A Small Step Yields BIG Results For Community Youth

I'm privileged to be the Zone 10 Lt. Governor for the Michigan District Optimists. There are seven clubs in my Zone, and I sometimes send the club officers a note about events. This is one that I sent last week after my home club sponsored a first-time activity called Spring Break Fun Day. I think it's self explanatory, whether you're an Optimist, or not.
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Fellow Optimists, here is a perfect example of how freely sharing ideas and experiences can help your community and its youth.

A Brighton Optimist, Peggy Hall, wanted to chair her club’s Youth Appreciation activity but had no clear focus regarding its format. She did know that she wanted to try something ‘different’ from what the club had always done (participation and interest had been flagging), but wasn’t sure of how to proceed. Peggy went to this year’s First Quarter Michigan District Meeting in Pontiac (October 31, 2009) and attended a breakout session called, “Best Practices Discussions.” In that session, there was give and take among the participants and moderators on Essay and Oratorical Contests, Youth Appreciation, Fundraising, and Achievements & Awards. Obviously, Peggy was most interested in the Youth Appreciation topic.

She heard a member of the Alpena Optimist Club talk about their Spring Break Fun Day, where 800 kids (yes – 800!) attend and have a fun-filled day of many different activities, including a lunch. All for free. Peggy came back charged up about this format and immediately petitioned her club’s Board of Directors for start-up funding, started investigating costs to use the local High School when it was empty during Spring Break, and formed a committee of other interested members. All of this knowing that she had only a few months to do an investigation of feasibility, work out a budget and plan how to safely conduct the event.

Peggy had also heard about the OIF Club Grant Program during a general session at the District Meeting and she set herself to writing a grant proposal. While grants have not yet been announced, she has received word that she made the ‘first cut’ and her Spring Break Fun Day grant is ‘provisionally accepted’. If you’re not familiar with this program, the OIF is giving out $500 matching grants to clubs for NEW projects. (Peggy checked with OIF to be sure that this event would qualify as a ‘new’ project before writing and submitting the grant application.)

This past Tuesday, April 6th, the Brighton Optimist Club held its first Spring Break Fun Day with around 140 kids in attendance. Gym activities, bounce house, jump roping, swimming, face painting, gardening, no-bake cooking, first aid and craft classes were all available to the kids, along with a free lunch. It was restricted this year to grades K-5 and some parents stuck around to volunteer, in addition to the HS basketball players that assisted in the gym, a local jump rope team, and of course, Optimists. The Brighton Area Fire Department brought a fire truck out for a demonstration, too. Executive Chef Tim Ortbring at Mt. Brighton’s Bauery Restaurant got his vendors to donate almost all of the food for that day – hot dogs, juice boxes, chips, fruits, veggies and cookies. Peggy and her team have noted areas to improve next year’s event, but everybody was happy with the final product – especially the kids.

What a great story and what a great result for the kids and the community. I see many lessons from this experience. Here are just a few:

1) If you’re really committed to serving your community and its youth, you owe it to them to get to at least one District Meeting a year. If it can’t be you, it should be somebody in your club. There’s too much valuable information there for your immediate use and for the immediate benefit of your community.

2) You and your club may be able to help another club the way Alpena did with Brighton. Where else would those two geographically diverse members have met and exchanged ideas if not at a District Meeting? I haven’t talked with Alpena, but I’m sure they are not offended that another club used their idea to serve kids in another community. I doubt that any of us would feel that way, so why not share YOUR successes with other clubs? Or if you need a success of your own, find a model for one at a District Meeting.

3) Don’t be afraid to try something new. Just because you or your club has always done something a certain way does NOT mean that it won’t work another way, or perhaps be even better. Many clubs are struggling to attract new members. Some are struggling to attract any members. Younger members think and react differently than older members. Don’t let the great achievements and the history of your clubs wither away because you’re in a rut of not getting new members. Shake things up a bit and see what happens.
4) Be enthusiastic. Peggy and her committee could have powered the county with the energy they displayed, and positive energy is contagious. Generate it! Tap into it!

5) Support the Optimist International Foundation. They supply the scholarships for the CCDHH, Oratorical and Essay Contests and the Club Grant Program, as well as other programs. If your club doesn’t have a Club Foundation Rep, please appoint one and support the Foundation because whether you know it or not, they are supporting you. See a full list of what they do for kids and clubs at: http://www.oifoundation.org/oifprograms/programs.htm - and please support them somehow, at least a little. Every dollar counts and every dollar is important.

It’s easy to come up with reasons for not going to District Meetings. I hope that you’ll be optimistic, go to an upcoming District (and a Zone) Meeting, and attend with an attitude that you’ll get something valuable from the experience. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed – but then again, I am an Optimist.

By the way, the First Quarter District Meeting that Peggy Hall attended was her first District Meeting appearance in a very, very long time! Who would have thought that the one little step of registering for a District Meeting would have such an huge impact on the kids in her community? Of course, being a member of the Brighton club myself, this example was right in my field of vision. I’m sure you all have a success stories of your own, so please share them with us. We all need a shot of Optimism now and then!