Optimist Club spearheads splash pad project

The end of summer may be near, but some communities are still celebrating. That was the case in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, where the city and county came together with the Optimist Club to dedicate the city's new splash pad. 

It took nearly three years and multiple partners to raise the $750,000 necessary for the water playground and Friday, August 23, 2013 was an exciting day for all, especially the kids. 

“Opening the new splash pad park today makes it a great day for Fitchburg,” said Mayor Shawn Pfaff. 

“Through our collaborative efforts with the City, the Optimist Club and community residents, we have made the investment to build this important public amenity – just like our new library and our bike trails –to continue making Fitchburg an even better connected community for families and children from all walks of life for generations to come.”

The splash pad is located at McKee Farms Park. The idea came from the Optimist Club with President Joan Mohr spearheading the three year project. The time and effort has all been worth it. Optimists always perform projects that acknowledge or benefit kids and Joan says,  “Kids have always been special in my heart. I wanted to give kids of all abilities a special place to have fun and cool down in the summer. The splash pad project became a passion. May families enjoy it for a long time.”

Indeed. That's the reason Optimist Clubs do what they do - so families may enjoy their communities for a long time, perhaps forever.

Photo courtesy of the Fitchburg Optimist Club. See more about this story at connectfitchburg.com. 

Skiers in Sun Valley are always optimistic for snow

Sun Valley, Idaho takes an optimistic approach to their economy every year by assisting Mother Nature with their own snow-making machines. While other ski resorts were struggling to open, Sun Valley logged-in a record December because every night, they have the ability to produce 2-3 inches of snow.

Thanks to KTVB.com for the video story; please watch to find out more about snow-making and how it keeps the economic engine turning for the famous ski resort. 

Make your plans today to ski Sun Valley.

Form community partnerships and do even more

"Providing exceptional services during tough economic times requires innovative thinking and strong community partnerships." - City of Boise 



The Boise Parks and Recreation Department recently entered a contest. Unfortunately they didn't win the contest, but they did produce this video that emphasizes how to "Live a Better Life...in Boise!"

You might say that the residents are winners every day thanks to the services and amenities provided by the forward thinking parks department that leverages their relationships with local nonprofits and service clubs to do more. Some of the special projects include a mobile recreation program that takes activities to the children where they live (3:37), community centers established within existing schools (4:06), the Boise Noon Optimist Club Youth Sports Complex (6:08), and athletic programs for special populations (9:23).

The City of Boise acknowledges that they couldn't provide this level of service without input from residents and the participation of so many groups, nonprofits and service clubs that make Boise a better place to live.

Please watch the video for ideas of ways your service club can partner with your parks and recreation department, district, city or county to provide special opportunities for children and their families and then take action. Approach them and develop a plan and a partnership.

If you don't come up with at least one idea for getting involved, you aren't trying.

Weekly programs are pure gold

With summer in full swing, our Optimist Clubs have been busy performing service projects out in the community. From bicycle rodeos, to car shows and pancake feeds, you've heard about them right here; but what you haven't heard about lately is what I consider to be one of the most important projects of all: club programs.

That's right, club programs. Most clubs gather every week for fellowship and project planning. The clubs who are most engaged in their communities take those weekly meeting opportunities to have guest speakers.

Guest speakers explain what is happening in their organizations and give their perception of what is needed or what is good in the community. It's a great way to learn how and where the Optimist Club might fit in. It's also an easy way to read the business and community service climate and take notice of trends so your club can act accordingly. Of course sometimes guest speakers can be entertaining and other times merely there to generate awareness for their cause.

The reason for this post came from an article that I saw in the Richfield Community News & Voices. Last week, the Optimist Club of Richfield, MN welcomed Joseph Imholte, Director of Special Exhibits, Science Museum of Minnesota to their meeting. He was there to promote the latest traveling exhibit "Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs," on display through Labor Day.

According to Imholte this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these artifacts. Isn't that the truth?

