Club of the Year: Breakfast Optimist Club of East Fort Worth

Club of the Year

Breakfast Optimist Club of East Fort Worth

The Breakfast Optimist Club of East Fort Worth is a powerhouse of Optimist leadership, but it’s the Club’s local impact that earned it the honor of Optimist Club of the Year for 2019-20. “I’m extremely proud of the Club and the Members who do all the hard work,” said Club President Charles Hodges. “Every time we meet, every time we get together, every time we have calls, it’s constantly about what we can be doing and how we can be helping. Even though we’re out of our regular routines, people are still thinking with that service-oriented mindset. That’s the kind of the thing that every Club wants to have.” Of the Texas Club’s 76 members, three are Past International Presidents—Danny Rodgers, Don Arnwine and Ken Garner, plus Patsy Garner, who is PresidentElect. Numerous other Members have served at the District and International levels, Hodges said. These Optimist leaders are regular members who roll up their sleeves and do the work with everyone else, however, they also offer important perspective when it comes to generating ideas that strengthen the Club. “What it brings to our Club is a greater vision of what’s possible,” Hodges said. “They’ve had an opportunity to interact with Clubs all over and they bring those ideas and those thoughts and enthusiasm back to us.” The Club of the Year Honor is determined by the impact of community service projects, participation in Member development programs, Club growth and community awareness, and sponsorship of new adult Clubs or JOI Clubs. That last one is something important to the Club, Hodges said. The Breakfast Optimist Club of East Fort Worth began sponsoring JOI Clubs several years ago, with three at the elementary level and

The Club sponsors events such as the Girl Power "With Her I Stand" conference, with more than 100 girls and young women attending.

one at a high school. The Club has benefited by recruiting educators to be Members and promoting JOI Clubs as a great way to foster leadership and community service among the students. For Clubs looking to build their membership and impact, Hodges recommends attending District meetings when possible, and communicating with other Optimist Clubs in the area. “It really makes you a stronger Club to find out how people are doing it and and learn from their mistakes and their successes,” Hodges says.

Members of the East Handley JOI Club collected nearly 1,000 pairs of socks for their annual donation drive.

New

Programs

President Adrian Elcock introduced two new programs at the Virtual Convention designed to bring new Members into Optimism and raise the profile of Optimist International.

Membership at Large

The Optimist International Board of Directors approved the new Membership at Large category at its June meeting. This classification allows those who are interested in Optimism to serve as Optimist Members if they don’t have the ability to commit to a Club, or if they don’t have a Club in their area. This change came about because of frequent contacts reaching out to OI headquarters on social media wanting to join but having few options to participate. This does not replace the Friend of Optimist membership category.

“If we have that person, who is interested in our organization, who wants to support us and wants access to information that we have that will bring their full Optimism to the fore front of their being, then membership at large is an option for them,” Elcock said.

Optiforum

This initiative will serve as a way to grow Optimist International membership while providing a new non-dues revenue stream for OI. Optiforum will seek to bring thought leaders in various fields into Optimist International who could then share their expertise with communities served by Optimist Clubs. This would create a dialogue between Optimists and their communities as well as serve as a revenue stream through fees to attend events.

The ultimate goal is to show communities how Optimists respond to challenges and find solutions to problems faced in the world today. These thought leaders could include members of the business world, community development and other fields. “We can get the best resources, thought leaders, people who do this every day who can work with us, and show us, and share with us how we can do things better,” Elcock said. “These thoughts and discussions will lead to ideas. These ideas will lead to projects and programs, and projects and programs by Optimists carrying out positive action will lead to stronger communities.”