DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

2016-2017 Officers

DMM Governor Terry Gorman

DMM Secretary/Treas.

Lori Cook

International President

Jim Kondrasuk

Great Plains Region VP

Sue Fix

DMM Governor Elect

Kevin Hammell

DMM Immediate Past Governor

Ken Schulz

What you’ll find in this issue….

3rd Qtr Registration ........... page 12

3rd Qtr Reminder ............... page 10

Awards/Recognition ........ page 11

CCDHH................................ page 9

Club Anniversaries .............. page 3

Club Fitness Corner ............. page 2

Club Grant — $500?? ........ page 11

Club News ........................... page 3

Conference Call Info .......... page 8

Convention 2017 ................. page 5

Did you see? ........................ page 4

DMM/OI Gatherings ............. page 2

Essay Contest Deadline! ...page 4

Gov Gorman’s Greetings ..... page 1

Growth / Membership ........... page 5

Internet Safety ...................... page 7

January Sponsors ................ page 6

NEW CLUB: Lakeville! ....... page 10

NEW CLUB: Roseville!......... page 7

OI Int’l Convention ............... page 9

OI Mission Value Purpose.... page 5

Optimist Creed ..................... page 3

Oratorical Contest ................ page 9

Reminders............................ page 4

W St Paul Spelling Bee ...... page 10

Governor Gorman’s Greetings My how quickly the first quarter of the Optimist year has flown by. We are now about a 1/ 3 of the way through the Optimist year. In the coming months I’m planning visiting more clubs. If your club has an event coming, please let me know and I will see if I can attend. February 10 and 11, I’ll be in St Louis at the mid-year OI President’s conference. February is Essay month. Clubs need to determine a win-ner of the club Essay Contest. Entries need to be sent to Jeri Gorman by Febru-ary 28th . (See page 4) March and April will bring planning and completion of club Oratorical Contests. Depending on the number of youth and clubs participating, each zone may have a contest as well. Each Zone will be allowed two entrants into the DMM Oratori-cal Contest in St Cloud on April 28 and 29. Dave Nichols will need the names of the zone winners by April 22. (See page 9) If you will have contestants for the CCDHH competition, also on April 28th in St Cloud, please contact Ginny Bisek to get your youth registered. Remember, prizes for winners of each of these contests are college scholarships, to assist the students in furthering their education. (See page 9)

(Continued on page 2)

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DMM / OI Gatherings

2nd Qtr DMM Conf Call

7 PM CST

February 19, 2016

Phone #: 712-770-4634

Conf code: 133973#

3rd Qtr DMM Gathering

April 28-29, 2017

Marriott Hotel St Cloud, MN

99th OI Convention

July 6-8, 2017

Albuquerque, NM

4th Quarter DMM Conv. August 10-12, 2017 Canad Inn Winnipeg, MB 1st and 3rd Quarter DMM Gatherings for 2017-2018 TBA 100th OI Convention July 7-10, 2018 Ottawa, Ontario 4th Quarter DMM Conv. August xx-xx, 2018 Rochester, MN

DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

Editor: Curt Sandberg

THANKS to everyone that submitted articles for this newsletter. For those who wish to submit articles for future issues, please email them to me at dmmdispatch@midco.net by the 27th of each month. Thank you!

For all the Club Oratorical and CCDH chairpersons, please coordinate with your Lt Governors on room reservations with the hotel for the student and family members. In reviewing the latest district’s T-Shot it shows a - 48 members. This includes the 45 new members in the Roseville and Lakeville Clubs. We have brought in two new clubs! The 1st was the Roseville MN Area Club on January 13th and the Lakeville, MN club organized January 26th. I had the pleasure of being the Builder of Excellence for Roseville, while Arnie Odefey and Jim Gruver share that distinction for the Lakeville Club. Jim Meyers, New Club Building Chair, tells me we have several more clubs in the works in Minnesota, North and South Dakota. If you have an idea where a new club could be built or need help in get-ting a club started please contact Jim Meyers. Following Gita Hendricks growth program, please remember that from now until the end of the Optimist year on September 30, 2017, each club should not de-lete a member unless a new member is added in the same month. This pro-gram worked well last year and will work again this year if we all follow Gita’s guidelines (See page 5) As old man winter begins loosen his grip, now is a great time to plan to grow your club and expand youth and community activities. Has your club scheduled a NOW (New Optimist Welcome) event? If not, this is the time of year to invite prospective members to a NOW event and explain what your club is doing in your community to Bring out the Best in Youth, Your Community and Your-selves. Then invite them to join in to help your club and members “Bring out the Best.” Congratulations to Immediate Past Governor Ken Schulz as a Distinguished Governor and to his entire team for their great work in again making the DMM one of the top districts in OI. (See page 11) Terry Gorman, DMM Governor

