Being a friend of youth

Optimist Clubs often find causes or segments of the population that get special attention. In Pinal County, Arizona, the Sunrise Optimist Club of Casa Grande  are giving special attention to children in foster care.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Optimist Club has provided an evening of fun at foster family night at the Casa Grande Aquatics Park. They reserve the facility and offer a swim party and pizza night for foster children and families and children in group homes. Judges, county personnel, CASA volunteers and advocates join them.

As of this writing, there are 566 children in the foster care system who have been neglected, abandoned or abused by their families. Efforts like this give the kids something to look forward to especially the siblings who have been separated from one another due to the system.

The Sunrise Optimist Club doesn't stop with the party. When the children go home, they leave with a backpack full of school supplies to help them be ready for the coming school year.

The project draws community-wide awareness to the foster care program and encourages others to be involved by donating or providing assistance and care to the children who fall under the court system's supervision through no fault of their own. But for the Optimist Club, it's just another way to be a friend of youth.