December was a busy time for our Optimists Club. Our biggest fundraiser, the Christmas Bonanza, started at the end of November at the Christmas Parade. The service clubs; Optimists, Lions and the Rotary began selling tickets and going to each business to gather all the gift cards for the drawing. This year, the business response was overwhelming! Almost every business asked provided a gift card for the drawing. Instead of drawing  two $1,000+ winners, we were able to draw three $1,125 winners. The live Facebook drawing was held at Little Shop of Hoarders December 17th at 3pm. The jubilant winners were; Lyn Bergman, Ed Kosko, and Darlene Kumpf. And an extra winner, Alexis Turner, for the McDonalds backpack filled with goodies. Congratulations to the winners and happy shopping! A BIG thank you to all our generous merchants that made this give away possible!

The service clubs will take the money from the ticket sales to fund programs for the town. Thank you, Odie’s, Cutting Edge, Hairmasters, and Tobacco Island for selling tickets for us, and thank you Chillicothe for supporting our clubs.  

In December the Optimist’s began gathering toys for the CNA Christmas Basket Program. Each year we put out Christmas trees with cards on them at different locations with ages of boys and girls. Then the generous community buy toys and brings them back to that location. The Optimists gather them all up, sort them to age, and boy or girl, and fill a large bag with toys for that child. On December 17th, we distributed those toys at Three Sister’s Park in conjunction with the CNA Food Basket Program. This year, CNA provided boxes of food to 118 familes and those with children all received bags of toys.

Also, in December, the new handicapped picnic table we ordered finally arrived and was installed at Shore Acres Park. This picnic table is open on one side to accommodate persons in a wheelchair. Thank you Kevin Yates for getting that ordered and installed for us. 

This summer, the Eagle telescope the Optimists bought for Shore Acres Park was rendered inoperative when condensation seeped in the lens. This problem was not repairable, so one of our outstanding citizens, Kathy Close, stepped up and paid for a new telescope to replace the damaged one. This new double scope has two binocular lens for viewing. Stop by the park and take a look at this new addition. Thank you Kathy for this generous gift!