March 17, 2010

This is the first newsletter of the New Year for the Grand Rapids Chapter, and this week rocketed off to a good start at the Century Lanes Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament in Holland. Those of you who served as moneychangers and chips off-the-old-block are to be praised for your dedication, endurance for the long hours, public relation skills and having cash drawers that didn’t balance at the end of your shift. In spite of all these virtues, AMBUCS still managed to make a few bucks for the cause. It was really a feast or famine occasion with long spells of inactivity coupled together with short bursts of total accounting madness. It was also a time for fellowship and bonding with the other AMBUCS members. Thanks again, for those of you who served.

The membership meeting this week served to remind all of us who are Detroit Lions fans (are there any left?) that the problem with the NFL, and the Detroit Lions in particular, is the fact that they do not get enough massage therapy. According to our guest speaker from the Chiro Fitness Center located at the Gas Light Village Mall, the Detroit Lions actually won a game after undergoing her special and potent massage therapy to the team members. Now I do not want to be overly optimistic, but if she was able to get the Lions on the mend for one week, why not have her do the Lions every week? (Makes sense to me.) She stipulated that massage oils are an important part of the massage therapy process. She mentioned that the lavender massage oil is used for muscle spasms, the peppermint oil is used for mental clarity and the orange oil is used for stimulation. Eeney, meany, miney, moe. Which one would you choose? I know which one I would pick (Hint: I don’t have muscle spasms and I am directly wired to caffeine for clarity). Thank you, Andrea Joyce Munsell for your stimulating presentation.

It was a pleasant surprise to welcome Roger Willis to the meeting (long time, no see). He has made an outstanding effort in the past to parlay money into the AMBUCS coffers through his garage sale efforts. For those of you who don’t remember, Roger used his garage to store AMBUCS items for sale and motored his trailer to haul the larger items out for delivery. Thanks to my award-winning selective memory, I remember buying some furniture from him a few years back. He said to me at the time, “Here is your furniture, but you must join AMBUCS.” So, Roger, “A deal is a deal.”

The Grand Rapids Chapter of AMBUCS would also like to welcome Kathy Pavlin to the membership meeting. She was the guest of Patty Watson and we hope that she enjoyed her meal. We certainly enjoyed her company.

Many thanks to Worm and Tom Smith for wearing attire sporting a green theme to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Tom looked spiffy with his green bow tie. Worm out did himself wearing as much green as he could manage without being mistaken for a freshly cut lawn. He reminded everyone that didn’t have green visible as part of their clothing that they would be subject to a dollar fine. Worm will be back next week to collect all the fines that he missed since he had to leave early from the meeting. (This newsletter has an obligation to its members to present the facts. Such is the case regarding the fine money. If we didn’t published this newsletter, the fine money would have been forgotten, and we might not be graced with a full complement of Worm’s inimitable wit as he attempts to rob us next week).

Eight volunteers from the chapter volunteered to sample the full complement of food at the Noodles Restaurant located in the Target shopping plaza near the 28th street and I-96 interchange late last week. Oriental, Mediterranean and Italian dishes with pasta and noodles were enjoyed. The volunteers would like to volunteer again for this assignment. Noodles Restaurant gets a “thumbs up” from those who attended this gastronomic delight. Noodles will be seriously considered as a possible future fund raising opportunity.

Don’t forget the Spring Fest to be held on Tuesday, May 2, 2010 at 3:00 P.M. at the Wyoming National Armory. Patty and Larry will be organizing the volunteer efforts to make this the Big One. This event will cap a quarter of a century of helping those disabled and handicapped kids of all ages in need of a little fun.