The Relevance of Community Service Organizations Part 5

          My Optimist Club has worked for year’s with the Children’sCancer Connection in Des Moines,  doing projects primarily to help the families affected by the disease.  One year the club provided an opportunity for a picnic and a minor league baseball game.   A couple of weeks later one of the families came to our club meeting to tell their story.  It involved their then four year old daughter who had been diagnosed with cancer at age 18 months.

While the mother was telling the story, the little girl sat across the room from me and she had a bag of Goldfish Crackers.   I made eye contact and mouthed the words, “Can I have one?”   She bounded out of her chair and came over to me and gave me….two!  She the went back to her chair.   her mother was the winding up the  story and the family was about to leave.  But before doing so, the little girl who I had just met a few moments, jumped out of her chair…ran over to me, jumped up on my lap and gave me a hug!

That’s my Optimist story.  I contend each one of us, regardless of service organization has a story just like that one.  A story that truly reflects what being part of a service group is all about.  Sure we volunteer our time, talents and money to help young people and give ourselves opportunities to grow as a person.  But there are always going to be times when what we are doing “gives back to us.”  It is just another reason why being part of a service organization is relevant is this day.

So how do we get more people involved?   We simply tell our story.  (I can provide more ways for getting people involved in future posts) We tell them about the great things our organizations do.  This is simply too important to keep to ourselves.  Our story, Your Story, needs to be shared.  I have found on innumerable occasions that when I tell my story, or just talk to someone about the Optimists that they respond by saying, “I had no idea you did that sort of thing, how do I get involved.”  It’s practically a universal response.  They just opened the door for you.  We just need the courage to walk through it.

A lot of people today are desperate for something positive in this age. Service organizations can provide that positive influence in life and all the benefits that go along with it…..but we (you) have to tell the story. And since this has been my story….let me end this way,

“By providing hope and a positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in children, our communities and ourselves.”

Be well.

The Relevance of Community Service Organizations Part 4

…A boy struggles to get a wiggly worm on the end of the hook and asks for help from an adult.   The same boy later returns to proudly show that person the four inch blue gill flapping on the end of the hook while displaying an ear to ear smile that is nothing short of priceless.

…A shy, young lady musters up the courage to participate in a public speaking contest, with the prodding of her parents.  She places in the top three gaining confidence and courage from something that used to terrify her.

…A group of students studying  English as a Second Language  participate in a horse drawn wagon ride, roast hot dogs and s’mores over an open fire, play kickball instead of soccer and decorate pumpkins all on a crisp October Sunday afternoon.  None of those activities are native to the student’s culture

    The saying goes something like,” Children are our most valuable resource for the future.”  In each of these examples and many more than could be listed, the life of the child or young adult has been enriched and enhanced through the work of community servants.  They are members of the Optimists, (www.optimist.org )the Lions, The Kiwanis and the Rotary, or several other organizations.  The projects have been able to provide education, cultural growth and just plain old fun.

     So this begs the question:  If children are most valuable resource for the future and community service groups provide the framework for helping with the positive development of young people on their journey toward becoming a responsible adult, how can those groups be considered irrelevant in the 21^st century?

      It’s rough out there.  Most agree some of the societal changes that have taken place during the past two decades have not created a positive environment for young people.(those changes can be another blog for another time) Yet membership in the aforementioned service groups has been on the decline during these times to the point in which the word” hemorrhaging” has been used to describe it.  But, there is a simple way of changing the course of service organizations so relevancy is no longer a question.

       It can be as simple as telling a story……….in the next post.

The Relevance of Community Service Organizations Part 3

                   Public speaking scares people. You may have seen elsewhere that it is the number one fear that faces the overwhelming majority of us.  We would rather jump off a 1,000 foot tall bridge tied to a bungee cord than to get up in front of a number of people and try to put several sentences together.  Effective public speaking can be a topic for another blog post at another time but it demonstrates why service organizations remain relevant in the 21^st century, more than 100 years after they were founded.

                Being competent and at ease with public speaking is a critical component of being an effective leader. Developing leadership skills and traits such as public speaking is another lynch pin of service organization membership. Leaders are always in demand in service organizations whether it be at the local, state, regional, national or international level.  It is through membership that a person has the opportunity to learn how to become a leader in a volunteer setting.  (The key phrase there is “has the opportunity” because you have to want to learn to take advantage of the opportunity.) Areas such as running an effective meeting, learning how to get people to do what you want them to do, project management, recruiting and oh yes, public speaking, are just some of the areas for developing leadership skills that can  be transferred to the home, workplace or other social settings.

