News
Optimist Club of Coronado
Weekly Optimist Meeting 10-08-2020
Sarah Kauffman was our guest speaker for the Optimist Zoom todayAlaska toFlorida toAnd 50 states across USA... and back home here in CoronadoSports teams and mascots still reign supreme...This 2 lb cheese bunny can stir up as much excitement Or a 40 lb cheese puppyOr a 600 lb cheese milk truckOr my newest Guinness World Record gator 3,121 lbs 66” tall x 48” diameter.Mew to my cheese gallery are concert fan fare events... Carrie UnderwoodBack street BoysAnd other famous cheese hero’s Like SupermanSponge BobHarry Connick JrMartha Stewart and Snoop DogAnd Coronado Optimist own beloved Dan Hendrickson and bro for 80th birthday immortalized as cheese basset houndsDispute all cheese events cancelling during Crazy COVID-19 I look ahead With Optimism
(Like Mike McCarthy of the GB Packers) And I will Always put my best cheese foot forward as I step in to new cheese challenges soon to call.
The Optimist Club’s Early Crew….
A beautiful, early morning start to a Thursday morning! Captured in front of the Coronado Community Center by one of the first Optimists to arrive at the meeting this morning.
New Optimist President is Installed
Photo (L-R) Optimist President Dick Madouse receives President’s Pin from Immediate Past President Irish Flynn
In 1970 at the La Avenida Restaurant, twenty-five charter members founded the club that has developed into one of the premier clubs within Optimist International. Leadership and participation at all levels within the club has been the hallmark of the Coronado Optimists. The beneficiaries have been the youth of Coronado -- students at all of the schools in our village, a variety of youth organizations and individual students who have asked and received assistance for specific individual projects.
Richard ‘Dick’ Madouse is the 42nd President of the club and will serve in that capacity from October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012. His leadership team includes; Irish Flynn- Immediate Past President, Charlie Ahern– President Elect, Vice Presidents Mark Blumenthal and Jennifer Landry, Directors Lyndsey Arendsee, Clint Coneway, Dennis Dorman, Ted Khrone, Mike Napolitano, Bernie Roeder, Secretary Charles Helsper, and Treasurer Brennan Hovland.
One of the Optimists’ annual highlights is the selection of two individuals to receive very special awards: the Optimist of the Year and Life Member Awards. The two Optimists who received the awards this year are: Don Crawford, Optimist of the Year; and Jack Larison, Life Member. Their contributions to the club and commitment to the Optimist Creed are evident in all they do.
The Optimists salute the leaders and award-winners, thank them for their willingness to serve the club and the youth of Coronado. Each is indeed a ‘Friend of Youth’, the Optimist Motto.
Helping Wounded Warriors
Photo: Betty Michalewicz and Stan Searfus
It began when an injured Army soldier who lost an arm and a leg said, “I’d like to go surfing again.” From that moment, Betty Michalewicz, Director of the Rehabilitation Through Sports Program at the Naval Medical Center SD, decided to add surfing to the sports activities she led. It was in the surfing project that she met Stan Searfus, Coronado Optimist Club member, avid surfer, and coach of the CMS Surf Club. This resulted in the Thursday morning surfing rehabilitation activities led by these two remarkable individuals.
Betty reported that between 35-40 surfers take part in the Thursday morning rehab sessions that she calls, “Ocean Therapy”. The strenuous exercise can be exhausting and that promotes nightly sleep, also very important. She emphasized that this form of exercise is physically, emotionally and spiritually healing and that these attributes occur automatically during the exercise.
This program is so important that the Navy Hospital recognizes this by giving sports rehab activities the same priority as medical appointments for the injured warriors. We salute Betty and Stan and wounded warriors that have served and continue to serve our nation.
Welcome To Our Newest Members Roger Hayden and Elias Rivera!
Two new members were inducted into the Optimist Club. Roger Hayden (2nd from left) and Elias Rivera (far right).