Governor Gorman’s Greetings (Continued from page 1)

Club Fitness Corner

2017 and the second quarter have arrived! Time for your Club to Renew-Refresh-Revitalize! The 3-R Program is a great tool for Clubs to evaluate their health and perform a self-assessment in a positive way. Click here for more information.

If you have any questions or want to know more about the 3-R Program, con-tact your District Club Fitness Advisor Don Stover (605 593 2403) or e-mail clubfitness@optimist.org.

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Club

News

from club bulletins

CENTRAL MN NOON — is excit-ed to be able to help fund a handi-capped accessible playground at Talahi School in St Cloud, to sponsor students in the AVID col-lege readiness and achievement program and to help the Civil Air Patrol youth flying high while en-joying lunch together each Tues-day. WEST ST PAUL — invited guests to a Super meeting at Dunhams near Super Target to hear about their Spelling Bee [page 10]. WATERTOWN — had 4,754 cars go through Winter Wonderland and will soon begin meeting to plan 2017! They assisted with Big Apple Swim meet, Junior Achieve-ment Bowl-A-Thon, and sold Su-per Bowl booklets as a fund rais-er. RICHFIELD — will hold their chili and salad dinner on Feb 10. Ave-nue of Flags — their biggest fund raiser — has a goal of 200 flags this year vs 136 in 2016. ROCHESTER — helped judge a Science Fair on Jan 19 and is getting ready for their annual Fro-zen Goose Run/Walk on Feb 4. SIOUX FALLS MORNING — re-ceived a heartfelt thank you from the Boys & Girls Club for all the wooden toys they received at Christmas. [photo page 6] BISMARCK — members account-ed for 413 of the 819 hours spent gift wrapping to raise over $22k! Their new pay-it-forward idea ac-counted for over $13k! SIOUX VALLEY — is selling Su-per Bowl cards for a fund raiser, is

(Continued on page 4)

DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

OI Pres. Kondrasuk’s Logo

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can

disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and pros-

perity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that

there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of every-

thing and make your optimism

come true.

To think only of the best, to work

only for the best, and to expect

only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the

success of others as you are about

your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past

and press on to the greater

achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at

all times and give every living crea-

ture you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the im-

provement of yourself that you

have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble

for anger, too strong for fear, and

too happy to permit the presence of

trouble.

Club Anniversaries During February Northwest Suburban February 3, 1966 Brandon February 28, 1969 Sioux Valley February 25, 1976 New Ulm February 27, 1997

THANKS to Tim Goetz / MARCO for printing many of the handouts for our quarterly gatherings. PLEASE consider MARCO for your technology needs.

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

Reminders . . .

planning a Bowling Tournament in February as another fund raiser, spon-sored a Video Essay Contest, Tri-Star Volleyball, and helped with birth-day celebrations at Children’s Home Society. SOUTH WINNIPEG — sold CO OP gift cards and is selling Super Bowl tickets as another fund raiser. They also had a Mitten Making Bee and are working on attracting Essay contestants. PRIOR LAKE-SAVAGE — reports their Holiday Gift Exchange was a blast. They continue working with their Junior Optimist Club and are re-cruiting Essay entrants. Their efforts in Lakeville paid off with a new club! NORTHWEST SUBURBAN — learned about STRIVE (Students Taking Renewed Interest in the Value of Education) a mentoring program for juniors and seniors at Maple Grove and Osseo High Schools with em-phasis on preparing for post-graduation opportunities and responsibilities while working to improve grade point average. GRAND FORKS — contributed to Community Violence Intervention Cen-ter, Boys & Girl Scouts, and a Safe Kids [Bicycle Safety] coloring book. WORTHINGTON — 259 youth were served during the wrestling tourney, are involved with Tri Star Basketball, JO Volleyball, pond hockey at Win-ter Fest and various AOK group projects. BROOKINGS — is selling Scholarship Tickets as a fundraiser.