Can you imagine your Optimist Club making certain that children of all ages have the opportunity to see King Tut? Can you imagine them taking their families and friends to the exhibit as well? Wouldn't you?

Being part of an Optimist Club means learning about what is going on in the community so you can share the experience with others. Make sure that you are inviting speakers to visit your club frequently, if not every week. You'll learn more about the place you call home and as a bonus, share your love of optimism with new people every week.

Starting a New Optimist Club in Terre Haute

One of the greatest service projects that Optimist Clubs perform is to help start up a new Optimist Club. A new Optimist Club will serve a new set of children and expand opportunities for adults to develop their leadership skills. New Optimist Clubs also serve a vital community development function, bringing people together to raise money for projects that they identify they need to make their town a better place to live.

I've been involved in numerous new club building efforts and it's always rewarding when the project catches the attention of the local news. That's what is happening here in Terre Haute, Indiana where WTHI has announced how residents can get involved.

Heading up the new Optimist Club is Dennis Bialaszewski. He says the club will be different from others, and will meet monthly only to "share ideas, set projects and complete activities."  The beauty of being an Optimist Club over any other service club is that each club is autonomous and the agenda that best fits the community is the agenda that sounds just right.

New service club starting up: wthitv.com

A simple way to give back to nature and the community

It was a rainy day in Eagle, Idaho, but that did not prevent Mayor Jim Reynolds from proclaiming the City of Eagle a Tree City for the 19th consecutive year. The City used the opportunity to highlight a tree donated by the Eagle Optimist Club.

The Eagle Optimist Club chose to donate a tree in honor of their first successful Christmas Tree fundraiser. According to Ben Gard, Vice President and Project Chairman, it was a good way to give back to nature and the community. "We plan to do this every year," he said.

Does your Optimist Club give back in such a simple way? Sometimes it is the small projects that make the most impact. That Chanticleer Pear Tree, chosen by and planted by the City, will last for many generations to come.

Should service clubs invest in real property?

When one hears that we are "building a new Optimist Club," it is easy to imagine a brick and mortar establishment where members, friends and guests may gather. One might even keep imagining and assume that the reason people would gather there would be to share positive thoughts, optimistic stories, and projects and programs that would improve the quality of life in a community.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Most Optimist Clubs do not have their own building and they choose to meet in restaurants, libraries, churches and other public places that have inexpensive or free gathering spots.

With greater acceptance of online communities, virtual Optimist Clubs are only a breath away, I'm sure; but I have to admit that while I enjoy my online time, and I have a lot of it, I also enjoy gathering in person, with friends, and new and old acquaintances. So when I see stories like the one I found today from Dunnville, Ontario  "Optimist Club raising the roof, and more", I wonder why more clubs have not made an investment in their community in the form of real property.

Boys and Girls Clubs do it. YMCAs do it. Elks Clubs do it. Some Optimist Clubs do it and do it well. Consider the multi-million dollar Optimist Youth Sports Complex developed by the Boise Noon Optimist Club and the City of Boise. With fifteen football fields, tennis courts, fishing pond, playground equpment picnic areas, concession stands and bathroom facilities, and plans to add more amenities, the Optimist Club has made a significant investment in the community and made themselves a key player in the quality of life of the Boise community.

More Optimist Clubs should do this. More service clubs should assist their communities in development and  redevelopment efforts. Although small, quick and easy projects will always touch my heart best, I believe our communities would benefit from service club-driven economic development efforts. By joining together with friends to create and maintain new facilities, we share dreams, ideas and responsibility for making the world - our world - a better place to live.

Photo credit: City of Boise, Department of Parks and Recreation

Encore! The Town Theater keeps on giving

One of my favorite Optimist Club stories of 2010 has returned to the news this week. In 2009, the Optimist Club of Chillicothe, Illinois purchased and restored The Town movie theater in downtown Chillicothe.  I believe this is a great display of how an Optimist Club can serve economic development goals.

