Positive vibes
By: Christine LaFrancesca, Staff Writer
A ray of positivity has found its way to Towson’s campus in the form of a new club.
The Optimist Club hopes to inspire and enhance the lives of children in the Towson community, and their president, Carol Kamerosky, is dedicated to making this an impactful semester filled with positive community service events.
“We are all about improving the lives of children,” she said. “We want to help make their day a little better.”
Optimist International is a worldwide volunteer organization made up of around 2,500 local clubs. The community service-based club hosts events that highlight the optimist club’s core goals and aim to improve community morale about once a month.
“Each month we try to do something different but with the same underlying theme,” Kamerosky said.
They will be hosting their upcoming Oratorical Contest where middle school students can be awarded scholarships for the essays that they write. For another event, they travel to Johns Hopkins to cook dinner for the families of children with cancer.
“The kids we come in contact with are amazing,” Kamerosky said. “We love being there to help.”
The Optimist Club has made efforts in assisting children with emotional and/or behavioral disabilities by working closely with St. Vincent Villa Catholic Charity, located in Baltimore City.
“We help them, we go to play Bingo with the kids, we just try to throw fun events for them, stuff we think they’d be excited about,” Christina Alms, secretary of the Optimist Club, said.
The club has established themselves through a plethora of events created for the neighboring communities such as “Shop with a Cop,” one of Alms’s favorite events.
“Kids who are from households that aren’t as well-off get paired up with a cop,” Alms said. “The cop picks them up in their cop car and takes them to Walmart. The kids get a $100 dollar gift card and they love it.”
The Optimist Club, chartered in 2007, is currently looking for new, ambitious members.
“We have around twenty people now but, we are definitely looking for more,” Kamerosky said. “We always want awesome people to come be part of our team.”
Optimist Club meetings are held in Hawkins Hall, room 122 at 7:30 p.m. every other Monday.