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Happy November Optimist Optimist!
Do you enjoy being an Optimist? How could you not? There are so many benefits from being an Optimist!
Benefits like having community specific service projects, because living in your community means you see where the gaps are. From kid’s athletic opportunities to providing after school care and everything in between – each Club decides what is beneficial for their community.
And then there’s the connection with others. Serving together enhances a deeper connection to everyone involved - people we volunteer with and those we serve.
Volunteering gives us a chance to step outside of our “normal” with opportunities to enhance our leadership, public speaking or just learn more about our neighborhoods.
And it’s all backed by data! Science has shown that Optimists are healthier, happier, more successful people. We bounce back quicker from personal setbacks and live longer.
And the most obvious benefit of all is how we have a positive impact on the lives of children, making our community a better place to live. Through hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in youth, our communities, and ourselves.
Who wouldn’t want to be an Optimist? And yet, we have experienced a steady decline in Membership over the past 30 years, dropping from a peak Membership of 175,000 in 1990 to today’s Membership of approximately 53,000. If we have so much to offer, why are we so reluctant to ask someone to join us? Let me ask this question in a different way. Why are we choosing to deprive people these same benefits?
The Membership Committee has developed two Membership recruitment initiatives to help us share the gift of Optimism:
1. “Just Invite” is about inviting someone to share your joy in serving. Select the event in your Club that you enjoy the most and invite someone to that event. Seeing you at your most passionate or happiest may be enough to motivate your guest to join so they can get that same feeling.
2. “Partners-in-Optimism” is about two Clubs working together. Our goal is to have a larger Club working with a smaller Club to help strengthen and grow the smaller Club. If both Clubs complete the requirements, both will be recognized as Distinguished Clubs at the end of the year.
“Never accept the world as it appears to be, dare to see if for what it could be.”
Dr. Harold Winston, Overwatch
Join me in daring to Choose Optimism so we can serve more youth now and for decades to come.
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