Santa's making a list

Update: Santa house will be open from 2:00 pm until 6:00 pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The Chehalis - Centralia Optimist Club has invited Santa to visit once again and he has accepted.  Santa Claus will be in residence at the Santa House in downtown Chehalis every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm through December 21. At that time he'll return to the North Pole to check his list and pack his sleigh for the big journey.

You are invited to bring the kiddos and your camera and let Santa know just what you are hoping for this Christmas. Share your Christmas with the Optimists - you know, Santa may be the biggest optimist of all.




If your Optimist Club has a Christmas story to share, please click to send it here.

Christmas shopping has begun!

The holidays bring out the Optimist Club members in full force. We all know that when Santa looks for helpers, he turns first to Optimist International!

One of the first projects to cross my Facebook feed was the Christmas shopping day held annually by the Albany Optimist Club. Shout out to all the members and friends who came together for a special day for the kiddos.





We'll be watching for more projects to share. Don't be afraid to brag! Send a note here. Thank you.

Merry Christmas

At Christmastime and throughout the year, we wish you peace and happiness.

We hope you find love and kindness and that you share optimism with all around you.

Most of all, we hope that you find joy and celebrate every small step you take as if it were a large victory for our lives are gifts of the heart that we have the good fortune to experience every day.

How to keep friends close at the holidays

The holidays bring families and friends together. They share the events that have happened since  the last time they came together and often tell favorite stories from long ago. They make memories that they will recount in the years to come as they laugh, celebrate, and share optimism.

I believe it is that feeling is what makes the Chilliwack Optimist Club's Circle of Friends Annual
Dance a great success. I wrote about this event earlier this month, and I return to it today because of a note I received from Glenda Standeven. She said:

For the past five years we've held an annual 'Optimist Club of Chilliwack Circles of Friends' fundraiser for kids in our community. We have a live band and this year we had an all night dessert buffet (because who doesn't love dessert?). Tickets are only $20 and tables seat 16 people. Every year we've sold more tickets than the year before. This year we had more than 300 guests and volunteers attend the event! 

Glenda Standeven

We encourage guests to bring food for the local food bank and new unwrapped toys for Community Services to distribute over Christmas to needy families. We filled three shopping carts with toys and an entire truck with food which made Christmas a lot brighter for so many I'm sure. 

It started off as a small idea five years ago. I invited my close friends to invite their close friends. We had 100 people attend a fun-filled pot-luck event that raised around $2000. The concept really caught on - if you invite 8 or more people we reserve a table with your name on it. Last year we included a full meal and a huge silent auction. We raised $10,000 but, as we are a very small club, it was too much work for our ageing members so this year we kept it simple with a bag draw auction and desserts and a no-host beer/wine bar. Our expenses were minimal and the profits were impressive! $8250 will go a long way to helping kids in need in our community over the next year.

It is so much fun getting circles of friends together for a good cause. Just ask your friends to help out by inviting their friends and family - before you know it you have 300 guests attending - and maybe some new members as a result!

All the best in the New Year fellow Optimists - if you need any tips on how we did it just send me an email. 

Circles of friends and family are exactly what the holidays are about. I don't think it's much of a stretch to imagine that is what being a part of an Optimist Club is about as well.

Thanks to Glenda Standeven for sharing even more about the Chilliwack Optimist Club annual fundraiser. Read more at the Chilliwack Optimist Club website.

We'd love to hear what is happening in your Optimist Club. Please click to send a note and picture.

Merry Christmas, Optimists and Friends

From the team at Optimist Clubs in the Pacific Northwest: 

We send simple wishes for a wonderful Christmas Day. 

#ShareOptimism

Enjoy a Christmas Eve playlist and share optimism

Are you ready? It's Christmas Eve and your family and friends are looking forward to the annual gathering. Music makes any family affair better and what could be better than a pop playlist of Christmas songs?

Please enjoy Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, and Ed Sheeran in this fun 20-track offering. Grab a Christmas cookie, a warm beverage, and enjoy.

Of course, if you are a last minute shopper, we encourage you to avoid the crowds, stay right at home and click here to purchase the perfect gift: the gift of optimism.

A Friend of Optimist membership allows the recipient to share optimism throughout the year, on their own terms. When they want to attend a meeting or event, they can; but they can also stay home and know they are helping children in their community just through their association with the optimism movement. Give that hard-to-buy-for person the gift that makes a difference: make them a Friend of Optimist.

Don't forget! We want to know how you and your Optimist Club are sharing optimism this season. Click here to send a note and picture. Merry Christmas!

Boise Noon Optimist Club brings Santa and fun to MSTI

This good-looking group came together as the Boise Noon Optimist Club held its annual celebration with MSTI (Mountain States Tumor Institute) at the Christmas Party for children and their families who are receiving cancer treatment.