Club News (Continued from page 3)

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” Will Rogers

Did you see? In case you missed these DMM highlights in the Winter 2017 issue of The Optimist magazine: Two members of the Bennie-Johnnie Optimist Club were recog-nized as top ten sponsors in all of OI! Matty Mcgarvey sponsored 22 and Abby Riegelman has spon-sored 21 — already this Optimist year! [Page 4] The Optimist Club of St Paul was recognized as one of the OI Foun-dation $500 Grant winners for their new project helping inner city stu-dents share their poetry writing skills with the community. [Page 27] OIF Rep Jeri Gorman led the DMM to 8th place in the quest for contri-butions to OIF having raised a total of $21,871.49. [Page 30]

ESSAY CONTEST DEADLINE!!!

JERI GORMAN 1745 LINCOLN AVE, ST PAUL MN 55105 jeri.gorman@gmail.com

ALL INFORMATION ON CLUB ESSAY WINNERS NEEDS TO BE SUBMITTED BY FEBRUARY 28, 2017. APPLICATION ESSAY, PRINTED COPY AND MICROSOFT WORD COPY COPY OF STUDENT'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE OR PASSPORT COMPLETED DISTRICT ESSAY CONTEST ENTRY FORM CHECK FOR ENTRY FEE $10

Feb 1 Finalize local Oratorical and CCDHH contests

2 Optimist Day — wear your Optimist logo apparel

10-11 OI President's Midyear Meeting in St Louis

15 Sec/Treas US Clubs' IRS 990 deadline

19

DMM Leaders

7 PM CST / 6 PM MST -- 2nd Qtr Conference Call with Gov Terry Phone: 712-770-4035 Access Code: 133973#

28 Essay Chair Deadline for Essay submissions to DMM Essay chair

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

Growth / Membership — January was the first month to make sure we don’t drop until you add. The good news – this month we ended with a +52! Two new clubs – Optimist Club of Lakeville, MN – Zone 10 are planting their tree with 16 new members (560 kids will receive the benefit) and Roseville Area Optimist Club – Zone 11 planted theirs with 29 new mem-bers (1015 kids served). Congratulations to both of these new additions and to the sponsoring clubs: Prior Lake – Savage MN and St Paul. And now, the bad news – It looks like 4 clubs have been eliminated from the Growth contest. This is a strong re-minder to everyone to pay close attention to the expiration dates of any Friend of Optimists you carry on your ros-ter. They will automatically fall off if they are not paid (or postmarked) by their renewal date. But, let’s end on a good note! YTD we are at -34. Last year at this time we were -70. That looks like mighty nice GROWTH so far. What does your club have planned to introduce and share Optimism in your community, feeding our roots and giving Spring life to our resting trees? Share your ideas with all – we are all committed to BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN KIDS…ourselves and our communities! Trees understand that the season of winter is best spent focusing on renewal and taking time to replenish.

Gita Hendricks – DMM Growth Chair Together We Can!

[It’s possible OI will backdate some FOO statuses after m/e.]

DMM Convention 2017

August 10, 11, & 12, 2017 Canad Inns Destination Centre Club Regent Casino Hotel 1415 Regent Ave. W, Winnipeg, MB $109 CDN Double Room $119 CDN King Room $199 CDN Suites

Rates honoured if you extend your stay Call 1-888-332-2623 or 204-667-5560 (hotel direct) Quote group 327601 block number for the Optimist Clubs of Winnipeg

Please be sure your club’s newsletter, whether distributed monthly, weekly, or as needed, is sent to dmmdispatch@midco.net for possi-ble inclusion in the monthly “Club News” column.

Optimist International Mission, Vision & Purposes Mission: By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in youth, our communities and ourselves. Vision: Optimist International will be rec-ognized worldwide as the premier volun-teer organization that values all children and helps them develop to their full poten-tial. Purposes: To develop optimism as a phi-losophy of life utilizing the tenets of the Optimist Creed; to promote an active inter-est in good government and civic affairs; to inspire respect for the law; to promote patriotism and work for international ac-cord and friendship among all people; to aid and encourage the development of youth, in the belief that the giving of one’s self in service to others will advance the well-being of humankind, community life and the world.

