Optimist Club of Helena

We sponsor and volunteer time for various youth activities and projects.

Areas Served

We are “friends of youth”: as our motto says. We support many different youth activities in the Helena area.

Impact

We provide funding that expands the reach of youth organizations to help them meet their goals. That can include scholarships that allow more kids to participate in activities, help with the cost of supplies and materials, help with travel expenses for participation in state, regional, or national competitions, etc.

Project / Needs

We also prepare and serve an annual dinner (375 plates in 2018) for a Headstart Program Christmas event. We provide time for other events such as a “bookshelf build” project, or ticket sales for an American Legion baseball tourney. All of these activities and funds help organizations serve more kids better. We also provide a couple of scholarships each year for Helena College (UM) students. We helped fund Fusion Robotics, Premier Dance Company, the Friendship Center, backpacks for the Career Training Institute Youth Build program, Holter Museum “Kidsworks”, CASA, Explorations Works camp for cancer kids, HHS and CHS speech/debate, CRS Science Olympiad, Toys for Tots, Helena Figure Skating Club, Helena Food Share (kid meal boxes), and many, many more over the years.

Other Fundraising

Our main fundraiser is a taco booth at the Last Chance Stampede in late July. We have taken advantage of the opportunity that L&C Brewery has allowed us in the past, as well as a couple of other breweries. We have used a telemarketing effort in the past but it is not being pursued any longer.

How Will The Funds Be Used

We award funds to various youth activities based upon their demonstrated needs. They come to some of our weekly meetings and tell us about their programs. We also have the cost of the Headstart dinner in December each year. The funds we raise go to assisting kids.