According to Lisa Peterson, it was an evening of fun and games with food, crafts, Santa, face painting and even a scavenger hunt. Cindi Wall is shown below at a craft table while Stub Clarkson watches on.















Thanks to Lisa Peterson for sharing the news. Click here to visit the Boise Noon Optimist Club Facebook page and check out more photos from the event.

We'd love to know what is happening in your Optimist Club. Please send us a photo and story. Thank you.

Chehalis-Centralia Optimist Club helps light up Fort Borst Park

Chehalis-Centralia Optimist Club member Monique Connors wrote on her Facebook page, "We saw the sign . We opened up our eyes and saw the sign."

I am pretty sure that is a nod back to the 1990s song "The Sign" by The Ace of Bass. Funny - the name of the album is "Happy Nation" and that is certainly what Fort Borst Park in Centralia, Washington is this Christmas season. With a display of lights, cars loaded with families take a slow drive to experience some of the wonders of the holiday.

We hope they also stop at the Chehalis-Centralia Optimist Club Santa House to see the Big Guy - Santa - to tell him just what is on their wish list this year.

Click here to see some of the pictures uploaded by the club on its Facebook page.  As of this writing, there are 2,812 photos in the Santa House album. Take your time and enjoy. It's almost as if Christmas day will be here before you can say ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Please tell us what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season. Click here to send us a note and photo. Thank you.

What was he wearing?

Do the clothes make the man or does the man make the clothes?

Pacific Northwest District Governor-elect Ben DeRemer was in the holiday spirit with reindeer, poinsettias and snowflakes adorning his suit at the Gresham Optimist Club Holiday party.

What a great time to bring out the fine Christmas accessories!

The Optimist Club came together for its annual celebration and each member brought clothing to donate to a local homeless shelter. You see, in an Optimist Club, the gift of sharing goes on at all times.

However, we're told, that Ben has kept his suit to wear on another occasion.

Merry Christmas from the Gresham Optimist Club.

Please tell us what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season by sending a note and photo here. Thank you.

Fifty-three years of Optimist Club Christmas Trees at Portland Peninsula

In only one week, Santa will be finding his way down your chimney to leave presents under the Christmas tree. Therefore, the most important question today is do you have your Christmas tree?

If the answer is not yet, and you live in the Portland area, we encourage you to head right on over to N. Lombard and N. Chautauqua to the Portland Peninsula Optimist Club Memorial Christmas Tree Lot.

The Portland Peninsula Optimist Club has been selling Christmas trees at this location for 53 years. The great customer service, and even better prices, invite return customers and allow the Optimist Club to provide scholarships for students at Roosevelt High School, and others through the Mary Mock Family Scholarship Award and Theodore Roosevelt Women's Association. According to an Optimist Club spokesperson, more than a $1 million has been awarded through the years.

We thought we would share some of the testimonials proclaiming what a wonderful tradition the Portland Peninsula Optimist Club Memorial Tree lot is:

David B. said, "This is a great place to buy a wonderful tree for a community cause. The volunteers who run this place were very helpful, loaded my downed tree that had a fresh-cut and was shaking for needles on top of the cart. We will return here every year."

Madelyn A. said, "I own a business just down the street from this place and it's become a tradition to go as a group and pick out our tree here. This was our third year buying a Christmas tree from them, good selection and the people are friendly. Prices were a little higher than what we pay at a tree farm out in Oregon city for our tree (for the house) but maybe that's normal for the city vs the burbs."

Tuti M. said, "I just got my tree here and everyone was super nice and helpful. It was very organized. We were greeted immediately and notified of the prices. They cut the end, trimmed off the lower branches, shook the excess water off, bound the branches and tied it to my car roof in no time....I couldn't be happier. They even gave me a free sensor to tell me when the tree needs watering."

After Christmas, the Optimist Club works with the Boy Scouts Troop 71 North to recycle Christmas trees and wreaths. The hours for drop-off are December 26-31, 2017 and January 6-7, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This is another example of a long-running Optimist Club program that has a positive impact on the people the club serves in their local community. Well done, Optimists!

Please tell us what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season by sending a note and a photo to this link. Thank you.

Photos contributed by the Portland Peninsula Optimist Club. 

Visit another Optimist Club and find some Christmas cheer

I am a member of an Optimist Club in the Pacific Northwest District and sometimes I visit other Districts and other Optimist Clubs in Optimist International. That was the case on this fine afternoon.

While visiting the Optimist Club of St. Charles, Missouri, I had the opportunity to see the High School Madrigals perform, "Fruitcake."



