Grain Valley Optimist Blog farewell....

Hello members, I have been informed by email that the club of Grain Valley Optimist will dissolve and a newly formed club will be in place. I just wanted to extend mine and John's comment on this last posting of the club blog. We truly did enjoy this club and glad that your doing what is needed to continue to support the youth of the community. John loves to brag about the doings this club has done and does. I will be putting out a new blog and will use the same email addresses unless someone sends me an email to remove you off the list. Keep up the good work and thanks for the memories.
The activities from the past that I can remember even if they were not done anymore were:
The Chili Supper
Easter Hunt
Plant Sale
Bike Safety
Respect for Law
Teacher's Appreciation
Valley Fair Daze parade
Bull Frog Jump
Bingo
Haunted Hayride
Talk to Santa
and many other supports we gave the community.
What a great job you did and will continue to do. We do miss you and the small town of Grain Valley. My sister passed by there two weeks ago when going to To Ft Leonard to see daughter graduate from Army boot camp and got off the Grain Valley off ramp and took a picture of the town to have as memories. She came to visit us in September of 2008 and loved it. So did we. So it is not goodbye to the work we have done but just a name change. I look forward to helping with the next blog and as soon as I can get it underway, I will send it out.
Thank you and good luck to all.

New updates of upcoming events...

Upcoming RESPECT FOR LAW cook out will be at Armstrong Park shelter #1 on July 31st. It will start at 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Please get with club officers to sign up for food list.

Zone meeting will be held July 18th.
Hosted by the Lake Lotawana Optimist Club
Saturday July 18th 2009
at Bean Counter Cafe
In the Garden City Bank
Time will be 9:00A.M. Breakfast & Coffee

There will be Missouri Leadership Seminar (MLS) alumni in attendance to speak about their experience at the 2009 MLS. These students provide a whole new view into the seminar experience. You have the opportunity to witness first hand how your sponsorship dollars make a difference in the lives of the youth of Missouri! Please plan to attend!

RSVP with the number of attendees from the Grain Valley Optimist Club to Michelle L. Zink by Monday 7-13-09. 660-354-2365 (h) 660-864-3108 (c)

No Meeting this Saturday due to Holiday. Have a safe weekend.

Optimist Club Bike Safety event....

GV's Optimist Club Bike Safety

Picture's sent for posting by Carol Barnes

Bike Safety was held on June 6th at Sni-A-Bar Elementary. We had 18-20 children participate. We gave away a lot of helmets this year so we are running low. Everyone will be on the lookout for sales on ‘child’ and ‘youth’ helmets to replenish our stock. This is a surprise since we haven’t given away hardly any helmets in the last few years, so if you happen to see any on sale, please pick up a few and give to any member of the club for storage. Thanks to those who helped out with another year of safety for the kids. Great work.

Optimist Substance Abuse Poster Winners

Substance Abuse Poster Contest Winners
Justin Sackman & Abby Hammontree

Carol Barnes has sent me the following information to post on the Optimist Club Blog. Please read and thank you Carol Barnes.

The pictures are of the two Substance Abuse Poster Contest winners. The are 4th grade students from Mathews Elementary. The art teacher shown in one of the pictures is Mrs. Kathy Argotsinger,. Both students won at the club and zone level. Justin went on to win in the boy category at district level.

Club upcoming events......

Upcoming events for the Optimist Club are:
Golf Tournament: June 4th- Ed Caley reported that there is still a need for more players (teams). Also need more hole sponsors and additional prizes. If you want help with purchasing give away gifts, Jan would be will to help you spend your money. Call her at 225-0713. Thank you for those who have already donated and will be donating in the future.
But remember, we do need more players.

Bike Safety will be on June 6th at Si-A-Bar Elementary starting at 9:00 a.m. The do need help for this as some of the members will be out of town. Please get with Ann Ronchetto for more information.

Poster Winner: Carol Barnes reported that the entry by Grain Valley's Justin Sackman won the District contest. He was given a $50.00 Wal-Mart gift certificate by the District. It was agreed that the Club would a certificate for the girl entry as well. The club presented a $30.00 gift certificate to Kathy Argotsinger for her work with these students.

Mother's Day Plant Sales May 8th & 9th

I have a short update on the plant sale. Waiting to see if anyone had any pictures that we can post out on the blog.

