June 12, 2007                                                                      Vol. 23 No. 32

NEXT CLUB MEETING

  The next meeting of the Optimist Club of Treynor is planned at 7:20 a.m. Saturday morning June 16, 2007 in the Community Center.  JEFF JORGENSEN is arranging for the program speaker.  All members are encouraged to bring a guest and the public is invited. 

REPORT OF RECENT CLUB MEETINGS

  At the club meeting on 6/9 there were 16 members and two guests present.  President GARY GUTTAU opened the meeting with the pledge and DALE WILLENBORG led the devotion prayer.

  The 50/50 was awarded to DICK BABER.  The attendance pot was awarded to KEN GRAHAM, but he was not eligible to collect it. 

  Officers for the next Optimist year were elected.  DALE WILLENBORG will step up as president and DICK BABER will assume the vice-president and president-elect role.  Board members elected for a two-year term are JIM CLAUSEN, JOHN KLEIN, and LARRY KRAMER.

  Pres. GUTTAU announced that eight attendees of the Junior Leadership Conference would be present next week to tell about their experiences.

  The next sorting at the Can Kennel will be this Tuesday at 5 p.m. with the baseball players.

  GARY FUNKHOUSER announced the new Treynor High School principal is Jennifer Behrens.  JOEL BOHLKEN has taken a superintendent position in Nebraska. 

FESTIVAL FOR EVERYONE COMING TO OMAHA

  Jim Keen, representing the Luis Palau Ministries organization, explained to Club members the extensive plans for the family-friendly Heartland Festival planned July 14 and 15.  Keen said this festival has been three years in the planning, and was initiated by local churches who requested Luis Palau to bring his world renowned ministry to spread the Good News in the Omaha area.  Keen has worked for Palau Ministries eight years organizing festivals in the U.S.  He said the Omaha festival is one of five scheduled in 2007 in the U.S., and there are a couple international festivals also planned.  According to Keen this festival will be one of the largest in scope with all the activities being offered.  They are expecting 20 thousand participants each day and are planning for more.  There are 32 corporations, 274 churches and parishes, and 54 ministries of the Omaha region offering support for this festival which costs $1.75 million to produce.  Keen stated there is no cost to attend the festival which will be set up on the Qwest Center outdoor grounds, and everyone is invited to come. 

  Keen explained that there will be four major activity areas each day from 1 to 9:30 p.m.  These include concerts by artists of contemporary Christian, gospel, rap, and country music.  There will be programs by Livin-It-Action with professional demonstrations of BMX bike riding, freestyle motocross acrobatics, and street skate boarding.  There will be a family fun zone with youth sports clinics where older kids of every age will enjoy trying their hand at a variety of outdoor sports; and children’s activities with ventriloquist Mark Thompson, hugging VeggieTales characters, getting air beneath the! ir feet in the inflatables, creating masterpiece crafts, playing carnival games, getting their faces painted, and more.  Community care is a large part of the festival purpose and a major activity area is a large exhibition by 70 local service providers, organizations, and educational services. Blood pressure, cancer screenings, dental exams, and spinal screenings are just a few of the free medical services that will be available. Safety demonstrations will also be held including the Nebraska State Patrols’ roll-over vehicle.  Keen noted this exhibition is unique feature of the Heartland Festival compared to other Palau festivals.  Keen said community care actions before and after the festival are planned.  Already the! re have been several community service activities performed.  After the festival on Sunday, August 26, there is opportunity to join an effort to complete various service projects in the metro area defined by local churches.  Another community care activity is a food drive.  Keen emphasized that while there is no gate fee, attendees are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for seventeen regional food pantries.  The most needed items are peanut butter canned meats, canned fruit, canned vegetables, pasta, and macaroni and cheese.  Also, a festival event of this size requires a great number of volunteers, Keen explained.  About 3000 individuals are needed each day to fulfill abut 80 different support tasks such as setup, security, parking, concessions, transportation, merchandise! sales, youth activities, and more.  Volunteers can sign up on the web site—heartlandfestival.com. 

  Keen noted this festival is a tool for the Omaha metro area to address individual needs and spread the Good News.  Its success will be measured by community response and follow up from church and ministry leaderships.

CALENDAR

June Can Kennel contributions for High School Baseball Program.

Jun. 12     Can and bottle sorting, 5 p.m.

Jun. 16     Club meeting, program TBA.

Jun. 23     Club meeting, program TBA.

Jun. 27?   Can and bottle sorting.

July Can Kennel contributions for youth wrestling program.

 

   Birthdays

6/5 BOB ABBOTT,   6/9 LES HARVEY#

6/20 JEFF JORGENSEN,   6/22 KEVIN ELWOOD

   Anniversaries

6/1 KEVIN ELWOOD,   6/3 ARYLN NORRIS#,  

6/5 STEVE IRVIN#,   6/15 STEVE CHAMBERS,  

6/26 LARRY KRAMER,   6/28 MICK GUTTAU

# recognized to date

 

 

P.S.  Teacher: Class, it is an interesting linguistic fact that in the English language a double negative forms a positive.  In some languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still negative.  However, there is no language where a double positive can form a negative.  Student:  Yeah, right.

 
Larry Kramer