2010 – 2011 Accomplishments

The 2010-2011 Optimist Year has been an incredible year, once again, for our club including increasing

our membership +9, building a brand new club and achieving the coveted

Optimist International Distinguished Club Status!!!!!

Below are the members we welcomed into the club this year.

Their enthusiasm, talents and eagerness to help us at our events has been incredible!

Lisa Czarniawski - John Czarniawski - Brad Newsome

Carol Scarscella -Judy Sinclair - David Fries (FOO)

Vito Wasniewski - Anthony Wickersham - Jan Zambelli

The Organizations and Children That Your Hard Work Helped Out This Year!

Macomb Charitable Foundation

Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center

Vision Hope – Champions for Life Kid’s Camp

Sunshine Store - Champions for Life Kid’s Camp

Boys and Girls Club

Right Step Sponsorship

Kids Kicking Cancer

American Diabetes

Sandcastles Camp

American Cancer Society

Henry Ford High School Theatre

ConKerr Cancer

Henry Ford Macomb Hospital

Habitat for Humanity

VISION HOPE

Sunshine Store - For the second year in a row, the CMOC donated $1000 in clothing, pajamas and other items to help fill the Sunshine Store at Vision Hope’s foster children’s camp - the “Champions for Life Kid’s Camp”. This project was chaired by Rose Merecki. Rose and her committee, Sue Kardasz and Lisa Czarniawski, shopped for bargains on shirts, pants, shorts, hoodies, dresses and other clothing items throughout the year. The 125 children that attended the camp this past July were each given a shopping bag and were able to fill the bag with as many clothing items they could fit into the bag. Members of the CMOC, their friends and family also donated 34 pairs of pajamas to ensure each child at the camp had a brand new pair of pajamas when they arrived for camp. The CMOC also sponsored two children’s attendance at the camp again this past summer.

Champions for Life Kid‟s Camp Carnival – On July 13th, Sue Kardasz, Dan Kardasz, Donna Onifer, Dot Hardy, Julie Gola, Craig Babcock, Paul Kowal, Debbie Selkey, Rose Merecki, Jan Zambelli and Elaine Lyon spent the day at the Champions for Life Kid’s Camp helping run the children’s carnival games. These games promote self esteem among the children and everyone is a winner at the games!

MACOMB COUNTY JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTER

JJC Library Donation – The CMOC donated over $300 to the Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center’s library throughout the year to help them purchase books.

Oratorical Contest – CMOC members, Keith Rengert, John Klatt and Jeffery Sprys organized our 6th annual Oratori-cal Contest at the Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center. The topic for this year’s contest was: “How my edu-cation is the key to my successful future.” The staff at the JJC helped narrow the speeches down to the top five. The top five finalists then presented their speech to members of the CMOC, JJC staff and members of the local media. The speeches were judged by a panel and all received plaques for their participation. All participants were treated to a pizza party at the JJC the following week.

Respect for Law – Our 5th annual Respect for Law took place at the Juvenile Justice Center again this year with panel participants such as Macomb County Sheriff, Anthony Wickersham, Macomb County Executive, Mark Hackel, defense attorney, Steve Rabaut, Circuit Court Judge, David Viviano, Richmond Chief of Police, David Teske and several others that volunteered their time. Children from the JJC asked the panel questions regard-ing the law, juvenile system and how their time at the JJC will affect their lives and future plans. A poster contest was also held with the “Respect for Law” theme. This event was also organized by Keith Rengert, Jeffery Sprys and John Klatt. John also organized an ice cream social for the participants of this program at the JJC after the event.

JJC BBQ - The CMOC also purchased a BBQ and looks forward to hosting a BBQ picnic for the children and staff of the JJC later this year.