Jan wrote:
The plan sale, although slow starting due to rain on Friday morning. was busy with a lot of bedding plants sold. The event ended on Saturday, May 9th, at noon. The total sale will be reported at the Saturday meeting.

Staff Appreciation day for the Grain valley Schools.

Attached are a couple of pictures that Carol Barnes sent me on behalf of the club. Today May 11th, Jan, Mary and Ann distributed to the schools on behalf of Teachers Appreciation cakes. There were 14 cakes in all, each building recieving on as well as the bus barn and central office. The Cakes coem from Cosco. Thank you ladies for this task well done. Please enjoy the couple of pictures I have posted.

Plant Sale this weekend

The Annual Mother's day plant sale will be this week. Please get with Ann Ronchetto or Jan reding for information. Please come out and support this function.

Golf Tournament June 4, 2009

Just a reminder that the annual Golf Tournament will be on June 4th at Bent Oak Golf Club. 18 hole, four person scramble at 7:30 shotgun start. Lunch will be catered and is $75.00 per play which includes breakfast doughnuts and coffee, green fees with cart. Tournament T-Shirts and lunch. There will be a Las Vegas Hole and putt off and Mulligans available for $5.00 each. Sponsorship opportunities $100.00 include hole sponsorship and Name on back of Tournament shirt. For more information, call 816-847-2307.

A Social and Farewell gathering for the Davis'

John and Chris Davis

Where do I start when it comes to saying so long. John and I are definitely sorry to leave such good friends behind but the time has come for us to move back home with the family. We came out here in the year 2000 with the intentions of just staying for a few years and we were going to continue east where his brothers, sisters and mom were. Well, once here we stayed. I for one like it here and even when it snows. Poor John was starting to have a problem with that part of the year. He needed sunshine. When we came in 2000 I had already met Gary Hanson when he came out to do some training in the California branch. When he heard I was coming to Grain Valley he immediately started to tell me about this club that would help me get familiar with Grain Valley and make friends. Well he was right. I jumped right in and dragged John with me. John being hesitant didn't want to do community work at first but once I signed him up as a member (without telling him) he was hooked. Both John and I have enjoyed the club, the people and most of all the activity. I will have to see how I survive because I am a person who needs to be busy and stay busy to survive. I will definitely take some of what I learned and apply it to some of our family activities. I will look to see if there is an Optimist Club out there we can get involved with.
Ann Ronchetto was so wonderful to open her house and gave us a very very nice gathering to say our goodbyes to those we would not see again as we will not be here to make another Saturday meeting. On April 10th, I will be doing my exit interview at work and then spend the next 4 days making sure all of the house is packed. We will pick up the Budget truck on Wednesday and the kids (son, cousin and nephew) will arrive by 3:00 pm. We will spend the evening with them and then Thursday morning it is loading time. A friend of mine will come and help me clean the house as they empty rooms and our intentions are to leave around 8:00am on Friday. Time has moved so fast and will move even faster yet. We will drive three vehicles, rented truck pulling a car hauler, the Ranger and of course the Explorer. We will probably take the three days to get there as we have limited speed with the rental. I will take pictures and send them of the different areas especially Arizona. If you have never been there, it is dry but beautiful in the daylight.
We want to say thank you for welcoming us with such friendship, support when we were new to the area and all of your kindness. We will definitely miss all of you, you do not know how much. Ann, thank you for always being there for us, Carol my soul birthday mate, we will miss you very much. Kathy and Erma, take care of Nick. Sharon and Bob, what we say, we will definitely miss our dear friends. The Arnold's, Sheila and Dale, how could we have survived with your support. Danni we will miss you. Dr Chris Small, the Harper's and of course Jan, how can anyone not like this woman, she is my Idol, I used her as my measuring cup when it came to giving to the community. She is your corner stone to the club, may she live forever. To all of the others, many many thank, Jim Brown, the Vaughan's, Roam's, especially Debbie who came and gave John and I prayer when we needed it last summer, the Caley's, Jeanette, Annette, and many many more. Thank you for all you have done. Enjoy the pictures that I have posted.

Here John is with Jim, Norm and Bob.... these 4 get together on Wednesday and have a Jam session.

Easter Egg Hunt at Armstrong Park success..

EASTER EGG HUNT has come and gone for the year of 2009.

