UW-Whitewater/Community Optimists club recruiting additional members
The members of the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimists Club know life is busy and hardly slows down but also think the people of the community deserve the best opportunities possible and they want others to join them.
Formerly separate optimists clubs supporting the people of the community since 1981, the two joined together in 1999 and kicked off a new journey of projects that have continued and grown over the years.
Some of the annual projects of the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimists Club include: a gyro stand at Whitewater’s 4th of July Festival, an Easter Egg Hunt and the very popular Breakfast with Santa event.
The club sponsors Whitewater High School’s Post Prom – sponsored by associate UW-W Student Optimist Club for the past four years, Youth of the Month – rotates between the high and middle schools during the academic year to recognize two local youth each month for their positive attitude and willingness to serve others, Youth Appreciation Week featuring bowling and ice cream, Toys for Kids at Christmas and the Mitten Tree.
Additionally, the club provided playground equipment for Turtle Mound Park and sponsors the WHS Octagon Club, the WMS Jr. Optimist Club, the Whitewater Unified School District Emergency Fund, scholarships for local high school graduates and the Whitewater Food Pantry on a monthly basis.
“These projects, sponsored and run by the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimists, have all made our community a better place in which to live, work and play,” the club stated in a press release.
To keep up with the projects the club supports and sponsors, it holds various fundraisers including: the gyro stand, ticket-taking at UW-Whitewater sporting events and the Jefferson County Fair, the annual City-Wide Rummage Sale and a new fundraiser, Trivia Night Contest with the second annual event slated Feb. 20, 2015.
“For more than 30 years, the Whitewater Optimist Clubs have made a real difference in our community. However, it seems we are finding fewer and fewer people willing to step up and make a difference in the lives of our kids,” the press release stated.
“We have a significant need at this time to spread the philosophy of the Optimist Creed to more people in our community in order to continue to provide the support and programs on which the community has come to depend,” the release stated.
The UW-Whitewater/ Community Optimists Club will meet twice a month on Tuesdays – one lunch meeting and one evening meeting at which attendance is encouraged but not required.
For more information or a membership application contact club president Kim Adams at (608) 201-2151 or adamsk@uww.edu or vice president Jeanine Fassl at (262) 473-4906 or jnrfassl@hotmail.com.
