Jim Riegle led us in the Pledge of Allegiance this morning. It was followed by a prayer by Lynn Eastman.
Fines were opened and there was no escaping the abuse of fines from Lynn Eastman who out-bid everyone for the crown in Matt Mrasek’s absence. The best fine of the day was on everyone who’s collegiate alma mater would run up the score against the Eastern Michigan Eagles.
Meeting Notes
Jack Proffitt introduced his new Board for 2014-2015.
Everyone was asked to make sure they collect complete information on all of the $5000 Raffle tickets sold (email, address, etc). All members were reminded to sell, sell, sell. But most importantly, turn in the money ASAP. It is extremely important to return any unsold tickets, sooner rather than later.
Whaley Children’s Center sent us an email stating that they wee going to temporarily close the Optimist House. The house will be reopened once need increases.
The Optimist House was established in 1994 as a group home at Whaley Children’s Center. This home was founded by several different Optimist Clubs, including Flint Breakfast Club and Davison Optimists. This home was built with the intentions to provide up to six children with the conveniences of family living, including individual rooms for each child.
The age group that this home serves is 10-17 years old. With the help of a wonderful staff (a 3:1 ratio) and devoted volunteers and donors, the children who reside here are provided with meals, clothing, and shelter. Furthermore, the Optimist Clubs will visit the children on a weekly basis to have pizza parties, celebrate birthdays and even holidays with them.
As part of the residential treatment program, children at the Optimist Home are expected to be more independent and taking a more “hands-on” approach in the day to day tasks of living. Each child is responsible for doing a set of chores, be involved in the meal planning and preparing, assist in grocery shopping, maintain the cleanliness of their bedrooms, and any other life skills that is pertinent to the overall goal of learning appropriate family living.
The Optimist Group home as one Youth Counselor whom is responsible for overseeing processing groups at least 3-5 times per week with the children; these groups are intended to teach the children important life skills such as: manners, hygiene, appropriate peer to peer relationships, etc.
Furthermore; every child is also offered therapeutic treatment from our clinical team. Every child has an assigned therapist that he/she meets with at least once a week to process the severe abuse, neglect and trauma that they have endured.
Furthermore; every child is provided an education through the Flint Community Schools. The staff are committed to the children in ensuring that they feel safe and loved. Further information the services that are provided can be found with in detail within our Residential Policy and Procedures manual.
Source WhaleyChildren.Org
Guest Speaker
Mic Goulet was the Speaker Chair today. Our speaker was Jack Minore from the Flint River Watershed Coalition.
They have a quarterly newsletter, the Watershed Reporter. Click here for the Summer 2014 Issue.
Flint River Watershed Coalition Goals
- Educate the public about water quality and ecosystem protection and appropriate use of land and water resources.
- Protect, promote, and advocate use of the Flint River watershed through such means as monitoring, water watches and pollution compliance referrals.
- Involve citizens, governments, organizations, institutions, and businesses to protect land and water resources.
- Ensure adequate and stable financial resources.
- Maintain sufficient human resources and organizational infrastructure.
Flint River Watershed Coalition Core Beliefs
- We are committed to improving and maintaining environmental quality in the Flint River watershed.
- We are committed to environmental education.
- We value input and participation from our entire community.
- We value a positive approach to people and problem solving.
Source FlintRiver.Org
The Flint River stretches over 142 miles. It has 18 tributaries. One of their programs, Annual River Cleanup, takes place the last Saturday in April. Jack reported that years ago they would find washing machines, dryers and other large appliances dumped into the river. He says that nowadays, they have a problem with plastic bottles and styrofoam.
Another program is Flint River GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network). This program gets Middle School and High School students involved by doing testing on a local level. The students get the opportunity to find out for themselves that the Flint River isn’t as bad as everyone might think. They also learn that it is easy to get involved to make a difference in the preservation of their environment.
Reminders
Reminders were given as follows:
- Board Meeting tonight, September 25th
- All members are reminded to SELL, SELL, SELL $5,000 Raffle Tickets
Respectfully yours in optimism,
Jeff Dennings