                Sometimes “going out on a limb” can be risky when trying to make a point but it is also very exciting. I know a lot of people who will charge a lot of money to put on a seminar that is supposed to help with the development of leadership skills.  But usually for around the cost of a ‘C” note on a yearly basis, a person can gain similar knowledge by being part of a service organization.  The local club provides a tremendous learning environment for people who want to improve themselves.   In addition, seminars are conducted, on line learning avenues are available and conferences and conventions are offered.   Some of these carry additional registration fees, but the camaraderie and networking possibilities are bonuses to consider.  All of this falls under the service organization umbrella designed to increase and enhance leadership capabilities.

                To say, as a former Optimist said in an email, that service organizations have lost their relevance since their heyday in much of the 20^th century, flies in the face of reality.  Any organization, and I argue in this case for Optimist International, (www.optimist.org) that offers leadership development training for the nominal cost of membership is extremely relevant today.  Books on leadership skills continue to fly off the shelves.  Subscriptions to “improvement” blogs are high as people seek to make themselves better.  The Optimist International brand, while created 100 years ago, provides the same benefits as books and blogs with some additional ones.  The next installment will reveal some of those. 

Be well.

The Relevance of Community Service Groups Part 2

   “I am an optimist.  It does not seem to be much use to be anything else.”

                                                                                                                                Winston Churchill.

         The famous quote from Sir Winston, adorns the back if T-shirts, is used frequently in scholarship competition and when you think about it, is spot on with regards to a philosophy about life.  Few people would realistically confess to being a pessimist and be proud of it. The human condition is such that we were not wired up that way from the get go.  Instead, we were meant to be able to enjoy our days here with a positive attitude regardless of the circumstances whirling around us. 

This brings us to another weapon to dispel the notion that service organizations are no longer relevant in the 21^st century.  It’s called the Optimist Creed.  Go ahead….Google it.  Or just hang on for a few minutes and read it at the end of this post.  The words were put down on paper by a gentleman named Christian D. Larson decades ago.  They provide 10 processes to consider and implement in life that will make life better.   They are not easy words to follow on a daily basis because of the aforementioned circumstances swirling around us.  An email that has an unpleasant message, a disagreement with a loved one or having something go wrong at the office can all derail us from the first tenant…”To be so strong that nothing disturbs yours peace of mind.”

              The Optimist Creed provides a blue print for becoming a better person.  I will argue that point until the day they put me in the ground The Creed  has made me a better person just by trying to follow it and advocating the positions it lays out in black and white. Personal development is a lynch pin of membership in Optimist International and I know for a fact that the same applies for Lions International, Kiwanis International, Rotary International or any other group that falls under the service organization umbrella.   To argue that personal growth is no longer in vogue because of societal changes over the last few decades is ludicrous.  I know of very few people who do not to want to better themselves in some aspect of their life.  

            Membership in a service organization can, does and will help anyone become a better person, if they just give it a try.   There is another aspect to this scenario and it will be explored in the next installment.   Until then, think about accepting this challenge; try to live your life by the tenants of the Creed for the next 30 days.  I’m pretty sure life will be at least a little bit better a month from now.

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The Relevance of Community Service Groups

             The societal changes over the last quarter of a century have been numerous.  Many fall into the unwelcome category.  The abrasive nature of conversation, whether it be in person or via social media has reduced civility.  The constant din of point/counterpoint presented by the broadcast media borders on disrespect and causes many to exclaim, “I can’t take this anymore.”  It’s one of the reasons I got out of the profession after 35 years. I just could take the negativity any longer. But I will argue in this and in future posts to this blog as part of this series that there is reason for hope.   

              You see, I am an Optimist, (capitalization intended)  and the organization I now represent along with other century old, similar organizations can be and are relevant in these times.

                The hope can be seen in the daily communications received from the general public through the Optimist International www.optimist.org web portal.  It’s how the public communicates with the organization when it wants more information, or is inquiring about membership or starting a new Optimist group in a community.  I see each one whether it comes from the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean nations or anywhere else in the world.  Every day people are reaching out, searching for something positive to counteract the incessant negativity that seems to be prevalent in society today. They are searching for hope.  

             The forthcoming blog posts over the next couple of weeks are designed to debunk the notion that service organizations are something from the 20^th century that should be put on the shelf and retired.  Optimists, Lions, Kiwanians, Rotarians and many other similar organizations are re-making themselves to not only serve their existing base but also to branch out to new segments of society, new cultures and new endeavors to help address just a portion of what troubles our society today.

               A gentleman from Colorado who was leaving our organization after a couple of decades of membership opined recently, “There is no ethical or practical commitment to be married to any organization, profit or non-profit, for a lifetime. It belongs in bygone era.”    In the words of rock music legend Sting, “I do not subscribe to that point of view,”  

              There  are too many benefits to be gained through association with a service organization whether you are in your 20’s or in your 80’s.  Future posts will make the case for those benefits and bolster the contention there is a hope to be found in associating with a service group and the belief that century old organizations remain very relevant in the 21^st century.