Great weather, good food and great Optimist fellowship were plentiful at the 2012 Optimist Fourth Quarter Zone Meeting on Wednesday, August 15.  More than 40 members from the First Capitol, East York, Lancaster and Gettysburg Optimist Clubs arrived at the Lake Heritage Pavilion in Gettysburg for what has become an annual tradition for the central Pennsylvania Optimist Clubs.  Attendees were treated to pork barbecue, roasted potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans and assorted desserts provided by the Gettysburg Optimist Club. Elmo Vestal filled in for the ailing Lt. Govern, Tom McGlynn and conducted the evenings business agenda.  Each Optimist Club in attendance gave a brief presentation on at least one project they are currently sponsoring in their respective communities.  Marion Duarte reported on the upcoming District Meeting and State Convention and Elmo reviewed the standings of each club in the Zone as well as the requirements for Honor Club and an update on the Optimist Olympics Project.  A review of the A & A Report indicated those clubs in attendance rank in the top 15 out of 57 clubs. The meeting ended with a 50/50 drawing, continued fellowship and the traditional recitation of the Optimist Creed.

Every July members of the Optimist Club of Gettysburg gather at Wayne and Sue Hill’s home for one of the most popular Optimist meetings of the year. The Gettysburg Optimist Club Family Night is an opportunity for club members and their families to gather and enjoy some really good food, warm family fellowship and the traditional Optimist Family Trivia Contest.  Prior to the conclusion of the evenings festivities, attendees are divided into groups to compete against one another for the right to select a deserving recipient for a charitable contribution from the Club.

This year the winning team of Bill Pyron, Katie Barako, Mark and Beverly Grazulewicz and Don and Ginny Davis demonstrated their remarkable knowledge of the subject matter and earned the opportunity to select a deserving charitable organization for a $1000.00 contribution from the Optimist Club of Gettysburg.  The winning contestants selected the Dayton R. Biesecker Special Needs Fund and the Blake E. Biesecker Special Needs Fund for this years contribution.

Dayton and Blake are the seven year old, twin sons of Tom and Nikki Biesecker of Biglerville, who last year were both diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening disease known as  Muscular Dystrophy with the Duchenne type.  It is the most aggressive type of MD and affects 1 in 3,600 boys.  The disease targets the muscular-skeletal system and over time will require expensive ongoing treatment, therapy and specially designed mobility equipment.  The Special Needs Funds were created to provide the family with much needed assistance in meeting the costs of two, specially designed wheel chairs.

At the Clubs regular membership meeting held on August 1, the members voted unanimously to deposit $500.00 in each of the accounts maintained by Adams County National Bank.

While the Optimist Club generally does not contribute to individuals, but rather to organizations, the membership decided that given the family nature of our event, the Special Needs Funds cause was more than appropriate.   The Gettysburg Optimist Club raises more than $40,000 each year in support of 19 youth related programs throughout the Gettysburg and the Adams County area and is pleased that we could include Blake and Dayton’s Special Needs Funds to our list of recipients this year.

 

 

The new mantra of the Gettysburg Optimist Club may well be, “Neither thunderstorm, lightening, hail nor high winds will deter a dedicated Optimist from performing their duties of serving the communities youth.”  The August 1, regular meeting at the pavilion at Lake Heritage was briefly delayed due to a strong and violent storm that moved through the area Wednesday evening but, with only a little fear,  the meeting and the business of Optimism was concluded.

Nancy Forgang, Meals & More Director, spoke to the group about her programs impact on the areas youth.  As in the past, the Optimist Club of Gettysburg elected to support the Meals & More Program this year.  Bruce Bradshaw presented Nancy with a check for $2100.00 to help with the costs of the nine week program.  The agenda also included topics such as; The Summer Soccer Parking Project (scheduled for August 25th & 26th), the Zone Seven Optimist Meeting on August, 15, the Officers and Directors Nominations for 2013 and the upcoming organizational meeting for the 2013 Gettysburg Optimist Golf Tournament.  Members in attendance voted to approve the recipient of the Optimist Family Night Trivia Contest Donation.  More details on this topic in an upcoming post.

The group feasted on fried chicken, meatballs, potato salad, baked beans, fresh garden salad and a very large chocolate cake (consumption to be continued at a future event). The meal was  provided by Walt Jones and Kris Accardi.  To view the official agenda for the evening, click on Optimist 080112 Meeting Agenda.

Mark your calendar for the next meeting on August 15, 2012 at the Lake Heritage Pavilion.  This evening will be our annual “Pig Roast” and we will host Optimist members from Zone Seven which includes York and Central Pennsylvania.  Members spouses, significant others and guests are welcome to attend this annual event.  Daryl Aurand will act as head chief for the evening so you do not want to miss this one!

Yours in Optimism,

J. Mark

 

Nearly 30 Gettysburg Optimists and their family members shared a great evening of food, fun and fellowship on Wednesday, July11.  The event was held at the home of Wayne and Sue Hill in Gettysburg where Wayne demonstrated his considerable skills on the barbecue grill.

Traditionally the annual Family Night is the only meeting of the Gettysburg Optimist Club in the month of July and is dedicated to bringing the families of members together for a festive evening of casual conversation and fine food.  But dedicated Optimist members are never able to miss an opportunity to lend their financial support to a deserving charity, and this years event was no exception.

After a fine dinner the group gathered around the pool for a late evening Trivia Contest.  The trivia master for the evening, Tom Barako, divided the group into four teams and challenged them with questions on American history and World literature (taking some descriptive liberties here).  The winning team of Bill Pyron, Katie Barako, Mark and Beverly Grazulewicz and Don and Ginny Davis demonstrated their remarkable knowledge of the subject matter and earned the opportunity to select a deserving charitable organization for a $1000.00 contribution from the Optimist Club.  They will be announcing the recipient of the donation at the regular membership meeting on Wednesday, August 1, at the Lake Heritage Pavilion.

Our sincere appreciation to Wayne and Sue Hill for opening their home and hosting the Optimist of Gettysburg Family Night Fellowship.

On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress at a meeting in Philadelphia selected a committee which included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston.  They were charged with drafting a document that would formally sever ties between the colonies and Great Britain.  The final draft, written by the hand of Thomas Jefferson and known as The Declaration of Independence, was officially adopted by the Continental Congress by a unanimous vote on July 4th. After its passage, Ben Franklin was asked, “Well Dr. Franklin.  What have you given us?” He replied, “You have a republic, Madame.  If you can keep it”.  And so, the great experiment in American Democracy was born.

In 1870, Congress established July, 4^th (Independence Day) as an official holiday and ever since we Americans celebrate the birth of our nation with parades, barbecues, festivals and fireworks.  Too often, lost in the celebrations is the meanings of the words that many of us were taught to recite in grade school  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Few at the time gave much prediction that this fledgling group of 13 colonies, through their Continental Congress, had much hope for even a brief period of success with their new republic.  But the constitutional government that followed with its individual liberty, elected representatives and limited powers survived the challenges of time, opposition and war.  On June 24, 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent his last letter to Congress in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. In it he wrote,

“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be … the signal of arousing men to burst the chains … and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. … For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”

In celebrating this July 4^th holiday let us rededicate ourselves to the basic fundamentals of our great society and work together in unity to resolve the many challenges facing our nation in these modern times.

As Optimist Club members let us remind our youth of the truly unique gift that has been granted to us in The Declaration of Independence; the rights of individual freedom, liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness.

May you all have a wonderfully memorable and safe Independence Day celebration.

Yours in Optimism,

Mark Cropp, President