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

Growth / Membership — January 2017 Sponsors

Gita Hendricks – DMM Growth Chair Together We Can!

Thanks to these members for sharing their Optimism this month # Children

reached/mo YTD

Club: 35042 - DICKINSON, ND (Zone: 2)

Timothy R Brumfield 70

Jeremiah Thorpe 70

Jason Kraft 35

Club: 35111 - MINOT, ND (Zone: 2)

Jason E Soine 35

Club: 35014 - BISMARCK, ND (Zone: 3)

Andrew Engelman 35 70

Club: 35065 - FARGO, ND (Zone: 4)

Larry A Grinaker 35

Club: 35078 - GRAND FORKS, ND (Zone: 4)

Jacob Franklin 35

Club: 35216 - MITCHELL AREA, SD (Zone: 6)

Brad Zomer 35

Vicki D Adams 35

Club: 35150 - SIOUX FALLS MORNING (SFMO), SD (Zone: 7)

Robert L Christensen 35

35204 - NEW ULM, MN (Zone: 8)

Susan M Fix 35

Club: 35045 - DULUTH, MN (Zone: 9)

William E Harlander 35

Club: 35131 - ST CLOUD, MN (Zone: 9)

Wayne Schluchter 35

35233 - OPTIMIST CLUB OF LAKEVILLE, MN (Zone: 10) NEW

Charter members -16 560

Club: 35232 - ROSEVILLE AREA OPTIMIST CLUB (Zone: 11) NEW

Charter members - 29 1015

January Total # of Youth Served 2100

Read all about the DMM’s newest club on page 10.

Sioux Falls Morning Optimists +MO showing wooden toys.

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

Parenting Against The Internet “Did your family receive new tech gadgets over the holidays, perhaps a smartphone, tablet or a new gaming station? Do you know what forms of social media your children are using? How much time do your kids spend on technolo-gy? What effect does that have on them? As social media becomes more present in our lives, it is more important than ever for families to understand the consequences of our social media & internet deci-sions. Parent involvement is KEY! Schools around the world are inviting parents from Kindergarten-High school to learn & discuss Social Media & Internet Safety. Volunteers including teachers, administrators, police departments & even State Attorney Generals are sharing what kids are being exposed to on the Internet. Can we, as Optimist Clubs, find ways to help Parents Manage the Internet!?! Optimist International developed an Internet Safety Program several years ago which is available for download on the OI website (no longer mailed to clubs). Use this information as a basis to begin thinking & planning an Internet Safety program of your own or in conjunction with a local school. Then “jump” safely on the Internet where you will find a wealth of ideas, do’s & don’ts for conducting a Safety session for parents. If, like many of us, you want more information & TECH SUP-PORT check these: safety net.aap.org; Video Games & Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control by Hilario Cash,Ph.D.; ResetYourChildsBrain.com. “The Smaller Your Kid’s Screen, The More You Lose Control.” “If you or your children can list three real-life things they honestly like more than gaming, they’re probably OK. IF NOT, IT’S TIME TO MAKE SOME CHANGES.” Star Munch, DMM Internet Safety Chair

NEW CLUB: Allow me to introduce a new club in the DMM: the Roseville Area Optimist Club. The club was chartered January 13, 2017, with 25 members. As DMM Governor, I had the pleasure of serving as the builder of excellence. Don Salverda, now the club president, stopped by the Optimist Booth at the Minnesota State Fair last August and asked for more information about the Optimist organization and starting a new club in Roseville, a 1st ring suburb of St. Paul. Following up on his inquiry, I met with Don and several other prospective members. They all felt that an Optimist Club in the Roseville area is just what the youth and community members needed. Don and others quickly started contacting friends, co-workers and other community members and invited them to several more informational meetings. From there more and more interested people came to the December meeting. Over the Holiday season Don, his core group, and I continued to put the club together completing the details of chartering the club. It was decided to form the club in January so that everyone could enjoy the benefits of being an Optimist. I'm sure we will be hearing and seeing more about the very energetic and enthusiastic members of the Roseville Area Optimist Club. Terry Gorman, DMM Governor

