HISTORY

Optimist International was formed on June 19, 1919, when representatives of 11 clubs held a convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Optimist International is one of the largest and most active service-club organizations. There are more than 100,000 individual members who belong to more than 3,100 autonomous clubs.

Optimist Clubs conduct positive service projects aimed at providing a helping hand to youth. Club Members are best known in their communities for their upbeat attitudes. By believing in young people and empowering them to be the best they can, Optimist volunteers continually make the world a better place to live. Optimists conduct 65,000 service projects each year, serving six million young people. Optimists also spend $78 million on their communities annually.

The Evening Optimist Club was chartered on May 21, 1957 to become a member of Optimist International. The sponsoring clubs were the Evening Optimist Club of Wilson and the Optimist Club of Raleigh.

During the past 50 years, the Rocky Mount Evening Club has been serving the youth and our community. Over the years, we have sponsored and actively participated in an abundance of projects including:

• Boy and Girl Scout troops
• Junior Rifle club for youth
• City League Sports teams
• Nash County Babe Ruth League
• Rocky Mount YMCA Soccer
• Junior Golf tournaments
• Swim Teams
• Childhood Cancer Programs
• Child Safety programs
• JOOI Clubs (Youth Clubs)
• Annual Youth Appreciation Banquets
• Oratorical and Essay Contests
• Tri-Star Sports Competitions
• Bicycle rodeos and bicycle engraving
• Project Graduation programs
• Christmas shopping sprees for under privileged parents to purchase gifts for their children
• Have sent under privileged kids to summer camp
• Support NC Boys’ and Girls’ home at Lake Waccamaw, NC.
• Support Optimist Cottage at Boys and Girls’ home
• Support OI Foundation that provides funds for Optimist International projects
• Assist Wild Turkey Federation by serving hotdogs to kids participating in their J.A.K.E. Day activity
• Respect For Law Banquets for School Crossing Guards and Law Enforcement Officers
• Special Olympic events

Over the years, the club has been active in sponsoring Oratorical contest producing numerous winners at the zone, district, state, regional and international levels. Among these winners were Arthur Marcus, Ken Thompson, Norman Chambliss and Robert Campbell. The Oratorical contest is designed to inspire youth to motivate and inform others through the art of public speaking. It provides young people with the opportunity to compete for a college scholarship and present their views on a pre-assigned topic.

In 1964 the club purchased a park site on Highway 97 East. Once developed, this property included a clubhouse, rifle range, and cookout shelter with grills, campsites and a place for fishing. This property was used for club meetings and a site to be used for Youth work. The club was also rented for community activities. The clubhouse was used until sold to Franchise Enterprises in 1986.

In 2002, the Evening Optimist Club pledged $25,000.00 to the town of Nashville, NC to build a baseball field to serve area youth. Members were actively involved in the construction of this field. Today this fine field bears our name and is used by our area youth for league games and tournaments.

To support our many projects, we have conducted numerous Fund Raising projects including Christmas tree sales, softball tournaments, operating a food booth at the Rocky Mount Fair, sponsoring puppet show, selling carnival tickets for the annual Nashville Blooming Festival and selling raffle tickets. In May of 2007 we conducted our first barbecue chicken sale that was very successful.

The club has also been active in leadership on the District level. Rocky Stroud served as Governor of the North Carolina District in 1963 while Phil Shirley served as his district Secretary Treasurer. Ed Taylor has served two administrations (1991-1992 and 1999 – 2000) as District Secretary-Treasurer. Phil Shirley, Guy Eagles, Ed Taylor (distinguished), Tom Hedgepeth (distinguished) and Tommy Peele (distinguished) are among members who have served the district as lieutenant governors. Ed Taylor, Tommy Rogers, Tommy Peele and Ken Dixon are among members who have served as District Committee chairmen.

Under strong leadership, the club has achieved Honor Club/Distinguished status on numerous occasions. They are as follows:

The Evening Optimist club has formed other clubs allowing Youth in other communities to be served. Those clubs formed are:

During our 1988-1989 year, our club formed our first Octagon youth club made up of high school students. These young people served their school and community until they graduated. In October 2006, the Northern Nash JOOI (Youth) Club was formed. Club officers have attended JOOI District meetings and the JOOI International convention. The club has assisted our club with projects and has conducted their own fundraising projects. We look forward to seeing this club achieve their goals serving their school and community.

During the past 50 years, the Evening Optimist Club has been active serving the youth of our community and surrounding areas. By reaching outside of our area and building new clubs, we have reached the youth of other communities providing them opportunities that they would not have had without an Optimist Club in their community. Also by building Youth clubs, we have provided the opportunity for Youth to grow into upstanding adults serving their communities and setting examples for upcoming youth. We are proud of our achievements over the past 50 years and look forward to serving our community for many years to come. We thank current and past Optimist members and friends that have contributed to our successes.

On September 11, 2007, the Evening Optimist Club of Rocky Mount celebrated its 50th anniversary with a banquet held at Nash Community College’s Brown Auditorium. Among those attending were current members, charter member, Bill Reese, past presidents, past Governors of North Carolina East Optimist District and members of clubs formed by the Evening Optimist Club; the Rocky Mount Breakfast Optimist Club, the Tarboro Optimist club and the Greenville Optimist Club. Also present were members of our sponsoring club, the Evening Optimist Club of Wilson. Guests of the previous mentioned individuals were also present. Special guest Mayor Fred Turnage welcomed guests to Rocky Mount and stressed the importance of the Evening Optimist Club’s contributions to the community over the past 50 years. Judge Pell Cooper was the speaker for the evening and spoke on the social ills of society and how organizations such as the Optimist clubs give direction and alternatives to our young people who may otherwise go astray. Bobbi Jo Strohl of Rocky Mount provided special music for the evening.

A new project originated by the Club in 2007 is the “Optimistic Learner”. A fifth grade student of an area school is selected (by the classroom teacher) for other than just scholastic achievements. The reward is presented to a fifth grader who had demonstrated that he/she is working hard with a positive attitude to do their best in the classroom. Each month, club members visit the classroom of the selected student and present his/her award. Refreshments are served to all students. Note: A “Club Project Awards” (CPA) booklet for the “Optimistic Learner” project was entered into the District awards competition in September 2008. The booklet was the District winner and was forwarded to Optimist International to be judged in international competition. As a result, the Club was invited to the Orlando International Convention to present this project in the “Bragger’s Hall”.

During the 2009 Optimist year the first annual fund raising golf tournament was held at North Green Country club. Proceeds were used to assist junior golfers with expenses incurred during the Optimist Junior Golf competition.