The meeting began with Reverend Ron Fritts leading us in prayer and thanking God for a good golfing day in November. Mike Smith led the Pledge and Bruce Broemmel handled the tail twisting duties. Speaking of Mike Smith, our prayers are with him and his mother who has taken ill.
A big thank you to all of the Club members and their wives who assisted Charlie Ledbetter and his crew with last Friday's Give a Kid a Chance Foster Kids/Parents Dinner at the Quincy Senior Center. A few of those kids almost had Santa in tears hearing their stories. Count your blessings for all you have. Some of those kids just ate the best meal they will have in a while.
Signup sheets were on the table for the Spouse's Christmas Party which is set for December 21st at the Holiday Inn. The social hour is at 6, dinner at 6:30 and entertainment at 7:30 that evening. Make sure you sign up Friday if you didn't last week.
Congratulations to Steve labs and Hy-Vee Foods at Harrison for their flag display during Veteran's day weekend. Steve was the recipient of the Club's "So Proudly We Hail" Award. Good sport Art Awerkamp, of County Market employ, made the presentation.
President Perry Terwelp mentioned the thank you letters we received from The Friends of the Trail, the YMCA, and from the November Student of the Month, Maxwell Matson of QHS.
Chuck handled the 50/50 drawing with Eric Schultz holding the winning ticket. Eric drew a Jack of Hearts so the pot of $250 grows next week.
If you didn't contribute last Friday we will again be collecting for our Exchange Club Christmas gift to our waitress, Jennifer. For the new members in the Club, we usually ask for at least a ten dollar bill from members.
I got my Cool Whip story all messed up last week. The actual gift from the Club to the Salvation Army will be a part of the Christmas baskets that they dispense and not for the recent Thanksgiving Dinner as I had mentioned last week. If you are not aware, the Exchange Club donated $800 to the cause.
We learned all about "River Skate", the new ice skating venue at Clat Adams Park in Quincy. Our speakers were owners Chris and Marion Dye. They met in high school with Chris at QHS and Marion at QND and both went to Millikin University. They got married and went to Colorado where they saw a synthetic ice rink and thought it would be a great opportunity to return home and begin a new business in Quincy. They met with our own Travis Brown, who handled the introduction, and the Quincy Park District and the idea developed into a reality. They have secured sponsorships including Refreshment Services Pepsi and opened the rink on November 7th. In the three weeks they have been open some 1000 people have skated already on the "ice" which is 72 feet long and 36 feet wide (approximately 1/4th of an NHL rink). The hard plastic is made by a company from of all places, Florida and should last about ten years before needing replacement. The Dyes are planning special nights like, Skating with Santa, College Night, Teen Night, Princess and Pirate Night and Couples Night in the near future. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under with skate rental included. You can check their 