On this beautiful sun-filled, cloudless day, Dick Nickoloff and Michael Chavez greeted all comers with a handshake and a smile. A great way to start off the morning. Mike McMahon read the invocation reminding all of us that freedom isn't really free, that we should always keep in our minds and hearts those who gave their lives, that we may live in a "free" country!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Meyer is looking for a few good men to marshal the district qualifiers for "The Optimist", which will be held in Florida later this summer. The Colorado-Wyoming District Optimist Junior Golf Program is recognized as the best Junior Golf Program in all of Optimist International and serves about 400 junior golfers each year. The best of these golfers will qualify for THE 2024 OPTIMIST. We need volunteers on Thursday, May 30, at South Suburban Golf Course in Centennial, tee time Noon (Girls ages 10 – 12, 13 – 14, and 15 – 18). Larry Pulaski reported that, thanks to Casey Funk the team, consisting of Larry, his wife Ashley and Casey did very well at the fund raiser held at Meadow Hills on May 22.

 

Andy Towt is encouraging more individuals to contribute to the Dime-

A-Day program ($36.50 annually) supporting the OI Foundation. This foundation finances various scholarship initiatives, including Oratorical and Essay Contests, as well as the Contest for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CCDHH). For forms or additional information, Andy suggests visiting the OI Foundation's website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Wardlaw announced it was time for the Charley Korsoski award, honoring the exceptional Super Citizen of the Year from each participating school. This accolade is in honor of Charley Korsoski, the founder of the program in autumn 1982, starting with three elementary schools—Samuels, Southmoor, and Holm—and has since expanded to ten schools across the Southeast Metro area. 

DOES SUPER CITIZEN PROGRAM MAKE A DIFFERENCE?                                               

 To: My daughter’s teacher Ms. Ellie Lucy: Teacher: A multitasking educational rockstar who lives to inspire and loves to encourage. To: The Optimist Club of Monaco South Optimist: From his belief in teleology he/she is not deterred by the enigma of pain. In the hard days when we were just trying to survive. The days when we were exiled from all our friends and loved ones and our motherland and lived in helplessness, hardship, and despair, another spark shone in our lives and informed our hope and happiness. My daughter Yagana Danesh (My bundle of joy) was selected as a super citizen in her school (Holm Elementary School) on May 17, 2024, and won an award and became a source of pride for our immigrant family. Because of the forced migration of our family from Afghanistan, Yagana was deprived of school for more than a year and a half and did not know a word of English. At the beginning of the academic year 2023- 2024, every morning when her mother and I woke up Yagana and wanted her to get ready and go to school, she started crying and said I don't go to school because I don't know anyone's language and I don't have any friends, and I can't talk to anyone. It was very difficult and painful and sometimes it brought us to tears, but we sent her to school anyway. Until a month passed and she addressed the first words of mom and dad to me and her mother at home, or he practiced the alphabet and numbers. These moments were hopeful and joyful for us. It got better and better as time passed. And on Friday, May 17, 2024, she was elected a super citizen. Yagana is my “English teacher” now! Indescribable joy filled our family. Tears of joy flowed over her mother and me and we were proud of our daughter. Therefore, I sincerely congratulate this success to her dear teacher Mrs. Lucy in particular, and other teachers and colleagues at Holm, Ms. April, the principal of the school, the administrative, and teaching team of this school, and I express my gratitude and appreciation to you. You lit the light of hope, life, and education in the life of our daughter Yagana. May God give you health, blessings, and happiness. Meanwhile, on December 6, 2023, my son Ehsan Danesh was selected as a super citizen at Hamilton Middle School and gave us the first surprise of our life in the USA and became a source of pride, hope and joy. I would like to express my special thanks to the Optimists Club of Monaco South for supporting and managing the super citizen project in Hamilton and Holm, and I am also proud to be a member of this club after my son’s super-citizen program at Holm. Special thanks to these gentlemen Karl Geil, Tom Mauro, Mark Metevia, Robert Wardlaw, Andrew K. Towt, and other people in this club. You bring hope, motivation and talents to life in the hearts of children and teenagers and you are real servants. Just like every time you take your creed and promise yourself and put your optimism into practice and say: To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet, To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only of the best, I wish you health, happiness, and success, and may God grant you the best. And of course, I pray for all the women and girls who have been banned from studying and living in Afghanistan by the extremist and terrorist regime of the Taliban, that they will be saved one day soon and that they will be given light, hope and life. Amen Zabihullah Danesh, Denver, CO, USA May 19, 202                                                                                                                                                      

Speaker today was our own Vaughan Kendall, intrepid explorer of the Wonders of the World, including his most recent visit to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is a vast canyon formed by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. It stretches 277 miles (446 km) in length, reaches widths of up to 18 miles (29 km), and has a depth exceeding one mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).

 

 

Grand Canyon Dories are small, traditional and charmingly elegant, rigid boats designed to carry four people and a tremendous amount of gear. At 16′ 9″ stern to bow, with six hatches, passenger benches and hardwood rails and trim, dories are able to run a river much more quickly than a raft.        

The weather was good, although a bit chilly in the shadows of the deep canyon. They slept in tents at night and the food was generally very good, according to Vaughan. The journey started at Lee's Ferry-Due to its unique geography – the only place in hundreds of miles from which one can easily access the Colorado River from both sides – it historically served as an important river crossing and starting in the mid-19th century was the site of a ferry operated by John Doye Lee, for whom it is named.