In 2010, the club went on to have fundraising drives and a grand red carpet event for the opening. The entire community was involved.

Now in 2011, they are recognizing more than individuals for their participation in the cause and they are doing so with cash. Donations of cash  that is. Seventeen youth groups were on hand last weekend to share in the $10,000 profits that the theater earned its first year in business.

According to the Optimist Club treasurer Irv Latta, roughly each ticket purchased allows the Optimist Club to donate $2.79 to children's groups, clubs and projects. The message, everyone should see more movies!

Congratulations again to the Chillicothe Optimist Club on the success of this project and thank you for bringing value to your community.

Photo provided by the Chillicothe Optimist Club. Please read more from the Chillicothe Times Bulletin here.

Optimist of the Year raises $50,000

One of my favorite Optimist Club projects from last year actually began in October 2009 when the Optimist Club of Chillicothe, Illinois decided to reinvest in their community by purchasing and renovating the movie theater in their downtown core.

In May 2010, the community celebrated the grand reopening the Town Theater with a red carpet gala.

A little over a year after deciding on this revitalization project, the Chillicothe Optimist Club recognized one of their own for her great dedication to the project. J.B. Culbertson was named Optimist of the Year and recognized at the club's annual dinner by immediate past president Mike Mahoney.  According to Mahoney, Culbertson was enthusiastic about the project from its inception and almost single-handedly raised $50,000 towards the mortgage.

Congratulations to Ms. Culbertson, the Optimist Club and the community.

Thanks to the Optimist Club of Chillicothe for the story and picture.

Seth Godin says

Seth Godin spoke to the Chronicle of Philanthropy and they posted this interview on their blog yesterday. The take-away is that Seth believes that charities should fail, and fail often. He explains that failure will lead to creativity and innovation.  He also believes that once charities stop modeling themselves like the corporate world, they will be able to better pursue their mission.



I agree with him and I've written about why Optimist Clubs are not businesses on this blog before. Our organizations must run in a business-like manner to be fiscally responsible; however, they must always remember there purpose isn't to make money for their coffers. Their goal should be to mobilize money for the benefit of the community.

What do you think? Are Seth and I headed in the right direction? Please share your thoughts.

Marketing secrets that can change the world

Melinda Gates makes an observation: Coca Cola is ubiquitous. She says there are 1.5 billion servings of Coke consumed every day and that correlates to one serving for every person in the world every week. Coke can be found in even the least developed countries.

Coke's 3-step plan for growth:

• Understanding and use of real-time data
• Encouraging local entrepreneurship
• Marketing plans and advertisements that appeals to the relevant market segment

Watch this Ted video and see how Gates believes Coke's model can be used to save lives and change the world.

Ft. Wayne, Indiana to be home to a new Boundless playground

The Optimist Club of Ft. Wayne, Indiana donated $40,000 to the city's parks and recreation department to build a Boundless Playground in their community.  That sounds like a whopping sum, and it is, but the playground is expected to cost $1.3 M.  Yes, you read that right.


So what makes a playground worth so much money? Please take a look at the architectural rendering of this 42,000 sq. ft. playground. A spokesperson for the Ft. Wayne Parks and Recreation Department says, "Fort Wayne's Boundless Playground at Kreager Park will have three pods of playground equipment and activity areas, a sprayground, accessible ramps and walkways, a picnic pavilion and accessible parking. Landscaping will add to the sensory experience of the facility as will the multiple types of surface used in the various pods, including sand, poured-in-place rubber, mulch and natural turf."

Now let me tell you what a Boundless Playground will do. It is a playground not only for children of all physical abilities, but also those who suffer from sensory disregulation, vision and hearing impairments, autism, and cognitive and mental deficits. Best of all, it is designed to encourage children of all abilities to play together rather than in separate areas of the park.