One of the most important things we do as Optimist Clubs is gather together as a group to share fellowship and learn about our communities so that we can meet its needs with optimism. It's not unusual to hear from various youth groups because, hey, youth is our thing; but it is always extra special to enjoy a performance by the young people in our community. Thank you so much, St. Charles Madrigals, for sharing the Christmas spirit with all of those around you.

If you get the opportunity to visit an Optimist Club away from home, please do. You'll make new friends and learn about new projects and new ways to do regular programs. The Pacific Northwest District includes Optimist Clubs in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, so a club in this large district may merely travel across a state or provincial line to get a taste of something different. I even remember when it was encouraged to visit other clubs within your own zone or region.

Take a road trip and share optimism. Learn to make your club more effective by discussing programs with others. Call it a research project and make it part of your Optimist Club's strategic plan. I believe it is a project worth completing and it will help your club extend its service well into the future.

Once you've traveled, please take the time to share your experiences with us so that we can enlighten others. Send  us a paragraph or two, and a picture or two and we'll publish it here, on Facebook, and Twitter.

Thank you and enjoy the holidays!

400 pancakes, please

The Coquitlam Optimist Club has been elfing around again! 

This week they were at the Porter Street Elementary School where they prepared and served pancakes and turkey sausages to four hundred students and their parents.

Hitomi Nunatani organized the event and invited the Coquitlam Optimist Club to participate.

Optimist Club members Annette Smith, Peter Smith, Earl Pollock and Hal Griffin were joined by Coquitlam Junior Curlers Darren Kent, Conner Kent, Emily Eisner and Kate Eisner, and Optimist Friends Allison Pesch and Gaynor Hagyard. 

Thanks to Hal Griffin for the story and pictures. He says, "Merry Christmas to all!"

Please click on the photos to enlarge.

Please tell us what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season so we can share your good deeds here, on Facebook and Twitter. Click to send a story and picture. 

No more Christmas trees?

In a note from Meridian Optimist Club secretary Bill Garcia received on Monday, we learned that the Meridian Optimist Club Christmas Tree sales lot was closed. Why? They sold out of Christmas trees!

In what is perhaps the earliest date I remember, the Meridian Optimist Club sold its last Christmas tree of the 2017 holiday season on Saturday, December 9.

Sales are generally more brisk when the weather cooperates, making it easier and more comfortable for shoppers to visit. The economy helps as well, when there is more disposable income to purchase a tree from a service organization and make a donation to to youth-serving projects in the community by doing so.

And it doesn't hurt that the Meridian Optimist Club Christmas Tree lot gets a number of return customers: people who have purchased an Optimist Christmas Tree for many seasons. Just listen to one of their return customers, Meteorologist Larry Gebert, as he announced the sales on air, as he does every year, for the club.

Click to watch the video

Bill singled out a few of the hard workers this year with a big thank you to the Farnsworth family and Justin Wagner who were there every day with sales. Well done, Meridian Optimists!

We'd love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this season. Please click here to send a picture and a story. 

Albany Optimist Club celebrates service at its holiday party

Some Optimist Club use their holiday parties to celebrate the accomplishments of their members through the year. That's what the Optimist Club of Albany, Oregon did at their Christmas Social December 3, 2017.

Being recognized for service to the club and community were:

• Grady Silverthorne - in recognition of his outstanding service for the past, present, and future 
• Jim Stom - in recognition of his outstanding leadership as President 2015/2016 and 2017/2018

A very special honor was bestowed upon one member of the club, the man who writes the bulletin every other week and keeps communication flowing among the members.

Jack Towns was recognized as Mr. Optimist for 2017-2018.
Thanks and praise given to him for his dedication and

service to the Albany Optimist Club.

Among other things, at the Christmas dinner, the club members enjoyed seeing folks they don't usually see at the noon meetings, namely, the spouses. Read more at the Brush & Bucket Bulletin.

Many cheers for the season and congratulations are in order to the dedicated members of the Albany Optimist Club.

Thanks to Jack Towns for sharing the story.

We would love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season and beyond. Please click here to send us a picture and a story. Thank you.

The Santa House is open in Centralia, Washington

We are so excited to share that the Santa House is open!

Where: Fort Borst Park, Centralia, Washington

When: December 8 -24, 2017, Hours 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day

Price: The Santa House is free, donations are accepted. The park also has a light show and it costs $3 for a tour, waived with a canned food donation.

For many years, the Santa House was a project of the Auburn Optimist Club. On the dissolution of that club, the Auburn members gave the house to the Centralia-Chehalis Optimist Club enabling them to step in and bring Santa to another city in Washington.






Congratulations, and thank you, to the Chehalis-Centralia Optimist Club for bringing this tradition to your community.

