Optimist
Club needs more members
By:
LAURA HAGAN
There are
currently eight people signed up to join the Optimist Club in
Owen County. For a club to be formed, 25 members are needed.
Meetings began in the area a few months ago, allowing anyone interested
in re-forming a club to attend and get information. The last time
there was an Optimist Club in Owen County was the late 1990s.
Current President of the Optimist Club Judy Ziegler and past International
President Ronnie Dunn quit having meetings in mid-December, since
the holidays brought so many more conflicts with scheduling.
Even after several informational meetings and letters encouraging
people to be a part of the club, the number of those who’ve
signed up is still not enough.
“Several people in the community have said it’s hard
to get people to volunteer,” Ziegler said.
She encourages anyone, from a young adult to a retired person,
to consider joining the club. However, if the mandatory number
of 25 people are not signed up at the end of the month, Ziegler
and Dunn will move on to another county.
“It’s hard to pinpoint in different communities what
the reasons are (that people may not want to join),” Ziegler
said.
She said it seems like there have been enough people show interest
but thinks that maybe those people are waiting to get involved.
“Or it could just be the holidays,” she said.
With issues of online safety becoming more and more important
lately, Ziegler said the Optimist Club offers a program to help
keep children safe online. She said the club could also help raise
funds for the baseball program that will start at the middle school
this spring.
“It just takes people knowing (what the club) is all about,”
Ziegler said.
She said she and Dunn would not push starting the club and won’t
stay here past the end of the month if people don’t want
the club.
“It takes a lot of time (to start one),” she said.
“But that doesn’t matter, as long as the community
is interested.”
Ziegler said she will work as long as the club shows growth and
if by the end of the month there are 20 people, she’ll keep
working. If there are still only eight, she’ll move on.
“We hope we can stay,” she said.
Dunn said if a club is started in Owen County, the first major
project will be a mentoring program. She said Kathy Resetar, Community
Education Director, is interested in starting the project.
Resetar said without the club, the mentoring program will not
happen. Because the Optimist Club has $1 million in liability
insurance, it would allow the mentoring program to take place
off campus as well as on.
The program would help students at the primary, elementary and
middle school level. There is currently a mentorinig program through
the schools – the STAR program – but it does not allow
outside community involvement.
Dunn said she thinks it has been hard to start a club here because
they began holding meetings around the holidays and because people
were afraid it was a duplication of organizations like Hope’s
Hands. Dunn and Ziegler will be at the Hope’s Hands conference
Jan. 26 to try and recruit members.
Tony Watkins, a community member of Hope’s Hands, said the
club will help the collective effort put forth by Hope’s
Hands, KEYS and other organizations to help the children in the
community.
“I think the Optimist Club is a needed entity here in the
community,” he said.
He said he thinks it is a good civic club to belong to, if you
are interested in being involved in the lives of kids.
“A little bit of time for kids goes a long way,” Dunn
said.
Four more meetings will be held for those interested in joining
the Optimist Club: two lunch meetings on Jan. 10 and 17 at noon,
as well as two evening meetings, from 6- 7 p.m. on Jan. 24 and
31.
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