HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-07-04, Page 7THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013. PAGE 7.No ‘challenge that we won’t face’, Optimists’ CardiffContinued from page 6Cardiff.“There really isn’t a challenge thatwe won’t face,” he said. “We’ve
taken on local parks, the ball park.
There’s pretty much no project we
won’t go after and support if we
can.”
The four men laughed at some of
their escapades, including when the
organization pledged to donate
$30,000 to London Children’s
Hospital over five years.
“We paid it off in nine months,” he
said.
“That year, we were among the
three highest contributors to the
hospital,” Cardiff said. “We were
right up there with [the company]
3M.”
Aside from their own success, the
four said that a lot of why they work
so well in the community is that they
aren’t afraid to work with other
groups for the betterment of the
community.
“We just have great co-operation
with everyone in the village,”
Cardiff said. “We’ve worked with
the [Brussels Legion] and the
[Brussels Lions].”
“We even have 26 members of the
Legion coming to the 40th
celebration,” Langlois said.
Bray explained that the Optimists’
roster shares four or five spots with
the current Brussels Fire Department
while others from the past have been
a part of it as well.
Another reason for the
organization’s success is that they
never shy away from an opportunity
for the first time and, if that
opportunity turns out to be
successful, they will keep at it.
“We’ve done everything from
turkey shoots to working at the
Walton Raceway,” Bray said. “We
used to do all the food and clean up
at the site in Walton, and it would
take us weeks to do it, but then we
found a better way to make the
money, so we went with that.”
Through events like their annual
auction, the group has sponsored
pretty much every youth avenue
they could think of including
purchasing musical instruments for
the former Brussels Public School,
helping with funding at the former
Grey Central Public School
environmental learning grounds,
public speaking, the Terry Fox Run
and the reconstruction of the
Brussels baseball park.
Renovations at the baseball
diamond and pavilion built at the
Brussels ball park are likely the most
recent, and possibly the most
noticeable work the organization has
done around the village according to
the four.
“Projects like the ball park really
make your chest stick out as a
member of the club,” he said.“People from all over tell us howgreat the park is. We run into people,and they find out where we’re from,
and they know we have a great ball
park.”
The building of the pavilion was
also important, according to Cardiff,
for the opportunity that it presented
for the community to work together
on something.
“It really reinforced the idea of
how much the community can do
together and showed people what
you can do in a day,” he said. “It was
a physical challenge that was very
exciting.”
While their other projects, like
working with the Children’s
Hospital, are just as important and
“every bit as successful,” some
projects stand out more than others
and the ball park and the pavilion are
part of that.
The group also said that their work
with the Make-A-Wish Foundation
shows how much they can
accomplish when they work together
and work with the community.
Langlois stated that the first year
they decided to work with the
charity organization that helps
adversely affected young people
recognize a dream, they were
shocked. They had hoped to help
one child and they ended up helping
many.
For 33 years, the Optimists have
also hosted a hockey tournament for
Atom-aged players in Brussels.
“It started in the old arena,”
Langlois explained. “We billeted
kids wherever we could and one year
we even had 48 teams. There were a
lot of good memories there.”
As far as the future goes, the group
wants to spend some money on their
clubhouse, located at the north end
of Brussels on Turnberry Street.
“We’ve never spent any money on
the clubhouse,” Cardiff explained.
He stated that the clubhouse,
which was formerly a lawn bowling
club and a railway station before
that, came under the ownership of
the Optimists when the lawn
bowling club decided to fold. The
Optimists had bought property and
intended to build their own
clubhouse, but in the end they traded
that property for the property they
have now which, according to
Cardiff, is historically significant.
“The structure could use some
changes and we know that things
like the window need to be updated
and replaced,” he said.
Finch stated that the building was
both important because of its history
with the lawn bowlers and the
railway, but also important because
it stands on the original fairground
in Brussels.
Bray stated that it’s also used by
the community, who can use it by
donation for wedding showers,
parties, meetings and other
gatherings.
The 35 current members of the
Optimists club are being led by what
Langlois called a “young” executive.
The group is open to anyone
interested in joining and said the
only prerequisites are that interested
members must be of the age of
majority, ambitious and want to help
out the youth.
“Every member of the group
works somewhere,” Cardiff
explained. “We’re not retired. We all
have a schedule and we understand
that it’s a significant responsibility
to join a group like this, but we make
it work.”
Langlois said that part of making
A snapshop of the past
George Langlois, second from left, has held many stations with the Optimists International
organization including Lieutenant Governor. (Photo submitted)
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Optimists’ tournament
Gord Finch, back left, is one of the charter members of the
Optimist Club. Shown here with Frank Stretton, Finch said
that the Atom hockey tournament that the club hosted in
Brussels for 33 years is one of his fondest memories of the
group. (Photo submitted)
Starting the tournament
Whether it was their annual hockey tournament, London’s Children Hospital or the Make-A-
Wish Foundation, the Optimists like Gord Finch, centre, are always ready to help out local
youth. (Photo submitted)
Continued on page 9