Seeing Santa and enjoying the lights and wonder of the season brings joy to mothers, fathers, grandparents, Optimists, and most especially, the children, both naughty and nice.



Take a look at the impact the Santa House has already had by looking at the hundreds of photos shared on the Chehalis-Centralia Optimist Club page on Facebook. Here is a sample of the smiles you'll find there.

Thank you to the Chehalis-Centralia Optimist Club for sharing the photos and story.

We would love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this season. Please click here to send us a picture or two.  Thank you!

Lebanon Optimists take honors in the Twilight Parade 2017

Christmas parades are lighting up communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. In Lebanon, Oregon, with the creativity of Weezy DeVinny, the Optimist Club was front and center at the parade and in this video.





In a note from Tina DeVinny, we learned:

My mother Louise DeVinny, who is the representative for The Optimist Club in Lebanon, did a float this year. With the help of Randy Sloniecki, they created a one-of-a kind float. 

Santa's Workshop was the highlight of the parade. It was adorned with red & white lights, red poinsettia's, stuffed bears and toys, mini fireplace and little children bursting with joy.

My mother was the guy in the red suit & white beard... Shhhhhh! Hope you've been good this year, lol.

Well done, Weezy, Randy and Lebanon Optimists. They won two trophies for their Christmas spirit!

We'd love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this Christmas. Please send us a note and a picture and publish it right here and share on social networks. Thanks!


Thanks to Tina DeVinny for the story and video. 

Boise Noon Optimist Club parties to benefit the Hays Shelter Home

The Boise Noon Optimist Club held its annual Christmas Party on December 3, 2017 and following tradition, it hosted a silent auction to purchase gifts for the children at Hays Shelter Home. Families and friends of Optimist Club members were on hand to to enjoy the games, food, raffle items, dessert raffle and new this year, a baker's dessert contest.

Club secretary Lisa Peterson shared pictures of the top three decorated cakes all with an adorable Winnie the Pooh theme.

She also proudly proclaimed that $2,300 was raised for their goal. Now that's how to start the season off with optimism!























Thanks to Lisa Peterson for photos.

We would love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season. Please click here to send us photos and a story.

Circles of Friends come together with the Chilliwack Optimist Club

There were 250 tickets available when Chilliwack Optimist Club member Glenda Standeven posted the 5th Annual Optimist Circles of Friends - Dessert & Dance Night on Facebook. With more than a week to go, they were sold out so they opened up places for 50 more to attend and sold out again. With that kind of enthusiasm, the Chilliwack Optimist Club once again made a difference in their community, in the lives of members and their circles of friends, and ultimately the youth they serve.

In addition to a great audience, there was a band, a silent auction, wonderful desserts and the spirit of the season, all which will help the Optimist Club move forward in the coming year.

Please enjoy the photos provided by Coralee Lord Holmes and the Optimist Club of Chilliwack on Facebook.




Well done, Optimists!

We would love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing for the holiday season this year. It's our hope that we will have at least one Optimist Club story each day this month to share. Please send us a picture and story now. Thank you. 

Optimist Club meetings are good for your health

This may sound rather simple, but sometimes the best thing an Optimist Club can do is get its members together to socialize. After all, according to Jane Brody in the New York Times,  "social interaction is a critically important contributor to good health and longevity."

Don't believe Jane, or me, read up on the scientifically reviewed article "Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy."

Optimist Clubs provide a consistent opportunity for friends and colleagues to get together, share information and optimism, and when appropriate, work together to make their communities great places to live.

Some Optimist Clubs meet during mealtimes; others meet for beverages or desserts, and some just gather for about an hour or so for a meeting. In this fast and busy world we live in, where social media is popular, there are even some clubs that primarily meet online. Any of these models are okay, but if you get the chance to get together, we highly encourage it.

Remember, going to an Optimist Club meeting - and socializing with others - is good for your community and you. Just ask this crew in the picture, members of the Optimist Club of Hillsboro, Oregon. They're saying "hi!" and "Merry Christmas!" They're probably also saying, "Join an Optimist Club!" Can't you just hear them?

Thanks to Jack Thornton for the photo. We'd love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season. Please click here to send us a picture and story.

Breakfast with Santa and the Coquitlam Optimist Club

On Saturday, December 2, 2017, in Coquitlam, British Columbia, the Coquitlam Optimist Club welcomed the holiday season with its favorite Breakfast with Santa program.

According to the club's Facebook page, curling club members also got into the action, making pancakes for the Sparks, Brownies, Beavers and Cubs, and Santa, too.























In addition to breakfast, the club also sponsored a food drive.

Thanks to the Coquitlam Optimist Club for the photos. We'd love to hear what your Optimist Club is doing this holiday season. Please click here to send us a picture and story.