Children and optimists design cardboard city

I grew up in a family-owned business where we sold and repaired major appliances and consumer electronics. That meant we always had a surplus of large cardboard boxes. Oh how I wish I had known about this awesome Optimist Club project!

For the Art in the Park event in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, the Stevens Point Noon Optimist Club created a cardboard box city. Sprawled out with a resemblance to an urban city, the boxes started out in their plain brown form. By the end of the event, the boxes were colorful renditions and exhibitions demonstrating the creativity of the young artists that made their way through the demonstration. Watch the video and learn more.

Art in the Park is produced annually by the Stevens Point Parks and Recreation Department Children's Arts Program. With over 100 arts and crafts tents, children, and others, share their talents and wares with the community.

Teens create optimistic t-shirts

T-shirt competition in Kirkland, WA.

New Optimist Clubs often provide new projects in a community. Adults come together to meet a need that they have seen bonding in a special way for a cause they hold dear. Once that cause is identified, the organization comes together quickly and the work begins.

The Optimist Club of Lake Washington in Kirkland, Washington is on such a path. As their major cause, they have chosen wellness, especially health and wellness for children in coordination with the Apple Core project Bastyr University.

That has put them in touch with a number of organizations that need caring adults including Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and the Kirkland Teen Union Building (KTUB) where they have just completed their second project.

The project looks like a lot of fun: an optimistic t-shirt design competition. Each week, the club would meet with the teens to help them with their ideas and over the weekend, a winner was chosen. The first place entry says, "Don't worry." An optimistic thought indeed!

See more entries on the Lake Washington Optimist Club Facebook page.

Using art as advertising

The Optimist Club of Eagle, Idaho is planning the second annual Optimist Club Child Safety Day for this Saturday. In preparation for the afternoon activity, and to advertise the Safety Day event, the club recently partnered with Washington Trust Bank to host the Family Fun Area at the Eagle Fun Days Festival. One of the booths manned by the club was an artists booth that encouraged children to think about what it means to be safe during the summer and then to draw their ideas as a poster.

About 200 students stopped by to draw, and  58 completed entries into the poster contest that included ideas such as:

• Use sunscreen
• Beware of snakes
• Walk in the crosswalk
• Look both ways before crossing the street
• Don't drink beer
• Don't swim alone
• Don't swim in irrigation canals
• Don't run with scissors
• Wear your seatbelt
• Don't talk to strangers
• Ask if it is okay before you pet a strange dog

According to club president Gretchen Brown, it was a lot of fun for the club members to watch the young artists at work on their projects and to engage the kids in telling a story about their drawing. A winner will be drawn at random for a $25 movie pass to Edwards Cinemas.

The Eagle Optimist Club is considering additional projects that will help encourage the arts.

Optimist Club shares their story with a Squidoo lens

I was a little surprised to find a Squidoo lens focused on an Optimist Club. I don't know why it surprised me; after all, Squidoo is the platform that lets you "Publish gorgeous web pages about all your favorite things."  Optimist Clubs certainly fit that description for me!

The Optimist Club in the spotlight this time is the Optimist Club of Rock Hill, South Carolina. They started the lens back in 2009 and although it hasn't been updated frequently, it has enough information about what they do in the community to attract attention.  In fact, one of the comments from a reader is: "I didn't know what the Optimist Club was, but now I do."

The page starts out with a simple statement, "The Optimists of Rock Hill Need You!"

The author describes how you can make a difference in the lives of children through your involvement with the Optimist Club. They also give a glimpse of how you can make a difference in your own life with the Optimist Creed. Written by Christian Larson, the Optimist Creed is ten simple tenets to remind you to think, live and expect positive outcomes in your life.

One of my favorite parts of their small lens was a program that I believe is unique to their club: The Junior Optimist Art Club.

This is the ninth art club started in the Rock Hills schools and it is made up of kindergarten and first grade students. An after school art club serves kids through fifth grade. One of their service projects is to provide artwork to nursing homes.

I always enjoy a quick tour of a random Optimist Club.  Don't you?

Art in the Park comes to Lynches River

According to the Optimist Club of Florence, South Carolina, one way to bring out the best in kids is to help them be creative. With less money available for the arts these days, the club has committed to provide hands on activities for children at this event that are very easy to take home and do on their own.  This is the second year for the Annual Art in the Park at Lynches River.  

Optimist Club supports the arts

Every year, the Optimist Club of Twin Falls, Idaho sponsors the Magic Valley Kids Art in the Park Day.  They collaborate with local business to make certain that the Magic Valley Arts Council has the resources to present this one-day workshop, lunch included, for children grades K- 7.


For a $3 registration fee, kids choose the workshop in their age category and learn to draw with different mediums and styles, practice singing, dancing and improvisational acting, and create a craft item to take home.  


The workshops are led by individuals who have been trained and practice in the field.  Volunteers assist children as needed, supervise the activity and serve lunch and entertainment is provided at lunch to create a full-day of activities.  


This is a great example of how collaborating with other agencies can give your Optimist Club greater outreach in your community.  Often clubs will write a check and walk away.  Optimist volunteers will be all about the Kids Art in the park Day sharing in the smiles and helping children expand their horizons through artistic expression.


Please take a look at the flyer and consider how you might provide a Kids Art in the Park Day in your community. 

Timonium Optimist Club features Young Artists Showcase

I have a new favorite Optimist Club website.  Please visit the Optimist Club of Timonium, MD.  This well-organized website explores the 50-year heritage of the Optimist Club serving their community. The reader can find out about:

• Optimist International Programs
• Timonium Optimist Club Projects
• Fundraising and Events
• How and Why to Join

But what brought me to their website today was an advertisement for the Young Artists Showcase.  Coordinated by the Timonium Optimist Club and the Towson Arts Collective, the showcase was a juried selection  of original, two-dimensional works by high school students in Baltimore and Baltimore County.  Eighteen schools and fifty-one students participated. 

Six students received honors for their work. Best entry in their respective media: Kelsey Heyman, of Owings Mills High School; Gen O'Keefe, of Notre Dame Preparatory, and Rob Payne, of Hereford High.  Honorable mention went to Rachel Peichert, of Garrison Forest; Katie Kim, of Roland Park Country, and Brooke Powell, of Garrison Forest School.

Optimist Clubs are well known for their hands-on participation in youth-serving projects.  Nurturing creativity through art exhibits is one way that Optimist Club projects seek to engage all types of students.  What a great activity!  Hurry ... the exhibit ends on February 19. 

Optimist Club paints storefront windows

This project makes me feel a little nostalgic because small town rituals were the beginning of my involvement as a volunteer for Optimist Clubs.  When I read that the Optimist Club of Baldwinsville, New York would be painting windows in the storefronts of their downtown community I was reminded of crisp autumn evenings and parents who worked too many hours at our family owned appliance store. 

But the reason for my post is not to indulge in my memory, but rather to say how awesome!  The Baldwinsville Optimist Club has bought up all the paint in town and on this Saturday they will take interested artistic students with them to paint Halloween scenes on storefront windows.  Ghoulish masterpieces will add to the charm of the town and the enchantment of All Hallow's Eve.  But what this project really does is give lasting memories to those involved in painting and those involved in admiring their artwork.  Thanks for sharing your paint, your creativity and yourselves with the Baldwinsville community. 

See the full article at cnylink.com.