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

DMM Conference Call — 7 PM [CST], Sunday, February 19th A few minutes before 7 PM Central Standard Time, please call 1-712-770-4634. When prompted, enter the con-ference number followed by the pound sign: 133973#. You will then be entered on the call. - - - - - -

For Canadian callers, ONLY, having problems. Please read this section If you are calling in from a Canadian phone number and experience call blocking (rare but does happen) We do offer a backup number that you can use to reroute the call, which typically resolves any issues that callers have with connecting to the line: 559-546-1400. When calling into the backup number, you or your callers will need to enter the original dial-in number and access code listed above. Keep in mind that this number only needs to be provided to anybody having troubles connecting to the line. Everybody else can still just use the original dial in number.

- - - - - - Shortly after 7, Lori will call the roll for the Executive Committee and then ask if others are on the call. This year one of the requirements Honor Club is for the Club President, Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Convention (or two other District meetings/conferences). To help clubs meet the Honor Club requirements for Club leadership to attend District meetings, Club Presidents, Club President-elect and Secretary/Treasurers are encouraged to join in on this conference call to help meet those requirements. Please have paper and pen available for notes and other important instructions and announcements.

DRAFT AGENDA FOR THE CALL Welcome - Terry Gorman Call to Order - Terry Gorman Minutes of the Last Meeting (to be sent later) - Lori Cook Financial Statement (to be sent later) - Lori Cook Reports from Lt. Governors – only if either good news or bad news that is affecting your clubs Essay – Jeri Gorman CCDHH – Ginny Bisek Oratorical – Dave Nichols New Club Building – Jim Meyers Growth – Gita Hendricks Third Quarter Meeting – Jim Bisek Any Other Committee Chair Reports Honor Club requirements - Terry Gorman Old Business New Business Roll Call details (Do not miss these instructions) - Lori Cook Adjourn with the Creed - All

Please keep reports short. I want to keep the call to one hour or less. Thanks. Terry Gorman, DMM Governor

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

2017 Club Oratorical Contests With the start of the New Year, the Oratorical Contest is right around the corner. It is time to make contacts to find contestants for this year’s contest and organize your Club Contest. The first thing you need is the Club Chair Planning Guide and you can find this on the Optimist International Website at www.optimist.org/e/member/scholarships4.cfm. On the right side of the page you will find: Contest Application, Club Planning Guide, and District Planning Guide highlighted in orange. As Club Chairperson, you want the “Club Planning Guide”. Other helpful information specific to the DMM District Scholarship contest information can be found on the DMM web at: http://www.optimist-dmm.org/contest-info/ As soon as you are positive that you will be sending your club winner on to the Zone Contest, please let your Lt. Gov. know your intentions and specifically whether you will be sending one or two contestants to the next level contest. This year’s contest must be a combined gender contest so you may send one boy and one girl, two boys, or two girls to the next contest level. The next important task to find out is what date the Lt. Gov. is having the Zone Contest so you can have your Club Contest before that date and be able to send the winners information as defined in the Club Planning Guide to your Lt. Gov. The Club Planning Guide is excellent in identifying what needs to be com-pleted by when, but if you have any questions, you should discuss these with your Lt. Gov. Dave Nichols, DMM Oratorical Chair

It’s not too late to still organize a CCDHH contest in your area. May-be ONE club would like to organize a contest for all the clubs in your zone. In that way you could reach more students that are deaf or hard of hearing. The OI website has complete instructions on how to conduct a club contest. This site also allows you to print applications forms. This year’s topic is “What the World Gains from Optimism.” Eligible stu-dents need an audiogram showing a 40 decibel hearing loss and must not have graduated from high school. They need to write and pre-sent a 4-5 minute speech on the topic. They can give the speech orally or by sign. The District Contest is in St Cloud, at the 3rd Quarter Conference, April 28-29. The deadline for club entries is set for April 15th. As your District CCDHH chair please contact me at gbisek@charter.net or 320-260-5996 with any questions or con-cerns. Provide a student in your area the possibility of winning a $2500 scholarship! Ginny Bisek, DMM CCDHH Chair

