Upcoming Club Events

April 13, 2025 Tour de Optimism

April 26, 2025 Family Bike Fiesta

June 5, 2025 Optimist Jr. Golf Tournament

June 13-15 Bob Ogas All-Star Baseball Tournament

 

Save the Date!!! Tour de Optimism is April 13th!

We offer a 100km, 50km, Family Fun Ride, and of course our "Couch Potato" (where you can sign up and a rider will wear your number so you're still participating).  Rides will begin April 13th at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine with a registration time of 7:15 AM and start time of 8:00.  Here's the link to the Tour de Optimist flyer.  This is one of our largest fundraisers for programs to support local youth.

We also want to thank our sponsors:  VFW, Citizens Bank, Med Park Optical Shoppe, and Outdoor Adventures.  Sponsors are very appreciated!

100KM Route Link

50KM Route Link

03-20-2025 Meeting

Our speaker today is our very own member Jose Solis. He spoke about learning to make music on a home piano when he was a kid. He also started playing drums in a church band. Eventually he and other relatives started playing together in a band called" 329 South," which was also the numeric address of his parents. 329 South (https://www.facebook.com/p/329-South-100088740678084/) is now a non-profit for youth, and does gigs around town. Two trombone players (Josue Ortega and Gabriel Lopez). played. They meet every Thursday to rehearse.

 

*Regarding the Tour de Optimism, Scott and Gina will run shag wagons.*

Extra

Rachel Giannini said. "I eventually knew how to play 11 instruments by the time I was in high school. I am now in a choir, and it means a lot to make music together with friends."

From Dave Thompson, "I was in a band for one year, but one day the band director asked if I might like football, and encouraged me to go do that...!"

 

03-13-2025 Meeting

Joel Holguin went to Mayor's Top Teens and hung out with the students and Mayor Enriquez. 

Dave Thompson spoke about Bob Ogas All-Star Baseball on ⚾🧢 June 12, 13, and 14. This club has been doing this for 47 years. The students are divided into "Green" and "Red" teams. Players pay $200 to play. Dave has taken care of hotel reservation. Len Hampton will take care of LC Convention Center. Luisa Solozano will take car of the concession stand. Len is also getting medals. We need to put together the program, and we sell ads. We need umpires, national anthem singer, honor guard, scoreboard keeper, score book keeper, speaker for the banquet, gatekeepers, pictures, etc. This is a big project, but one we are proud to do

Our speaker was Charles Tucker. He is The Inspector General for the City of Las Cruces (https://lascruces.gov/government/transparency-and-accountability/inspector-general-for-the-city-of-las-cruces/). Charles was in the Army for 20 years and retired in 2006. He eventually made it to WSMR as IG, then started at Las Cruces in 2023. Just one person is in the IG office. He only does administrative investigations, the Police do criminal prosecutions. Interesting history of IG, which goes back to President Washington and before (https://www.gsaig.gov/content/history and https://www.ignet.gov/content/quality-standards). IG's in the Army inspect everything. In the city, they only do fraud, waste, and abuse, not necessarily more detailed inspections. He can investigate contractors, city council, etc. He has a separate office, across from Grounded Restaurant, to take complaints away from cameras at the city building. He has had IG training from Federal, Army, Air Force, etc. Very interesting speaker. 

02-27-2025 Meeting

Frank Holguin talked about the upcoming golf tournament. He is raising funds and promoting the event. The event is June 5 at Red Hawk Golf Club in Las Cruces. It is open to all junior players ages 10 to 18. It will be held in conjunction with Sun Country Junior Golf. Entry fee is $57, but $12 will be waived thanks to a generous donation from an Optimist member to the first 16 entries. All competitors will also need to be members of Sun Country Junior Golf and this will be $65 for the year. Please promote
this event to the junior golf community. We are also raising funds to try to lower the overall cost of our qualifiers to complete at the Optimist Championship in Florida. We have merchandise available including hats, polos and stickers. We will also be selling tee box sign sponsorships for the event at $125 each . I encourage each club to consider purchasing a sign. See:

Red Hawk Golf Course Link

Sun Country Junior Golf Link

Regarding the essay contest, Joel Holguin and the judges scored 67 essays!!! They have 3 winners!

 

Our speaker was Nadine Dominguez from Cross Town Boxing (www.cross-town-boxing.com), which is a non-profit, founded by Michael Clark,
in 2013. Nadine noted that boxing is a good outlet for youth, building confidence and teaching discipline and self-defense. They are
working with 125 children, starting at age 5. They have an annual 5k in May as a fundraiser. They are working on an anti-bullying program.
There are 8 coaches, who are all certified through USA Boxing. They also feed kids, and get accept all kinds of donations. They are open
Monday-Friday. Dues are $50 a month. Nadine teaches a boxing class from 5:30-6:30 am… so
Rachel will tell what that was like some day!

 

 

Angie Brown reminded us to save pull tabs… She has been doing a lot refreshmenterizing.