The "Manhattan Optimist Club Bulletin" 3/1/23

VOLUME 2023              March 1        NUMBER 22

CALL TO ORDER:

President Thad Hall welcomed us today, followed by the flag salute.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS, VISITORS AND SPECIAL GUESTS:

President Hall welcomed Manhattan Optimist Club’s Student of the Month, Mariah Haug and her father, Jerry, and her mother, Diane.  He also welcomed our guest speakers Jason Walker and Katie Pawlosky.

Bill Wisdom introduced Karla Wisdom and Jerry Banaka introduced Gary Loyd who is visiting a second time and has relocated to Manhattan from Longmont, Colorado.  Thad Hall introduced new member Kale Terrill.  Mike Fincham introduced Sofie Maranville, and Greg McCune introduced Ryan Mckee.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Thad Hall announced the Optimist Club gave out $20,000 in grants and several thankyou cards were circulating.

President Hall announced meeting times would be changing starting in June.  There will be two noon meeting per month on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays and morning meetings on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesdays of the month.

He also reminded everyone of the signup for the Special Olympics Basketball Tournament on March 17th and 18th.

Jim Franke announced additional help was still needed for the Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser scheduled for March 25th.  Assistance is also still needed for bread baking at KSU and for cookies for dessert.

Doug Jardine announced this past weekend the second quarter district Optimist meeting was held in Overland Park.  Dime a Day awards were given out and Thad Hall, Pat Caffey, Clyde Scott, Jerry Banaka, Bruce McMillan, Mark Grinter, and Barry Dundas received awards.  In addition, an award was also given to Thad Hall for recruiting five new members.

Thad Hall reminded everyone that Dime a Day sign up forms were on the tables.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Greg McCune presented this week’s Member Spotlight, Ashley Urban.  Ashley is a member of the Optimist Board and has been a member for a little over a year.  She was sponsored by Heather Peterson.  She grew up in Topeka and is married to Austin Urban, who works in occupational safety at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.  They have a three-year-old daughter, Atzie, and are expecting a second child in July. 

Ashley graduated from K-State with degrees in Hospitality Management and Gerontology.  She began her career in administration at Meadowlark, but eventually gravitated toward the insurance business.  She worked at Farm Bureau and then for an independent agent.  For the last three years she has operated her own independent insurance business called CURA.  She was named the GMCF Young Trustee of the Year in 2022 and was recently among 15 young leaders under 40 honored in our community.  She loves the sport of soccer and likes to play in local adult leagues when she has time.

In addition to Optimist, she is involved in Greater Manhattan Community Foundation Young Trustees, Flint Hills Foster Teen Camp, Manhattan Referral Network, and coaches for Sporting Kaw Valley.  She said that she joined Optimist because of our focus on helping kids.  She enjoyed working at the Christmas tree lot last year as she got to know several longtime members.

Student of the Month:

Thad Hall outlined the Manhattan High School Student of the Month Program.  The program recognizes Manhattan High School seniors who make a difference in their community through volunteerism and leadership of activities that have a positive impact on the MHS or Manhattan community.  The goal of the program is to inspire and encourage youth to get involved in their community in an effort to benefit others.  Mariah Haug was introduced as Manhattan High School Student of the Month.

Mariah introduced her father, Jerry, and her mother Diane.  Mariah has four older siblings.  She has been working at Mrs. Powell’s bakery for three years and she really enjoys baking.  She plans to keep working there through college.  She will be attending Kansas State University this fall majoring in conservation biology, but is interested in animals and is considering vet med.  She has started volunteering at the animal shelter.  She has wanted to do this for a long time, but volunteers must be 18 years old, and she recently turned 18. 

She was in band her freshman and sophomore year, but when covid arrived and interrupted school, she started taking more AP classes to get ahead in college.  She loves to travel and has the opportunity to work at Yellowstone National Park this summer.

She thanked her parents for supporting her in everything she does and thanked the Optimist Club for this opportunity.  She plans to designate the animal shelter as the recipient of the $100 the Optimist Club provides to the charity of the Student of the Week’s choice.

PROGRAM:

Heather Peterson introduced Jason Walker and Katie Pawlosky of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NAFB) public affairs office.

The mission of NBAF is to protect the nation’s food supply and public health.  Agriculture is the number one industry in Kansas and a large part of the national economy.  This country was built on agriculture.  It is important to protect our agriculture from diseases that may come in from outside our border.  For example, African swine fever is a disease that currently could be a threat to our agriculture economy.  They also will research zoonotic diseases, those that may be transmitted from animals to humans. 

Our meat industry produces high quality products that are used worldwide.  Currently, there is no research lab in the US for level 4 large animal research.  The Manhattan lab will have that capacity once it is fully operational.  They will be able to bring large animals into the lab for research on diseases.

NBAF will replace the 65-year-old Plumb Island Animal Disease Center in New York.  The life span of a facility such as Plumb Island is 50 years, thus it is past its prime.  Over the next couple of years, work conducted at Plumb Island will be transferred to NAFB and additional opportunities for research will be expanded.

The NAFB facility is completely constructed.  Currently, there is no science being conducted.  The endurance period, the testing of all aspects of the facility, is nearly complete.  This process ensures the building is functioning as designed.  They are beginning their science preparatory phase where they bring scientist into the facility to see their labs and equipment to ensure they have received what they ordered, and the labs are set up as specified.  It will be a couple of years before science will be going on in the facility. 

The facility is on 48 acres and is 700,000 square feet of facility space.  Over 575,000 square feet will be biocontainment space.  The facility is completely self-sufficient in an emergency and all the backup systems have been tested.  The facility will run 24 hours per day and 7 days a week. 

Every person entering the facility must travel through a checkpoint prior to getting near the building.  Once inside the entry area, there is a second checkpoint.  Any nonemployee will need to be specifically invited to the facility; no visitor tours will be conducted once the facility is operational.  Currently, there are 280 employees, but once the facility is operational there will be 400 employees.  Sixty precent of the employees are 40 or younger.  Forty-five precent of the employees are veterans.  Nearly 50% have lived in Kansas for quite a while.  Thirty-three percent have bachelor’s degrees and as more scientists arrive, the level of degrees will be increasing.  There is a community liaison group that they meet with quarterly to connect with community members. 

CLUB STUFF/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Next week’s program is Micah Karl, Riley County Coordinator of Toddler Services.

 

MEETING ADJOURNED WITH THE OPTIMIST CREED