Volume LXXI

December 11, 2015

2014-15 Lincolnland District Best Bulletin Award Recipient

This Friday

This Friday we will honor the late Mel Dillman as we take the hour to reflect on some of the things Mel did for this club including the humor he brought to it. Please be thinking of some stories about Mel that you can share with the Club. Also, please invite any non-members who were friends with Mel to the Club so they too can share a Mel Dillman moment with all of us. So bring your stories and plan on plenty of laughs and perhaps even shed a tear or two.

Also, we will collect our annual tip money from each member of the Club for our weekly waitress, Jennifer Shaffer. We recommend at least a $10 bill for all of her hard work during the year. ($10 for 50 weeks of work comes out to 20 cents a week tip.....Perhaps a Jackson would be better than a Hamilton).

Friday Last

The Club held our annual Hearing Impaired Christmas Party last Friday. It was the 53rd consecutive year for the event. Hearing Impaired Chairman Art Awerkamp noted the untimely death of Zane Epperson back in September. Zane was only nine years old when he passed away but had participated in several of our Christmas parties.

Art also presented Hearing Impaired Coordinator Katie Stegner with a $1,000 check for the program. Katie expressed her gratitude and told us the funds would be used to purchase driver education resources and books which have hearing impaired characters in them.

Katie told us the Hearing Impaired Program has children from three to 21 years of age in it and from 11-12 schools in Adams County. Special recognition was given to Maverick Dasch who is spending his last year in the school and at our program. One of their recent graduates, Zach Bradley was in attendance.

Katie told us how excited the kids were to perform for us. This year they sang "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and then "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Great Job!

The Jolly Old Man himself, Jeff "Big Dog" Dorsey did another bang-up job as Santa. Santa cracked a few jokes and handed out toys to each of the kids and a special "gift" to each Exchangite.

Thanks Art and Jeff for making this a special day. Pretty cool stuff!

Birthdays and Anniversaries

12/12 - Dennis and Teri Koch celebrate their 34th anniversary

12/13 - Art Awerkamp turns the big 5-0

12/15 - Kevin and Elizabeth O'Donnell celebrate their 42nd anniversary

Upcoming dates of interest:

12/17 - Board meeting at the Pier - 11:45 a.m. All board members are requested to attend, all members are welcome. Lunch is $10

12/30 - Club Christmas party at the Quincy Boat Club

This 'n That

President Jared Haugh opened the meeting with a prayer and pledge.

12 teams participated in the Special Olympics basketball tournament this past Sunday at Q.U. A big thanks to Perry Terwelp and Rich Lavery for chairing and to all the volunteers who kept score, officiated, set up, tore down, or helped in some other manner. It was a great day for these special athletes, their coaches, and their families. But the biggest joy may be ours knowing we made a difference on that day! Thank you one and all.

Congratulations to Charlie Ledbetter and his GIVEAKIDACHANCE committee for holding another successful "Foster Care Kids and Family Christmas Dinner" which was held last Friday evening. This year's event also featured the kids from Chaddock School as well. Kudos also to Hy-Vee and the Gem City Detachment of the Marine Corps League's Toys for Tots program. All played major roles in the success of the evening. Charlie reports there were over 175 attendees making it the largest dinner to date which kept Santa "Dorsey" Claus busy Friday.

For new members, the Club has 3 Santa suits available for your use if you so desire. Contact Jeff Dorsey if you need to use it.

A Reminder that the Mel Dillman Service will be tomorrow, December 12th, at 10:30 a.m. at Christ Lutheran Church at 333 South 36th Street. As customary when one of our members passes, we will honor him with a special eulogy. Jeff Dorsey and Curt Moore will be handling this sacred duty but we need as many Exchangites as possible to attend the service. We usually do a separate short service, but per Linda Dillman's request, we will actually be a part of the main service. For those who don't know, Mel was a huge part of this club for over 29 years (Mel joined the Club March 20, 1986).

A big thank you goes out to Dennis and Joel Koch for a great Spousal Christmas Party this past Saturday night. The event was held at Drakes. Per the old "Indian Fighter" Paul Clarkson, "Thankfully, no one invited both their spouse and girlfriend". Aspen Gengenbacher, niece of Rick, provided the evening's entertainment. Just 17, Aspen is a very talented singer/writer/musician.

There was no 50-50 drawing last Friday as Santa took his 50 and took off for the North Pole. Got to feed the elves you know! The Club is working on details regarding our annual Christmas Luncheon. As soon as things are confirmed you will be informed (a little elf has told me it is a good bet it will be on the 30th)

Lastly, a big thank you goes out to Rick Gengenbacher for assisting with this week's bulletin as I was somewhat pre-occupied during the meeting.

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