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Friday, December 31, 2010

Welcome 2011









Photo credit @thedailywhat 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

How about one more Santa story?

The Jerome Optimist Club served more than 250 children at the Annual Breakfast with Santa on December 18. Santa Claus is shown here with his many volunteers.

Breakfast was held at the Jerome Catholic Church with food donations from Ridley's Food and Drug and Subway.  The Jerome Optimist Club sends a big thank you to all helpers and especially to Santa for making the day very special for all.

Thanks to Traci Brandenbourg for the photo.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Check out those banners!

The Boise Noon Optimist Club has been going through some reorganization over the past few months. It's a huge club with over 300 members, but like many clubs, they found that the number of members attending weekly meetings was declining.

In an effort to attract more participants, they have adopted an afternoon and evening schedule. Evenings are both business and social - one week is the Board Meeting and one week is pure fun; and the noon meetings are the traditional meeting style that our veteran clubs do so well. 

Merry Christmas to you

Christmas Day! Make a joyful noise to the world.

We wish you happiness with a little Christmas music mix:
Michael Buble - Let it Snow
Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

Please click here to watch on YouTube.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

PNW District named Distinguished District

The Optimist International Board of Directors met December 10-11, 2010 in St. Louis, MO. For the first time, the meeting minutes; officer, committee and staff reports; and financial documents have been published online.

In his year-end report, Immediate Past International President Mark Shriver reported on the recognition earned by Districts and their leaders in the 2009-2010 administrative year.  Six districts earned Honor District recognition and eight districts earned Distinguished District recognition.


  • The Pacific Northwest District was recognized by the Optimist International Board of Directors as a Distinguished District. 
  • Linda Jackson, PNW District Governor 2009-2010 earned the Outstanding Governor award for leading the West Region.
  • Mark Weinsoff, Vice President 2009-2010 earned the Vice President recognition for overall percentage membership growth. 

The special awards edition of the Leadership Hotline will be released in January 2011. In addition to the awards announced in this notice, it will contain the full report of Optimist Clubs earning Honor and Distinguished recognition.

The PNW District will recognize all recipients at the 2nd Quarter District Meeting. Please register to attend today.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Santa visits the Coquitlam Optimist Club

Beavers, Cubs, Sparks, Brownies and their families enjoyed Breakfast with Santa yesterday compliments of the Coquitlam Optimist Club. Find out all about it with this post from Annette Smith on the Coquitlam Optimist Club blog  here: Scouts and Guides enjoy Breakfast with Santa 

Shown to the left are Past District Governors Hal Griffin and Earl Pollock. 

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Supermarket sweep!

The Pasco Tri-Cities Optimist Club sent their elves on a shopping trip today to purchase supplies for Christmas baskets.  Enjoy some of the pictures from club secretary Lareena Roberson here:



Thanks to Lareena Roberson for the pictures!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Middleton Area Optimist Club: Wii Charter Banquet a Success

Estela Cabrera, Secretary/Treasurer, Middleton Area Optimist Club has written a great article about the Wii Charter Party held on December 11. Please click on the link to read all about it on the club's blog:

Monday, December 13, 2010

Shop with a Cop is fun for all

Shop with a Cop participants

The Gresham Optimist Club held their first Shop with a Cop for 2010 on Saturday, December 11.  Coordinated by Optimist Club members Sharon Strickland and Joe Anderson, fifteen youngsters were treated to a day of shopping at Target. Each child was paired with an Optimist Club member or police officer to help them pick out gifts for themselves or their families.



After the shopping trip, everyone enjoyed lunch at Burgerville thanks to Burgerville manager Kevin Schmid.

Burgers and fries please. 

The next Gresham Optimist Club Shop with a Cop will take place on Saturday, December 18, 9:30 a.m. at Fred Meyer in Gresham.

Thanks to Jean Jensen, Editor, Gresham Optigraph for the story and pictures.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Nametag Guy dares you to care

This past summer, Optimist Club members at the International Convention in Denver, Colorado were treated to a special keynote address by Scott Ginsberg, the Nametag Guy.  Scott takes his approachability message to the next level with this excerpt that asks if you and your club dare to care. His premise is that your Optimist Club will be more joinable if you show your members that you care about them.




Especially during the holidays, Optimist Clubs demonstrate their caring nature to their communities. It only takes a few kind words or an extra phone call to show your members that you care about them too. What do you think? Do you have any first-hand experiences to share? How does your Optimist Club show they care about their members?

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Auburn Optimists bring Santa to town


A tradition has returned to Auburn, Washington just in time for the Christmas season. The Auburn Optimist Club has opened the Santa House at B Street Plaza. It will offer varying hours from now until December 22 for children and their parents to visit and have their picture taken with Santa Claus.  Visitors can plan a visit by calling 253-315-3025 for the schedule.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Ho, Ho, Hello!

Here's a pretty simple Christmas project that your Optimist Club might do even on short notice.

The Roseburg Optimist Club has set up a hotline straight to Santa Claus. He's a really busy guy during this time of the year so the hours for the Roseburg area hook-up is rather limited; but he hopes to hear from as many children as possible on Tuesday, December 14, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Why not give Santa's scheduler a buzz and see if you can arrange a time in your community?

See the Roseburg Hotline to Santa flyer here.

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