The "Manhattan Optimist Club Bulletin" Vol. 2027 #1 10-7-26
President Steve Boeckman welcomed everyone, then gave the reflection, followed by the flag salute.
President Boeckman outlined his focus for the 2026-2027 Optimist Club year. The following are his main items of focus.
Club finances need a better balance between revenue and expenditure. The Optimist Board increased the dues to $150.00 and increased the breakfast donations to $10.00. We will continue to do fundraisers such as football parking and assisting with road races. They are also looking at sponsorships for meals the club provides for free, such as the Christmas Breakfast, Optimist Social, and Flag Day Celebration.
The reason the Club is looking for sponsors is that the revenue from purchase of meals by members is less than the cost of guaranteed meals for the use of the facility, which is 30 meals at $10.00 per meal, or $300.00 plus tax ($325) per meeting. The free meals provided to members add to this deficit. The Club has been running a negative cash flow for the last couple of years. We are at the point where we need to get that reversed. Currently so far this year, the meal income is $11,069 and the meal expense is $15,104; these figures are for October 2025 to August 2026 with one month to go in the Optimist year.
The Club is increasing Breakfast Donations to $10.00 to help recover the full cost of the meals.
One suggestion the Club is pursuing is recruiting sponsorships for these events. Bruce is developing a flier to solicit donations from individuals and businesses.
The Club will dedicate member volunteer work funds to the Club fund for football parking, running events etc. and seek sponsorship of special meeting meals. The Club dues will increase to $150.00. The Club is not gaining much new revenue because of the increase from Optimist International. A little more than $43.00 goes to our club to cover operating expenses, including the meals shortfall.
The Club needs to continue to do Park maintenance and improvements to make the park more functional, including replacing some of the benches in the dugouts. We are also looking at ways to make maintenance easier such as lowering the angle of some of the grass areas for easier mowing and raising fencing a little to make grass trimming easier and spraying the fields instead of weeding them. Next year we may add routinely scheduled workdays composed of members and teams to do field and park maintenance. Bruce has a list of items to improve the park.
The Club also needs to plan a long-term solution for the transition of reducing Bruce and Jim's time commitment at the park. One option is for hiring help for specific tasks at the park. A committee is looking at funding for hiring people to mow and spray etc. The Club has a fund currently and has received a substantial donation to support this goal. The fund needs to reach the $1,000,000 mark to have funds reliably available to accomplish this goal and maintain the park. A part-time park manager is also under consideration.
President Boeckman's closed by noting these are his focus points for the coming year.
Doug Jardine conducted the swearing in ceremony for the Optimist Officers and Directors.
Meeting adjourned with the Optimist Creed.
Bill Wisdom noted that the annual Chili Crawl was October 24th. There are 12 restaurants participating. A couple of more volunteers are still needed to make this fundraiser a success.
On November 7th the Optimist will manage the parking at the fire station on Denison and receive the revenue. Several members have volunteered, and a couple of more are needed to park cars for that event.
The first Quarter meeting of the District Optimist meeting is in Arkansas City, Kansas on November 6th and 7th.
Doug raised over $5, 500 for the Optimist Children's Cancer Fund.
The Social Committee has set up a time to visit the Midwest Dream Car Collection (MDCC) on November 4 at 3 pm. There will be a short program where someone will tell us about MDCC and then members can informally tour it. Volunteers will be there to answer questions.
After the tour, interested members can go next door to Powercat Grill for Happy Hour 4-6 pm.
There is no cost as Mike and Sharon Fincham are members of MDCC.
If you would like to attend, please respond to Sharon Fincham at: slfin@cox.net
SAVE THE DATE: October 24th is our 24th annual Chili Crawl.
OCTOBER 14 – NOON MEETING: Program: Student of the Month & Kayleigh Reyes – Director, Sunset Zoo: Topic: “Student of the Month Presentation” & “What’s New at the Zoo”
OCTOBER 21 – MORNING MEETING: Program: Youth of the Month – Woodrow Wilson & Oliver Brown Elementary
OCTOBER 28 – NOON MEETING: Program: Linda Shortsleeves – K-State Credit Union Member Card Solutions Spec.:Topic: “Fraud Awareness/Elder Abuse”
