Honored Guests: We were truly delighted to have Gloria Gott’s guest, Maddie Schutte, a wonderfully public-spirited high school student (attending Connections Academy), who raised a whopping $4,312 for the Youth House as her senior year project!

Maddie Schutte and Jared Sorenson, Youth House Executive Director

Accepting the big check!! from left to right, TFOC Foundation Board President Barry Knoblich, Youth House Executive Director Jared Sorenson, TFOC Board Member Gloria Gott, MADDIE SCHUTTE, and TFOC President Dawn Soto

Dawn Soto and Robin Stanhope presented an award from the OI Pacific Northwest District to former club PresidentAnna Scholes District for bringing in five (count ’em!) new members!

Member News
Our dear friend and fellow Optimist, Ken Coiner, has been in the hospital with pneumonia. Our latest update (Friday) is that he is doing awesome! They’ve removed the tube, he had a big lunch with Jerry Wilson on Thursday, and he’s improving every day. The hospital is encouraging visitors, to keep his spirits up. He is still in the ICU, in Room 1227. Thank you everyone for your prayers for Ken!

Committee Reports
Lost Wages – Kathleen Hale announced that the LW committee held its regular weekly meeting on Wednesday evening (still need more attendees/participants). With regard to donations (and baskets!) for the silent auction and the egg game, don’t forget to canvass your home (as well as your garage, your storage unit, your RV, your cabin or vacation home in the mountains, and your yacht! 😉) for likely suspects…..items you don’t need or want any more, that someone else might treasure or just like to have. Please hang on to the items until we need to have them to prepare the baskets….. if you can. (If you need to get them out of your hair, let Kathleen or LeeAnn know, and they’ll store them in Guild Mortgage’s conference room.)

Ronald McDonald House – Here’s hoping a lot of you made it to Boise for the ribbon-cutting ceremony! We got a thank-you note for our participation in the funding for the new facility; “our” room there will be number 202! We also got some other “thank-you’s”, from: the Distinguished Young Women organization; the St. Luke’s Magic Valley Health Foundation; and from the Twin Falls Public Library

Coats for Kids® – Danae Klimes said we had one request this past week, bringing the total for the season to 654. Same messages as before: fill vacant spaces on the racks from boxes, if some sizes are in short supply, notify Anna Scholes or Danae; and — most importantly — if you can’t deliver on time, notify Danae immediately.

Youth House – Jared Sorenson said there’s a real need for volunteers to serve as mentors for the resident kids, who really need some successful adults as role models.

Youth Essay Contest – the info is out to all the schools, but we don’t have any responses yet, so we don’t know how many judges we’ll need.

“To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.” The practice of yoga can improve mind, body, and spirit…..
…. but, of course there are exceptions…..

Put these Optimist Events on Your Calendar!

• Lost Wages – March 14 at Canyon Crest 7-10 PM
• Lost Wages committee meetings – Wednesdays @ 5:30