Optimist Club celebrates 75 years of community service

Their creed is filled with positive advice: “Speak of health, happiness and prosperity to everyone you meet. Think only the best; expect only the best. Forgive the past, and press on to the future. Look on the sunny side of everything.”
Since the Columbia Downtown Optimist Club’s first days in 1936, members of the club have repeated their weekly mantra on how to succeed in life.
And according to the numbers, they must be onto something. This year, the group is celebrating 75 years of community service to Columbia’s youth organizations and almost $2 million in scholarships and grants back to the community.
Community leader Stella Johnson said she appreciates the club’s fundraising efforts. For 18 years, Johnson, better known as “Mrs. J” of Mrs. J’s African American Centered Family Institute, has run an after-school program that educates 25 students about black history. The program is funded almost entirely out of her own pocket.

During spring break, she travels with the children to places where black history events occurred. One year, for example, the group visited Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the setting and title of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best-selling antislavery novel that set the tone for the abolitionist movement during the Civil War. Without the Optimist Club, Johnson said, those trips most likely would not happen.
“I can’t say enough about how the Optimists change these kids lives,” Johnson said. “These trips are incredibly important to them, learning about what their ancestors went through. They really change the way the children understand history.
“The Optimists want to do whatever they can to help kids feel good about themselves and to be successful. Their support has been amazing.”
Club member Red Leighton will have been with the Optimists 50 years in March. A child of the Great Depression, he remembers growing up with financial struggles and can still recall how certain acts of generosity changed his life.

“Times are different now, but I remember what things were like, and when somebody gave me something or helped me in some way, I was very appreciative,” Leighton said. “You’ve got to keep kids active, help them, give them things to do. Plus, Columbia has been very good to me, and this is one way I can give back.”
Incoming club President Brooke Burnham already has her agenda set for the year: more of the same good work. “When people think ‘Optimist Club,’ I want them to think ‘kids,’” she said. “When those two things become synonymous, we’ll know we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
The Optimists’ two main fundraisers start again soon. Koeze Nut sales begin on Sept. 12, and their well-known Christmas tree sales will get under way after Thanksgiving. The club’s annual recruitment drive also begins again this fall. To get involved, contact Burnham at [email protected], or ask any club member for an invite.
New fundraising ideas are always welcome, Burnham said, especially during times of financial strain. Within the past few years, the club has had to deny requests for funding because there was no money.
“It’s heartbreaking when you begin to hear the needs from the different organizations,” Burnham said. “There are so many needs for the children in our community. It’s extremely important to have groups like the Optimist Club.”