trailer was completed.

Water girls Ann and Carol.

Respect for Law...

May 18th is our annual Respect for Law BBQ. It will be at Armstrong Part at 4:00 PM Friday. We hope to see everyone there. The meat and paper supplies will be furnished and we are asking members to bring something to share with the group. We always have a good turn out and hope to see you there. If you need to know what to bring or can't remember what you signed up for, call Kristy Caley and check with her. Don't forget, Friday May 18th at 4:00 to 8:00 PM. SEE YOU THERE.

Ken Yunker, GV Speaker

On May 12th, Ken Yunker, Grain Valley High School Counselor visited our meeting and spoke on Cyber-bullying, What is it? How do we prevent it/stop it. Ken opened his meeting by first thanking the Grain Valley Optimist Club for their generous scholarship donations and to date have donated $24,650. That is something to be proud of.

The contents of his meeting were very interesting to see what is happening within our schools today with the current technology of cell phones, text messages, e-mails and different types of ways these can be done. He gave us a good insight as to what to look for and what may cause these behaviors and helpful hints on the prevention, stopping it and some Internet resources we could use to read more on it. Here are a few links to read up on.

Http://www.isafe.org/

Http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/

http://www.ikeepsafe.org/?gclid=CL3ssYzR24SCFQKklgodgi5YVw

http://www.cyberbullyhelp.com/

Thank you Cheryle Klotz for inviting Ken to speak to the group.

Speaker at Saturday meeting May 12th...

We will have a guest speaker at the Saturday meeting. Kenny Yunker, a Grain Valley School Counselor will be our guest speaker. Please attend the meeting to hear Kenny speak.

Also remember there is a board meeting at 7:15 AM.

Sand and Stone...

I received this and thought of including it in our blog. Please read..

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT.
DURING SOME POINT OF THE JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE
IN THE FACE.
THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING, WROTE IN THE SAND:
TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.
THEY KEPT ON WALKING, UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED TO TAKE A BATH
THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING, BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.
AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE W ROTE ON A STONE:
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE ".
THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, "AFTER I HURT YOU, YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"
THE FRIEND REPLIED WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.
BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE WHERE NO WIND CAN EVER ERASE IT."
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.
THEY SAY IT TAKES A MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL
PERSON, AN HOUR TO APPRECIATE THEM, A DAY
TO LOVE THEM, BUT THEN AN ENTIRE LIFE
TO FORGET THEM.
SEND THIS PHRASE TO THE PEOPLE YOU'LL NEVER
FORGET. I JUST DID.
IF YOU DON'T SEND IT TO ANYONE, IT MEANS YOU'RE IN A
HURRY AND THAT YOU'VE FORGOTTEN YOUR FRIENDS. TAKE THE TIME TO LIVE!
DO NOT VALUE THE THINGS YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE, BUT VALUE
WHO YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE ! AND IF I HAPPEN TO GET IT BACK,
THEN I KNOW MY PLACE IN YOUR LIFE

Reminders of events.....

REMINDER: Don't forget the following:
PLANT SALE this coming week, May 11th and 12th. Jan and Ann could use some more helpers on Friday, please get with Jan for the schedule.

RESPECT FOR LAW BBQ: Friday May 18th at Armstrong Park. Starts at 4:00 and if you need to know what you signed up for, get with Kristi Caley. See you there.

Graduation day: May 20th 6:00 PM. : Optimist will have the cart service for those who need that extra help getting to the graduation area.

Bike Safety: Saturday June 9th. Slated for 10:00 to 12:00. More information to be provided on this.

Golf Tournament: June 14th, get with Jerry Vaughan for sign up sheet (helpers) and is also looking for small goodies to fill up bags to hand out to golfers. Get with Jerry on this for more information.


Anyone who attends some of these functions, please take some pictures and send them to me through e-mail to place these on the blog.

With summertime coming, if anyone has some interesting events, please share them with us by sending to me and I can place on blog.
Thanks Christy

Big donation of goodies

This week John and I were shopping around for some small items for our reunion in June/July and found items at the Dollar General for $.10 to $.20 on some of the Easter left overs. After purchasing what I wanted for our reunion, I spoke to one of the ladies I know and she actually was getting ready to get rid of the left over stuff. I got it donated to us and there are some wonderful things in there that will set us up for our Easter Egg give aways for a few years. We will need to come up with some great ideas for next years gift give a ways. Maybe stuff some eggs that have a bronze egg? Believe me, we have enough items for that.
I have about 300 eggs, bags of candies that are individually wrapped, stuff rabbits, about 30 material baskets that collapse, Easter ears, color books, wind socks, the cellophane bags I use on the baskets, grass (lots of bags) and more.
Mary Strack if you need anything for your needy kids for Easter next year, let us know. There is plenty to share. I am still going through the items and will make an inventory list.
Also I will send out an thank you note to Dollar General for their donation.