The Wallaceburg Optimist Club, who is celebrating their 70th anniversary in April, is in dire need of new members.
In fact, Sandra Johnston, a long-time member, told the Sydenham Current the club is in jeopardy of folding.
“We’ll have to make a decision by March,” she said.
“We’re committed (at Wallaceburg Hometown Bingo) until the end of June. At the end of March I have to make a new schedule and it will be from July 1 until the end of the year. So if we go on that schedule we are committed until the end of the year.”
Johnston said they currently have nine members, although two of them are physically unable to put in many volunteer hours.
“If we could get up to 15, we’d be happy. Six new members,” she said.
Running bingo’s at the Wallaceburg Hometown Bingo is their main fundraiser.
“We do alright,” she said.
“We do different little fundraisers, anything to raise some money. Our main thing is running bingo’s.”
Johnston said the motto of the club is ‘friend of the youth’.
“If somebody writes us a letter and asks us for money for some kids, they always get it,” Johnston said.
“They’ve done a lot of good. We just finished helping the children’s day care, they can’t hold a license, but we can.
“We’ve done VIP with Const. Randi Hull, for many years. We do ‘Lend A Hand’, we do all the sports. There is nothing that we are not involved with… as long as it’s youth.”
To become a member, you must be 18 years of age and the dues are $60 a year, which goes towards Optimist International.
“If people give $5 at each meeting, they would have their dues paid. That way it is not such a hardship,” she said.
The group has a dinner meeting once a month at the Black Goose, always on the third Monday.
The Optimist Club has been a family affair for Johnston, as her husband Eric has been a member since 1968, and her parents were members while she was growing up.
For details about becoming a member of the club, contact Eric Johnston at 519-627-1146 or by e-mail at ericj@kent.net.
For more information visit: https://www.optimist.org/
– Photo credit: Aaron Hall
