Zack Cregeen, president of the Perry Optimist Club International, was the guest speaker at the Aug. 25 meeting of the Perry Lions Club.
Invited to address the club by Lion Andy Stout, Cregeen gave a brief history of the Optimist Club and he spoke about the clubs goals and activities.
The Optimist Club was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1911 and held its first national convention in 1917 in Indianapolis. The Optimist Club International formed in 1919 and by 1922 had grown to 49 clubs and 4,000 members.
Perry’s Optimist Club was formed in 2008 by Jenny Ekland and Dr. Randy McCaulley. The motto of the Optimist Club is “Friend of Youth,” Cregeen told the Lions, and partof the Perry Optimists’ effort to put the motto into practice is by awarding three scholarships each year to Perry High School graduating seniors.
The group also buys twin-size beds for needy Perry students. Each bed costs about $220 dollars. Members of the group assemble and deliver the beds to the students’ homes. In the past they delivered as many as three beds to one family, and in some cases they have purchased bunk beds.
The Optimist Club partners with the Perry Lions Club with their joint “Flags Over Perry Project”. Founded in 2015, the project raises out nearly 300 flags in Perry to the subscribers on five holidays during the year.
Ray Harden is secretary of the Perry Lions Club.
