Today’s Meeting: – AMBUCS Open House – Please invite a guest
and plan on the meeting lasting a little longer than usual.
Future Speakers:
November 7th – John Seely – Co-Founder & Co-Director of Empowering Lives Foundation
Whacha’ May Have Missed Last Week:
…..The member meeting was presented as a mini-orientation meeting. President Rachael began by describing the National AMBUCS National Conference that she and her husband attended last week in Missouri. Rachael described the motivational talk by a man who described the many obstacles that he faced in his youth after being born without one hand. Those challenges however turned his life around as he began using his disability in a positive way to inform and enlighten others about those with disabilities. Rachael stated that the Big Hat auction raised over $10,000 to be used for both scholarships and Amtrykes. Currently the Living Endowment Scholarship fund balance is over $3 million and consequently the plan is to increase scholarships next year. She also noted that next year’s National Conference will be held in Reno Nevada on October 3rd – 6th. The Regional Conference will be held on April 13th – 15th in the Poconos. Next club Scholarship Chairman, Tim Parnell, took the podium and informed the membership that last year the club provided two $500 scholarships for local therapy students. He said that next year’s applicants will be reviewed in the spring and that if there are any scholarship award winners that they will be encouraged, as always, to also apply for a club-sponsored National AMBUCS scholarship. Tim finished by stating he joined our club due to his appreciation of the Altoona AMBUCS for providing him scholarship monies back when he was a student. Board Chairman Ed Garlena than spoke to the membership about the need to adhere to the club’s guest speaker guidelines. Basically any topic that is informational, motivational or has entertainment value, and is of general interest to the members is appropriate. What should be avoided are controversial topics that could anger members, repetition of topics, political or religious topics, or speakers whose only topic is to promote a particular product or service. Speakers should also be told to limit their comments to about 20 minutes. Big Hat Chairmen Ken Decker then spoke to the membership about the Big Hat club. The club within the club is comprised of any member who brings in three new members within any 12 month period. The club is designed to encourage the growth of the club and to raise monies for Amtrykes and the therapy scholarship fund. Treasurer Paul Dick then wrapped up the meeting by discussing the club’s finances. He reviewed both the club’s general fund and the project fund. He handed out a Treasurer’s Report for the club year June 1st through October 24th, discussing where our project funds are derived and to whom they were disbursed last club year. He noted that we budgeted $5,000 this year for a therapy fund to support those who need therapy services but cannot afford the services. The services will be provided by CrossRoads Physical Therapy. The discussion then centered on a discussion as to whether or not the quarterly hoagie/pizza sales (which support the general fund) should continue or if instead the quarterly dues should be raised by $15. At the end of Paul’s remarks, a ballot vote was taken by the attending members as to whether the quarterly sales would continue or the dues increased. For the results of this vote, please read the board meeting notes below. Thanks to all board members who spoke to the membership.
Guests of the Day:
…..Kristan Zolnoski introduced her guest last week, Justin Kubina, an OT student at PSU.
News of the Week:
…..Not that anyone is thinking about Christmas yet….but Kathy Storm noted that she will have the AMBUCS Christmas candy sale order forms available on October 31st. Also, mark your calendar, since the annual AMBUCS Christmas party will be held on Tuesday evening, December 19th at Park Hills. There will be no noon lunch that day or on December 26th.
…..Lotsa 33 Club winners! The Vikings, Eagles, and Cowboys scored 33 which 
wins Bill Huff, Linda Horomanski, Alan Rickens and Carl Gingrich $10 each. The opponents, the Browns, 49ers, and Redskins win Dean McKnight, Kathy Storm, Dave Aikens and Dave Bumgartner $3.33 each. But wait…….there’s still Monday night football!
…..This past Saturday, a number of our members attended the Bavarian Aid Society’s celebration of their 130th Anniversary/Oktoberfest and we were on the evening’s agenda. We received two checks, $755 from the Pa. Bowlers’ Association and one for $987.50 from the Bavarian!
…..The AMBUCS board met last Thursday. The highlights of which were:
- The recent Hoagie/Pizza sale netted the club $498.
- A $500 donation to Funds for Freedom was approved.
- Michele Lloyd was recommended and approved as the club’s Amtryke Chairman. She will coordinate the efforts of a number of members….Ed Farabaugh, Kristan Zolnoski, Derek Martin, Tim Parnell, Dave Aikens and John Lloyd, who currently work on the Amtryke program.
- The member vote on raising dues or continuing the quarterly hoagie/pizza sale to benefit the general fund passed to continue the fund raising; by a vote of 18 to 7. The board noted that the fundraising effort does not have to be in the current form and encouraged the membership to offer suggestions. The budgeted goal is $2,000 per year. The board also wanted to stress to the membership that any fundraising is a voluntary effort.
…..Last week Mike Knote’s raffle number was chosen. Mike chose the Six of Diamonds, which was obviously not a winner. Those two Jokers have been hard to find! Next week you can have the chance to take home a pot of around $210, by picking one of the two Jokers out of the remaining 44 card deck.
In Closing: 