March 05, 2010

MEETINGS THURSDAY

All Exchangites are invited to attend the next Gus Macker meeting this Thursday (3/4) at the Knights of Columbus. The meeting will begin at 5:15 p.m. The Smoke on the River committee will be meeting Thursday night as well – 5:30 p.m. at The Dock.

THIS FRIDAY

We’ll be back at ABVI to hear from City of Quincy Planning and Development Director Chuck Bevelheimer about the 2010 Census. Mayor John Spring spoke briefly about the importance of the census during his recent State of the City. Join us Friday as Mr. Bevelheimer discusses the issue in greater detail. Plus, I believe we’ll be inducting two new members – Travis Brown and Don Hilgenbrink.

FRIDAY LAST

A nice road trip to Chaddock. Former Exchangite Jeff Van Camp introduced our speaker Debbie Reed, the President and CEO of Chaddock. Debbie has been employed at Chaddock for 15 years. Chaddock was founded in 1853 by the United Methodist Church and it is still affiliated with the Church. Chaddock has 185 staff members at their 30 acre facility making it one of the larger employers in the area and is beyond capacity with children from 34 different school districts as students. They have 45 on campus students, 85 foster care students, 70 in school students, and several hundred out of school students that they work with. The ages of the students range primarily from 6 to 21 with younger students from time to time. Like most places, Chaddock is waiting on state funding. The need is up, costs are up, but the state payments are lagging. Chaddock will be expanding in the near future with the building of a new school and new cottage on the campus. Our sincere thanks to Chaddock for their hospitality last Friday.

VIP DATES

3/4 – Macker Meeting (5:15 at KC)

3/5 - Richard & Kelley Cole celebrate their 27th anniversary

3/6 – Mel Dillman celebrates his 60th birthday

3/8 - March Board Meeting

3/9 Brent Fischer celebrates a birthday

4/12 - April Board Meeting

5/29 & 30 – Gus Macker

9/10 & 11 – Smoke on the River

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“To keep things going, always give flowers.” Elvin Townsend relationship advise. Jeff Dorsey’s response? “You might want to send them to your wife as well.”

THIS & THAT

Rev. Jim Totsch with the prayer and Jerry Ebbing leading the pledge… First Vice President Kent Anderson filling in for the absent President Kevin Curran… Poor Bill Stalder called Stadler again. This time by VP Kent as he read birthdays. Oddly, Bill’s name more mispronounced than mine… Jim Benz had the right ticket but the wrong card (ten of diamonds) so the pot grows. Immediate Past President Art Awerkamp handling the card duties… No tail twister… Speaking of tail twister, Former Exchangite and Tail Twister Slim Sommerville entered the Veterans Home last Friday. Didn’t get a chance to see him until Tuesday. As soon as he saw me, Slim asked if I was still in the Exchange Club. The next thing he wanted to know was who does the tail twisting now? His body may be failing but his mind is sharp. Please make time to visit Slim in Fifer Infirmary. And don’t forget John Ortwerth… My thanks to Jeff Dorsey for taking notes last week as I headed to Bloomington to cheer on my girls. Must have been tough on Jeff as he decided to take off this week and head to Florida for Spring Training. Something about batting practice with the Cardinals. He is not only the Big Dog, but a Lucky Dog… That's all for now, 'til next time, may God’s love, grace, and peace be with you and the ones you love.