Meeting Notes

Phil Holmblade introduced our speaker for the morning, Sharri Newman. She is the Program Director for the Flint/Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Youth Quest. More detailed information about the program can be found at their nicely designed and easy to navigate website http://www.yquest.org/.

YouthQuest is a free, innovative after school enrichment program for youth in Genesee County, Michigan, managed by the Flint and Genesee Chamber of Commerce (FGCC). Currently the are located in 16 schools in Carman-Ainsworth and Flint. YouthQuest is made possible through the generous support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, along with additional funding through donations.

The mission of YouthQuest is to provide children with opportunities to grow through safe, engaging and exciting after school learning experiences, surrounded with caring, responsible adults and sustained by an involved, contributing community. The program typically operates 3 hours per day, Monday – Thursday, usually between 2-7 PM.

We are looking for vendors (persons or organizations that provide a paid service at any YouthQuest site) who will help us to accomplish this mission by aligning safe, engaging and exciting learning experiences with our core program objectives:

  • Traditional academic support (experiences focused on literacy, math, science, or social studies)
  • Exploratory academic support (experiences that engage two or more of the traditional academic subjects)
  • Enrichment through:
    • Visual arts
    • Performing arts
  • Personal / individual physical fitness / sports / recreation
  • Team physical fitness / sports / recreation
  • Nutrition education
  • Youth development: life skills, career awareness, technology, character education, or leadership
  • Family involvement
  • Service projects

The program also includes TeenQuest, which is a free after school pre-employment and leadership school. Sharri is a very busy woman as she plans all kinds of activities to help coordinate the training for kids to match the needs of the business community. There are all kinds of vendor trips, field trips, leadership and nutrition education. The kids are taught how to run a meeting and other social skills. They are required to do 5 service projects /year. Her service provides help for around 2000 kids/day. There are 1,650 kids in the summer program K-12th grade. They also provide skilled trades training for those interested in those fields. As a reward for the kids having excellent attendance, they are rewarded with a trip to Mackinaw Island.

We really want to thank Sharri for meeting with us this morning and for all the great work she is doing to help the kids of Genesee County. Her presentation was very informative.

There were 25 Optimists gathered for breakfast this morning. It is always fun and uplifting to start our Thursdays out with this group. After Jeff got done selling his eggs he had enough money to buy the crown for $1.00. Floyd won the 50/50 and promised to try to be there next week to sell tickets.

Our next board meeting will be July 9 at 6:00 pm at the Bridge. Hope all officers can make it.

The Flint Olympian Golf Tournament will be July 24 at Brookwood. The cost is $80.00/player or $320/4 man team.

More ticket stubs were turned in for our 31 Day Raffle. Please turn the stubs in as you sell the tickets. The Raffle starts Wednesday, July 1st. Contact Jeff Dennings.

Reminders

  • 31 Day Raffle starts July 1st so turn Money and Ticket Stubs in ASAP
  • Board Meeting 6:00 PM July 9th @ The Bridge
  • Flint Olympian Golf Tournament July 24th @ Brookwood

Hope to see everyone next Thursday. In the meantime live life with an optimistic attitude.

Ken Cullen