Ugly Sweater Contest winner Ken Vincent

The Men's Club annual Holiday Party with wives / dates, and widows of deceased members, was held on Tuesday, December 12 in the Lower Hall of the Church.

At 5:00 PM Deacon Wally Gieringer led an optional prayer service in the Upper Hall, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for family, Church, our Nation, world peace, and personal intentions. 
Fr. Bill Elser led the 115 attendees with an opening prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, and singing of God Bless America.

Dinner was served.  After dinner President Oliver Field thanked those that helped set up the hall, Johnnas at Desoto Club employees who prepared and served the meal, and the Refreshment Center workers.

Program Director Buddy Dixon then took over the entertainment for the evening.  First was the Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest, which was easily won by Ken Vincent (see picture).  After that, Buddy selected his victims to sing the annual 12 Days of Christmas song. Breaking with tradition, he selected female victims, except Bill Patterson (5 Golden Rings) to perform the song.  The performance was outstanding and enjoyed by all.  Click here for more photos of this event.

After the 50/50 drawing, Fr. Bill Elser closed the meeting with a prayer

The Men's Club Officers, in their meeting on November 13, voted to distribute funds to the following charities:

Sacred Heart Thanksgiving / Christmas Basket Program	$2000.00
Jackson House	$1500.00
Samaritan Ministries	$1500.00
McCauley Center	$1000.00
Cedar Mountain Boys & Girls Club	$1000.00
St. John's Catholic School	$1000.00
Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School	$1500.00
Total	$9500.00

President Oliver Field presented the checks to these organizations in November.  Pictures of Oliver and the recipients are shown in the photo album.

A donation to the Catholic Schools Scholarship Fund will be determined later.

Matt Lewarn (POA), Buddy Dixon, Tom Heffer(POA)

Some 85 members and guests met on October 10 in the Lower Hall of the Church to enjoy a meal of meat loaf supplied by Johnna at Desoto Club employees.  After dinner Tom Heffer, Director of Golf for Hot Springs Village, updated the group on activities relating to golf in the Village.  Matt Lewarn, in charge of tournaments for the POA was also present to help answer questions.  Kathy Silk, Dick Hill, Russ Harrison, and Rick Martinek gave report on the activities of their respective areas of interest. 

 

Chicken Bake Attendees

The Sacred Heart Men's Club hosted it's annual Chicken Bake on Friday, September 29th in the Lower Hall of the Church.  Rick Martinek, 1st Vice President, was in charge of organizing the Chicken Bake and did an excellent job of getting all the people together to put on a great dinner prepared by Chef Rick Hiemenz and his kitchen crew for the over 300 attendees to the dinner. 

Over 50 volunteers from the Men's Club participated in setting up the hall, serving the dinners, manning the Refreshment Center, cooking the dinner, and the other duties required to put on this dinner.  It was another successful event to fund the Men's Club charities.

Program Director Buddy Dixon and POA CEO Leslie Nalley

The Sacred Heart Men's Club met on on September 12, 2017 for the first meeting of the 2017-2018 year.  New president Oliver Field presided over a meeting of 154 members and wives/dates/guests.

1st VP Rick Martinek and Sergeant at Arms Phil Salcido signed up members as they entered the hall to work at the annual fund raiser Chicken Bake to be held on Friday, September 29.

Johnna's at the Desoto Club employees prepared and served a very nice dinner before a presentation by the speaker for the evening, Leslie Nalley, POA CEO.  Leslie made a Power Point presentation on the POA Board's vision for the future of the Village.  She then took questions from the attendees.

The meeting finished up with the 50/50 drawing and a closing prayer by Fr. Bill Elser.

Eating dinner at the ballpark

On Wednesday, June 7, some 56 members, wives, and friends, boarded a bus, leaving at 4:30 PM, that would take them to Dickey-Stephens Baseball Park in North Little Rock to watch the Arkansas Travelers play the visiting Tulsa Drillers baseball team.  The outing was facilitated by the Sacred Heart Men's Club, led by Program Director Buddy Dixon with much help from his wife, Martha.  The trip over included singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" followed by distribution of a box of Cracker Jacks for each person on board.  There were 4 prizes to be awarded to the persons that could best answer the questions about baseball posed by Buddy.  How many baseballs, on average, are used during the 162 regular season games played by the 30 teams in the major leagues?  Also what is the cost of those baseballs?   The answer was 157,950 balls, (closest without going over was Lynne Border and 2nd place was Steve Fetcko) and the cost was $947,700 (closest without going over was Martha Dixon and second place was the Bowmans).  The two winners and runner ups were given either a gift certificate donated by Last Chance Lakeside Cafe or a bottle of wine, donated by Cork & Bottle Liquor.

After the bus ride to Dickey-Stephens Park, the group enjoyed a dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers.  At 7:10 PM the game started and unfortunately the Travelers got beaten by a score of 7 to 4.  The group boarded the bus heading back to the Village at 10:00 PM arriving at just past 11:00 PM.

A great outing.  Much thanks to the Dixons for organizing the trip.

 

The final meeting of the 2016-2017 Men's Club Year, attended by approximately 180 members, wives/dates, and guests, was held on Tuesday, May 9 in the Lower Hall of the Church.  Wally Gieringer and Mike Kerwin led a prayer service in the Upper Hall of the Church from 5:00 to 5:15 PM that, according to Wally, was well attended.  President Don Glinka opened the meeting at 5:45 PM and Fr. Bill Elser led the attendees in grace, the Pledge of Allegiance, and followed by the singing of God Bless America.  Johnna's Desoto Club personnel served a delicious meal of ribeye steak, baked potato, salad, and ice cream and cookies for dessert.

President Don Glinka introduced Program Director Buddy Dixon who then introduced the speaker for the evening, POA Board Chairman, John Weidert.  John gave the POA Board's views of the future developments in the Village with a Power Point presentation, and answered questions from the attendees afterwards.

President Don Glinka presented the new slate of officers for the 2017-2018 year:
President - Oliver Field
!st VP - Rick Martinek
2nd VP - Steve Schramer
Treasurer - Bob Bowman
Secretary - Bill Patterson
Sergeant At Arms - Phil Salcido
Program Director - Buddy Dixon

The officers were elected by acclimation.  Don Glinka thanked the retiring officers for their service and the program directors for their continuing service.  After the 50/50 drawing by Bill Hartnett, Fr. Bill Elser lead lead the closing prayer.

Dinner attendees at the Men's Club Fish Bake

On Friday, March 3rd, 2017, the Men's Club held their annual Fish Bake in the Lower Hall of the Church, one of two major fund raisers (the other being the Chicken Bake, held in the Fall of each year) for the charities sponsored by the Men's Club.  Over 360 tickets were sold for this event and almost $3000 profit for their charities was realized.  Thanks to all the volunteers and a special thanks to Rick Hiemenz and his kitchen crew for preparing a great meal.  Also, St. Judes Guild of the LOSH served Fr. Bill's ice cream with the proceeds going to the Religious Education for the Youth of the Parish.