Rural Optimist Clubs get more print

Optimist Clubs serve communities of different sizes and because of that, some clubs have closer relationships with their local newspapers. Particularly small communities, like Marshall, Missouri, population 13,000, where the local paper allows the Optimist Club, among other organizations, to publish the actions of their weekly meetings.

I recently came across this posting from The Marshall Democrat-News that explained what happened at the Optimist Club on October 13, 2012. According to the article, the club is planning popcorn sales and Breakfast with Santa, and some club members will soon attend the district meeting. That morning, they heard a presentation from the Soil Conservation District and at the end of the meeting, Paul Collier won the morning drawing.

Charming. Really, it is. It may sound mundane to urbanites out there, but what we do at Optimist Club meetings create bonds and establish a community. That doesn't happen as easily in metropolitan areas where people are often too busy to get to know their neighbors and newspapers are too busy looking for controversy to facilitate relationships.

Optimist Clubs, and other service clubs, are all about relationships. Without help from our newspapers, we have to create our own relationship-building efforts. To do this, I recommend a blog. Blogs are easy to update and easy to share. A consistently updated blog can easily take the place of a newspaper and soon, I predict, most people will go online first, before looking elsewhere for information about their community and the world.

It's up to you to start your Optimist Club blog now so when the visitors arrive, there is a lot to read about and plenty of reasons to get involved. Obviously, I like Blogger, but WordPress works too and both are free resources that let you tell the Optimist Club story in your own words. I can't wait to read what's happening in your Optimist Club. Blog about it and tell the world.