Optimist International Convention: July 6-8, 2017 Now is the time to make your room reservation and convention registra-tion for Albuquerque. This is a beautiful city and area to visit. At the con-vention you will have many opportunities to hear and share your experi-ences as an optimist and participate in a variety of seminars in growing and strengthening your club. Convention Center / room reservations: http://www.albuquerquecc.com/ Convention Registrations: http://www.optimist.org/reg/OIReg_Member.cfm?e=CONV&m=2017 Terry Gorman, DMM Governor

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

West St Paul Spelling Bee On January 11, the Optimist Club of West St. Paul held its 20th annual ISD 197 Spelling Bee in the Henry Sibley High School auditorium. The best spellers from the five elementary schools and two middle schools competed to determine the winner for each school. Each school winner was presented with a trophy and a T-shirt. All partici-pants received a medallion. Each school winner in the seven-county metropolitan area will take an online test to determine which students will advance to the 2017 Minneso-ta Seven-County Metro Area Regional Spelling Bee. The winning words were: gesticulations, tightrope, constabulary, pertinac-ity, moisture, reprehensible, and algae. Life coach Elizabeth Dickinson and Brenda Corbett, retired teacher and a member of the ISD 197 School Board, pronounced the words. Carol Southward, a retired librarian and the 2008 Optimist of the Year, served as correction judge. Members of the Optimist Club of West St. Paul and volunteers from the Youth Leadership class at Henry Sibley High School held other roles.

3rd Quarter Reminder Remember the 3rd Qtr DMM District Meeting in St Cloud will be Friday & Saturday, April 28 & 29, 2017. Please do not schedule any club activities for that weekend. Remember, your club may win a gift certificate if you have the largest percentage of your membership attending the meeting. I know from experience that future leaders in your clubs and the district need to attend district meetings to get the best perspective on how your club and the DMM District fit within the Optimist International organization. Every registrant learns something new about other clubs and their pro-jects. Every registrant comes away with renewed energy and enthusiasm. How can you not be fired up when you see the young people competing for scholarships in the Essay, Oratorical and CCDHH contests? It would be wonderful to have all eleven zones represented in the CCDHH and Oratorical Contests. REMEMBER to make room and conference reg-istrations for the winners’ families from your zone / club! In addition for a club to meet the new honor club requirements the Club President, Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Con-vention (or two other District meetings/conferences) another good reason to attend this always exciting meeting. The official registration form and hotel information can be found on page 12 of this issue. Terry Gorman, DMM Governor

What follows is the press release sent to the Lakeville, MN newspaper an-nouncing the formation of the newest club in the DMM.

Lakeville Optimists! The Optimist Club of Lakeville was chartered on Thursday, Janu-ary 26, 2017 in Lakeville MN. The club becomes one of the newest in Optimist International, a volunteer organization made up of more than 2,500 clubs whose members work to encourage the development of youth in the belief that the giving of one’s self in service to others will advance the well-being of human-kind, community life and the world. Sponsored by the Prior Lake – Savage Optimist Club, the new Lakeville Optimist Club will hold its first official meeting at 6:00 PM on Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 18472 Kenyon Avenue, Lakeville, MN 55044. The meeting includes dinner and will last approximately one hour. You are invited to come hear about potential programs designed to develop optimism as a philosophy of life and shape the leaders of tomorrow right here in the Lakeville community. If interested, please RSVP to club president Larry Law-rence at llawrence@edgereservices.com, or phone 952-994-2724 if you plan to attend the meeting and dinner. If you are unable to attend and want to learn more about this Opti-mist Club, please contact Larry with your questions. Additional information on the Optimist Interna-tional Organization can also be obtained at http://www.optimist.org. Builders of Excellence were Arnie Odefey and Jim Gruver of the Prior Lake-Savage Optimist Club.