Again we had a very successful year with the Easter Egg Hunt. The Optimist Club stuffed over 9,000 eggs and gave away 6 baskets full of goodies. There was a gold and silver egg in each year group in which the winners were given a basket that contained donations from the club, Christy Davis, Kathy Doty, Lunar Bowl, Sonic and GV Community Center. Thank you all for your kind donations and thank you to all of those who helped stuff the eggs the week before and came out to help spread them out. While the kids were waiting for the count down, many came and paid a visit to our bunny and had their picture taken. WE had over 40 pictures taken which is more than last year and is growing every year. Many managed to get the picture before the hunt and we had a great many that took them after the hunt was over. This gives the club a better idea as to how they will plan for next year as we will be going digital and printing pictures.
Again thanks for all of your help and see you next year. Please enjoy some of the pictures below. I got pictures of the winners but no names to go with them this year, sorry, I was kind of in a rush. But as John and I move on, we want to say that the Easter Egg Hunt we enjoyed doing. We are passing this project to Kathy Doty and Jennifer Bailey. Thanks all.

Here is Mattie Ronchetto who has been coming to the hunt since she was a small baby. I always love to take a picture of her. Mattie is President Ann Ronchetto's grandchild.

Grandma Ann and Mattie

Group spreading out Easter eggs.

The bunny has arrive, thank you Bob for helping the bunny around.

Chris takes time to take a picture with the bunny. The last one in Missouri.

Small child who covered his face when he came to see the Bunny. I think this may be Cheryl K. grandson Garrett.

Parents watching as the kids scramble for eggs.

The kids opening their eggs and recycling.

More recycling

Basket winners above and below

Officer John Davidson takes a picture with the Rabbit...

One of Christy's co-workers brings his daughter Emma to the hunt....

Not sure if Bob was happy to see the rabbit or if he was wanting to keep him from leaving.

Visitors

Club stuffs eggs for annual hunt on 4-4...

In the picture, Jennifer Beal, Christy Davis and Kathy Doty. Christy spent time with the girls and getting them familiar with the project. They will do a great job.

Saturday, March 28th the club and friends got together at the School Administration building to stuff the eggs for the Annual Hunt to be held on April 4th. We had a wonderful group of almost 50+ people. As this is the last year that Chris Davis will be chairing this and the last year John will play the Easter Bunny, the Davis' enjoyed seeing so many of the members with their families come in to help. We had the most if not all of the Jr Optimist members, we had the school principals who came and helped, and Stephanie from the Post Office, her son has come for about the 3rd year to help out. We had a few kids who came to get hours done and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We stuffed eggs until we ran out of candy. We stuffed over 9,000 eggs which is a little down from last year but will be plenty for what we need. Naturally we keep some left for those who come in just a few minutes late. We have 6 baskets to give out with the gold and silver egg winners. The donations are from the club, Kathy Doty, Christy Davis, Sonic, Grain Valley Community Center and Lunar Bowl. The winners will enjoy their basket. Next year Kathy Doty and Jennifer Beal will work as a team to take the event and continue to do the service to the community. John and I have enjoyed this event and this year will be sporting a new outfit, the bunny has been upgraded. When asked if he would like to pass it to some one else this year, his answer was, let me finish my last task in Grain Valley before we leave. I do enjoy this event and will be sorry to leave but I will continue to do the blog from California and only need the data and pictures until I pass the baton to someone else. A great thanks to all of those who came and helped and hope to see you Saturday.

Kathy and Jennifer keeping track of the eggs stuffed.

Dr. Chris Small, Big boss to the Grain Valley schools, smart man, never met anyone like him but he seemed a little puzzled by this stuffing of an egg? I think he was studying it before he decided to stuff it.

Group picture of club members Jim Brown and John Davis at the table with the Jr Optimist. One of them was even on crutches and came to enjoy the morning.

Mary Harper, Jan Reding and Rusty Brown on the left with Principle of Sni-A-Bar on the right with his wife and kids. We welcomed the new faces to the event.

Another picture of the group.

More pictures

John really into his work.

Another group, Shawn Brady, Shelia Arnold, Chris Small, Bryan McDonald and kids with Jerry Vaughan standing in the background.

Jerry conversing with some of the kids earning house of service.

more pictures of the group

another picture of group

another picture in which you can see the number of people who came to help.