12/07/2021
The South Omaha Optimist Club will meet tomorrow at 11:00 at Pesek Law Wednesday December 8th.
Pesek Law. 4826 S 24th Street. South Omaha
Agenda for this meeting: Those of us who attended the last scheduled meeting on November 19th were concerned that the club lacked participation and was essentially duplicated by other organizations we are more invested in. We are open to hearing all points of view at our meeting tomorrow.
Zoom Option:
Feel free to call Richard at 402-490-7026 to request a zoom code, it should be the code and ID we used in the past
Message from Richard Harrison (mostly what I wrote in the last newsletter)
Dear Friends,
Those of us who came had an interesting meeting last Friday. It was only the second time we met since an hour we spent remembering David Catalan's life and legacy.
After David's passing, and being asked to serve as the new president of the club, I went to a weekend conference to learn more about the organization, sent out a survey about our club's future, created a half hour power point on the values I think the club represents and why it's worth going forward. And yet we are finding that we may be trying to scratch an itch that doesn't exist.
Our meeting last week was changed to Friday at lunch, after our survey told us that was most desirable time for everyone, and we had a guest speaker all set up. I sent out newsletters the week before and the morning of, to remind people. And yet, with the exception of the folks who worked at Pesek Law, where the meeting was being held, the guest speaker, Jose and Linda, and I were the only ones there. Given that we have 39 people on our membership roster, the low attendance was a clue that we needed to rethink things.
Ross and Karen Pasek, Eric Lopez, Jose, and Linda and I had a good discussion and decided that we have several organizations that we are running concurrent to the Optimist club that already fulfill the needs that the club is striving to fill. The BID (Business Improvement District) Meetings are helping us reshape the neighborhood. The True Potential Scholarship Program Ross and Karen started is something we all care about and want to support, and is closer to our hearts than the Optimist scholarship programs. And for friendship and social engagement, we have the South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance to attend, not to mention meetings for the South Omaha Mural Project, The Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands, and other such groups we already support.
We didn't have a formal meeting to vote on dissolving the group. We just had a conversation as a circle of friends. But we chose to gather as a club December 8th, at 11:00, just after the BID meeting most of us will be attending anyway, to take a formal vote on it. We are open to everyone's input but this feels like the right choice. If you can't attend Wednesday, and still want your voice to be heard, please feel free to write back with your thoughts and feelings. Feel free to call me as well at 402-490-7026.
If you're like me, you joined the South Omaha Optimist club in part because our friend David Catalan asked and you had a hard time saying no. I have always had a hard time saying no to things. When there is an opportunity to help, I feel like stepping up. But we have to be wise about what we say yes to. We can get spread too thin and not be effective at anything. After looking at all the ways we can still be a circle of friends serving South Omaha, local youth, and connecting with each other on exciting projects, I think this choice makes sense. We can be true to the optimist spirit, if we keep on pitching in when we see opportunities, and keep building on our valued friendships. I am grateful for this.
If we choose to dissolve the club, we will have some financial business to take care of. We have some funds to manage and we can talk about causes we want to support. Hope to see you tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Richard Harrison