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DMM District Dispatch Issue 16.17.05 February 2017

Optimist International AWARDS & RECOGNITION 2015-2016 DISTINGUISHED GOVERNOR 2015-2016 KEN SCHULZ -- Dakotas - Manitoba - Minnesota DISTINGUISHED LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS 2015-2016 DAKOTAS-MANITOBA-MINNESOTA Zone 03 Jim Vandrovec Zone 07 Jack Dyvig* * Outstanding Lieutenant Governors DISTINGUISHED CLUBS 2015-2016 DAKOTAS-MANITOBA-MINNESOTA 35001 Brandon Valley, SD 35078 Grand Forks, ND 35096 Jamestown, ND 35115 Yankton-Morning, SD 35130 Central Minnesota Noon, Inc., MN 35151 Sioux Falls-Sioux Valley, SD HONOR CLUBS 2015-2016 DAKOTAS-MANITOBA-MINNESOTA 35014 Bismarck, ND 35051 Eden Prairie, MN 35065 Fargo, ND 35111 Minot, ND 35116 Noon-Black Hills, SD 35123 Rochester, MN 35124 Prior Lake-Savage, MN 35131 St Cloud, MN 35140 St Paul, MN 35143 Seven Oaks, Winnipeg, MB 35171 Worthington, MN 35204 New Ulm, MN 35216 Mitchell Area, SD 35225 Sakakawea Area, ND 35229 Minnesota Valley, MN 35231 Vermillion, SD Congratulations to all clubs and individual recipients! What a terrific year for the DMM!

Club Grant Program

Is your club thinking of a NEW Club Project? OIF would like to make implementing that new program a little easier by offering $500 in matching grants. What a great way of “Teaching by Example.” Guidelines for the 2017 Club Grant Program:

Any Adult Club served by OIF is eligible to apply for a $500 grant for a NEW project of the Club.

The project must start and finish between April 2017 and March 2018.

Grants to Clubs will be matching grants, with Clubs expected to show plans for the matching the money and reporting the results. Clubs will complete follow-up reports.

Grants are for one year only.

Club dues must be current.

Clubs might consider using the Pass Through Program to obtain donations from local businesses and Foun-dations.

http://oifoundation.org/programs/club-grant-program/club-grant-application/ If the link above doesn’t work, please start on the Optimist International Foundation home page, click on Club Grant Program, and read the guidelines. Deadline is March 10, 2017. Let's submit so many from the DMM that OIF awards us two or three grants. If you have a question contact: Carmen Bakken (605)881-1348

DMM 3rd QUARTER DISTRICT CONFERENCE

District Oratorical & CCDHH Contests

April 28 & 29, 2017

Optimist Member and Guest Registration Information Meeting Hotel

Newly Remodeled Courtyard by Marriott 404 W. St. Germain Street, St. Cloud, MN 56301

Room Reservation – 320-654-1661 Room Rate: $129.00 per night plus tax (Kings & Suites) – ask for Optimist Rate

Alternate Hotel (1 block Away): Best Western Plus – Kelly Inn

Room Reservation – 320-253-0606 100 – 4th Avenue South, St. Cloud, MN 56301

Room Rate: $94.00 per night plus tax (singles or doubles) – ask for DMM District Rate

Reserve Your Room Now - Cut Off Date: March 29, 2017

________$55 (US Funds) Early Bird District Registration *Registration and Payment Postmarked by April 3, 2017

________$65 (US Funds) District Registration *Registration and Payment Postmarked after April 3, 2017

If unable to attend the entire conference, register for individual events below:

Friday: Pizza Party $15 Saturday: Breakfast Buffet $20 Lunch $25

HOSTED BY THE OPTIMIST CLUB OF ST. CLOUD With In-kind, Technical, and Financial support from the SC Convention & Visitor’s Bureau!

Make Checks Payable in US FUNDS to: DMM District Mail Registration Forms and Payment to: Jim Bisek,

2436 Imperial Drive,

Questions? Please contact: St. Cloud, MN 56301-5009

Jim Bisek: (H) 320-253-1462

(C) 320-260-4000

E-mail: jimb@BlueChipInsuranceServices.com

MEMBER and GUEST Registration (One registration form per member or guest)

Name ___________________________________ Club____________________________#35-_____________

Address__________________________________ City ____________________State_____ ZIP ___________

Evening Phone ( ) ______________________ E-Mail:__________________________________________

Current Office Held: i.e. Club and/or District: Special Dietary Needs:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Is this your 1st or 2

nd DMM District Conference? (Yes) _____ which one? (circle) 1

st 2

nd (No) ________

Check #: Amount enclosed: Will pay in St. Cloud:

optimist-dmm.org/ granitecountry.com

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