MACOMB CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

Kids of the County – The 5th annual “Shop with a Sheriff” event was held at the Meijer Store on 26 mile and Van Dyke Saturday, August 20th. This project is attended by Sheriff Wickersham and members of the Reserves. The Macomb Charitable Foundation and volunteers from the CMOC took 100 underprivileged children shop-ping and helped them pick out $100 of school clothes and other essentials. The CMOC raised the money for this event throughout the year by sponsoring raffles, dinner/dances, etc. The Meijer Store also gave the families a very generous discount on all items purchased.

Christmas Family - The CMOC adopted a family through the Macomb Charitable Foundation. We provided clothing, food and toys so that this family could have a wonderful Christmas.

Mitten Tree – Each November, Richard Paul sets up a Christmas Tree at Ebeling Elementary School and the chil-dren attending the school add mittens, hats, scarves and even some coats to decorate the tree. Many years a second tree has to be added to handle the generosity of the children and staff at the school. All of these items are donated to the Macomb Charitable Foundation to be given to the needy children in our community.

Pantry Shower – Again this year, the CMOC held a “pantry shower” for the local community pantry. Members brought in armloads of groceries and other essentials to help stock the pantry. The Vergilio family also secured a large donation of diapers to help those families with small children. In July, members of the CMOC worked at the pantry and helped distribute the boxes of food to over 120 families.

St Patricks Day Dinner/Dance – Our annual dinner/dance raising money for the Macomb Charitable Foundation was a wonderful success! The money raised through ticket sales, raffles and auctions assists the MCF and the families they help throughout the year as well as fund our Shop with the Sheriff program.

“KIDS KICKING CANCER”

Holiday Extravaganza -– The Central Macomb Optimist Club partnered with the Clinton Township and Shelby Township Clubs this year to throw a party for the children and families of the kids that participate in the Kids Kicking Cancer program. In spite of a snowstorm, many families attended the party and enjoyed food, fun, games and a special visit by Santa Claus. Each family left with a basket that was personalized with needs specific to the family.

OPTI-BOWL

The CMOC held its first Opti-Bowl bowling fundraiser. Brad Newsome and Karen Tucker put together a night of food, fun and bowling, all to raise money for the children’s charities and programs we spon-sor throughout the year. Bowlers were rewarded for the expertise with some very unique trophies.

MT. CLEMENS OPTIMIST CLUB

The Central Macomb Club assisted in the building and sponsorship of the new Mt. Clemens Club. The club chartered at the end of May with 32 members. This club will be assisting the needy children in Mt. Clemens and Mt. Clemens School District.

Optimist International Foundation 

The CMOC collected spare change throughout the year and then added club funds to donate $365 ($1 a day) to the Optimist International Foundation which supports many of the OI programs and scholarships that are given out throughout the year.

Beanie Babies 

Our Beanie Babies program continues to grow. To date, over 3300 Beanie Babies have been delivered to organizations such as Kids Kicking Cancer, Children’s Hospital of Detroit, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital of Ann Arbor, Sandcastles Grief Support Group, Big Family of Michigan Foster Care Program, the Department of Human Services, children in the Dominican Republic as well as the Children’s Juvenile Arthritis Foundation.

ConKerr Cancer

The 7th annual Christmas Auction was held with over $1000 in proceeds going to ConKerr Cancer, an organization that sews and donates colorful pillowcases to children that are in the hospital for cancer treatments.  Barry Burnham was our Santa (shhhh!) again this year along with his helpers, Pat Rabaut Miller and Karen Tucker.

Right Step Sponsorship

Sue Vergilio and Kelley Wallis put together “ladies night out” to raise money for the Right Step Sponsorship (equestrian therapy). A variety of vendors selling jewelry, purses, etc. brought their products to Santino’s so that the ladies could purchase items for themselves or items as Christmas presents with the proceeds going to Right Step Sponsorship.

Sandcastles Camp 

Sandcastles is a program created by Henry Ford Hospital to provide grief support to children and families as they cope with their loss. The CMOC donated 500 Beanie Babies that were distributed to the children attending the camps and donated $350 to send one of the children to summer camp.