Optimist Meeting Interest Meeting 4/06/10

Purpose of Meeting – To establish an interest in creating a Single Purpose Optimist Club to serve Hendricks County but open to all of Central Indiana with the goal of establishing continuous sporting leagues/activities for special needs individuals.

An interest was established and it has been decided to attempt at chartering this new club. Next meeting will be Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 7pm in the Community Center at Hummel Park in Plainfield, IN. Additional meetings are set for April 20th, 27th. These meetings will also be held at the Community Center at Hummel Park at 7pm. We need at least 35 new members to start our club. The purpose of the meetings prior to April 27th will be to work towards meeting all requirements to sanction our club and to begin planning our missions. Our goal is to meet the new member requirement and sanction our club at the April 27, 2010 meeting. We must have at least 60% of new members in attendance at the meeting that evening, have dues paid, have elected officers as well as board members. We have selected a temporary Chairperson, Jackie Parrish, and a temporary Secretary, Melissa Dickinson , until we can hold elections.

Optimist International charges a one time organization fee of $400 plus $1 for every new initial member. This must be paid in order to sanction our club. The good news is that we have secured a donation for this amount and therefore it would not be a stumbling block for us in this endeavor. New members will be charged a one time minimally fee to become a new member. Annual dues would then be charged to individuals twice a year for a total of $72/year.

Though no definite plans for events or leagues were made at this meeting, we did set tentative dates for Buddy Ball games in May. (Tentatively – May 14th ,May 15th and May 22nd). These events would be used as an introduction to our club and it’s new programs that will be offered for our special needs friends. It is our goal that we make the leagues and programs FREE to all participants. This makes it pertinent that we get as many members as we can so that we have the funds to make this all possible.

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of something that gives these individuals a chance to feel normal and make a big difference in their lives? Attached you will find an Optimist International Member Invitation Form. If you are interested in joining our new venture please fill out this form and bring it with you to our next meeting. Feel free to invite anyone that you may think would like to join as well.

If you have any questions you may call Jackie Parrish at 317.839-7800 jackiep356@aol.com or Melissa Dickinson at melkd@live.com