The Boundless Playground project started as dream of a 14-year girl, Taylor Reuille. Her dream is a public one and you can read all about it at taylorsdream.com. She put her dream into a website, shared it with the Ft. Wayne Parks and Recreation Department, shared it with the community and together they went on to collect a $70,000 Pepsi Refresh grant. Now with donations and grants they have raised more than $1 M and the groundbreaking took place on September 30.  The whole community is looking forward to a spring 2011 opening.


Now that my friends is optimism at its finest.


Photo credit: Ft. Wayne Parks and Recreation Department

How to change your town

"The local Optimist Club is trying to change the town for the better one project at a time."

That is a most wonderful sentence for any Optimist Club member. Someone has taken notice. Someone cares. Someone gets us. For this story that someone is Emma Despain, a high school journalist writing for her high school newspaper and blog in Jackson, Missouri. The Squawler may be read in full here. 

When our children take notice of community development efforts, projects and programs that make a community a better place to live, we know that we are making an impact. I'm often told that the younger generation doesn't care or they just take things for granted. Statements like the one above allow me to disagree with proof.

I also appreciate that the young journalist has grasped the concept of time. Broad sweeping change isn't going to happen quickly. Real change that matters does take place one step - one project - at a time.

Golf tournament makes parking easier

In regional golf news, the Great Falls Tribune in Great Falls, Montana reports that the Uptown Optimist Club Golf Tournament was a success.  They raised more than $10,000 and involved many local movers, shakers and regular folks in the process. Awards were given as well as kudos and praise and a great number of people got to find out a little bit more about what Optimist Clubs do.

Over the years, the Optimist Club has raised more than $210,000 and donated it to local charities including the Childhood Cancer Campaign. This year, the beneficiary sounds a little different as the Optimist Club is retaining the money to buy parking lot striping machines.

Now that is awesome! In an earlier post I commented long and hard about an Optimist Club is part of the economic development program for a community. While parking lot striping machines may not be as glamorous or heartwarming as giving to something like the Childhood Cancer Campaign, it is something that the community needs to make Great Falls a better place to live.  Many parking lots are managed and return money to the owners, often a branch of another economic development entity, and then that money goes towards more community improvements.

Thanks to the Uptown Optimist Club for not being afraid to make an unglamorous donation. Your community is a better place to live because of your well-rounded efforts.

Invite a local business to speak to your Optimist Club

Serving the furniture industry for 140 years, Furniture World Online is used to giving tips to retailers and distributors about how to increase their business. A recommendation given this week was to speak to your local Optimist Club.

Why would an Optimist Club want to hear from a retailer? A number of reasons come to mind, the best being that an inside look at any local business helps attendees understand the business climate or economy of their  community. The business owner might also offer inside tips about purchasing their product or a story about how they got into business. Color commentary and local stories and insights are what makes the community more cohesive and a friendlier place to live.

Another value to the Optimist Club is that they have the opportunity to let a business owner know more about the club at the same time; not in the form of a sales pitch, but rather just in good, quality reports about the club's activities.

Consider inviting a local business owner to speak to your Optimist Club. It can be a win-win proposition for everyone involved.

Optimist Community Park in Janesville

More than $50,000 and 18,000 volunteer hours have gone into the development of the Optimist Community Park in Janesville, Wisconsin and more improvements are planned and currently in the works.  According to Optimist Club spokesman Al Draeger, electricity, a new shelter and a new pavilion are next on their to-do list.

The Optimist Community Park has been a project of the Tuesday Morning, Wednesday Morning and Thursday Noon Optimist Clubs in Janesville for 17 years. It is the location of the Annual Family Day Celebration organized by the clubs in early August, but most importantly, the park serves the community year round. Offering amenities like electricity and extra pavilions just add to everyone's positive experiences.

In addition to developing and maintaining the 37-acre city park, the Optimist Clubs built a concrete bridge over Spring Brook Creek, developed nature trails, and coordinate an annual park clean-up day for the community.

And to think, it all began with a candy bar sale.  Fifty cents of every dollar raised, or every candy bar sold, by the Optimist Clubs brought this park to life.