Northridge Optimist Club e-flyer Upcoming Meetings: Tuesday Meetings dates and locations may vary. (See posted schedule below) Please check the club website Bulletin Board weekly for updates. • NEXT MEETING: Tuesday Noon, January 10, 2023 at Little York Pizza, 4120 Little York Road, 45414 Projected Club Meeting Dates, every other Tuesday (unless noted otherwise): (Meetings will be at Little York Pizza unless posted otherwise) • Holiday break - No Meeting on December 27 • Meeting on January 10, 2023 • Meeting on January 24, 2023 Update on Denny Mantel Christmas Sharing Program: Each holiday season (since 1984) Optimist members have provided some local families with financial help for a good holiday meal. This year the Northridge School System has selected 15 families who are particularly needy due to economic circumstances to be recipients of the 2022 program. With the help of recent donations the amount for the program was increased to a total of $1860 by the December 13 meeting. The total is allocated among the families in varying amounts based on the number of children in each recipient family. At this time distribution of the gifts is being handled by the school, and the school was contacting each recipient to make arrangements for picking up the gifts at the board of education building. The club thanks those who have donated to this fund to help make this program possible. See more about the fund on the club website at http://www.northridgeoptimist.org/christmas-sharing.html. Visit from Zone 6 Lt. Governor: Brenda Moore, Lt. Governor for Zone 6 of Ohio District Optimist, visited our club at the December 13 meeting. Thanks to Brenda for visiting and supporting our club. Update on Northridge Polar Bear Foundation Fund: At the Nov. 1 club meeting a total of $2420 was approved for the fall cycle of grants, covering four different projects This fund is administered by The Dayton Foundation for providing grants that support educational enhancements for Northridge students (K-12). The next cycle of grant requests will be submitted in January for consideration, with awards to be announced in February 2023. Learn more about this fund on the Polar Bear Donation page on the club website. Update on Optimist International Essay Contest: Final club level essays should be ready for judging in the next couple of weeks. In February, after the judges finish the scoring, the winning essay will be submitted to Ohio District Optimist to compete at state level for a chance to win scholarship awards. The Essay Contest is sponsored by Optimist International to give young people the opportunity to write about their own opinions regarding the world in which they live. Optimist International assigns a new topic each year and provides the rules and guidelines for holding this essay contest for students. The topic for this year is "Who is an Everyday Hero that Brings Out the Optimism in You?" The Northridge Optimist Club club is sponsoring a club level of the contest in conjunction with Northridge Schools for the 2022-2023 school year. Community Links: Some links of interest to the Northridge area are posted on the Northridge Optimist Bulletin Board page under "Community Links". One of these links is for the Northridge Alumni Bear Facts website published by the Northridge Alumni Association. One good way to support the community is to patronize the alumni businesses listed on their website. Be sure to visit the Northridge Alumni Bear Facts website to keep up with Northridge alumni news and events in the community.