By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

After half a century, the Baldwinsville Optimist Club is bowing out gracefully.

“I have often believed … groups, like people, have a life. There’s a reason for them to come into existence, and they have an end,” said longtime member Bruce Haney. “You can try to keep it going and watch it fade away into a slow death, or you can dissolve the club and go out on a high point.”

The Optimists, Haney said, decided to go out with a bang rather than a whisper. While it was a difficult decision, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and began the process of dissolving. The club officially ended its operations Sept. 30.

Like many service organizations, the Optimists faced an aging membership and the difficulty of attracting young blood. But instead of fizzling into the ether, the Optimists have bequeathed their signature projects to other local entities, allowing a few of B’ville’s beloved traditions to live on.

“Let’s go out on a crest, not a valley,” said Haney, who had been a member since 1980.

The Baldwinsville Optimist Club was founded by members of the Marcellus Optimist Club in 1965. According to former club president Monika Shoup, the B’ville Optimists started the annual Halloween painting of shop windows in the village’s Four Corners in the 1970s.

“We were most proud of the Halloween painting because it was a true community event,” Shoup said.

The Baldwinsville Central School District handed out applications for elementary schoolers to express their inner artists, and businesses in the Four Corners volunteered their windows to be decorated. Haney said the club would gather in a member’s garage to mix the paint beforehand, and the Baldwinsville Art Guild used to judge the paintings and award prizes.

“That was kind of fun because we were working with another group,” Haney said.

Haney said he has met far-flung B’ville natives at weddings or other events who recalled participating in the program as children.

“It became a tradition that people would remember from their childhood,” he said.

Fortunately, that tradition lives on, as the town of Lysander’s Parks and Recreation Department took on the program, which was held Oct. 22 this year.

The Optimists have also passed their student of the month recognition to the Baldwinsville Rotary Club. Haney said that program began as a way to honor students within the sea of Baker grads each year, especially those who do not normally seek the spotlight.

“We had a very diversified group of students — they’re all different,” Shoup said.

She recalled one particular student the Optimists highlighted, a boy who hadn’t been honored much in school for his accomplishments.

“One of the parents came up to me and said, ‘I just want you to know you don’t know how much this means to us and our son,’” she said. “It was just a very positive experience for this particular student of the month.”

Lastly, Boy Scout Troop 119 is taking over the annual Christmas tree sale. According to Rob Stone, the troop has assisted the Optimists with the sale for about five years and began splitting profits with the club about two years ago.

“We’ve already ordered the trees and we’re going to be picking them up [soon],” Stone said. “It’s going to be a troop sale from now on. Hopefully it’ll go well and we’ll be doing it from now on.”

The trees will come from Trust Nursery in Pulaski, which is where the Optimists traditionally obtained them. The sale, which is located in the Rite Aid parking lot on Downer Street, starts on the first weekend in December. The sale takes place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. weekdays and from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends until Christmas. Trees will range between $40 and $70. For more information, contact Rob Stone at [email protected].

Local clubs struggle with membership

Many local service organizations struggle with the issues that brought the Baldwinsville Optimist Club to an end: As volunteers age and younger families are busy with school, work and extracurricular activities, most of the work falls on the shoulders of the same people.

“It was hard to find people to step up and take leadership roles,” Shoup said. “What was difficult for our club was the same people kept chairing the same events. Many of our members got burned out.”

Shoup and Haney said the Optimists participated in the Baldwinsville Volunteer Center’s Annual Volunteer Recruitment Fair, which is hosted by the Baldwinsville Public Library, but most of the people who had the time and desire to get involved were as old as those who were looking to pass their clubs on to the next generation.

“More and more, you’ll see that the ones looking [for volunteer opportunities] are retirees. They’re the same age as we are,” Haney said. “We’re looking for people that can hustle Christmas trees.”

Haney said he worried that younger club members were just carrying on for the sake of the old guard.

“At some point, you realize, ‘Are they keeping this going … for us?’” he said. “That’s not what it should be.”

The schedules of young families are often too full to add another item. Haney said he has seen this at the Halloween window painting event.

“We got to the point where families had so many things happening,” he said. “You’d have kids flying in, grabbing paint and painting windows in their soccer uniforms, and parents were harried.”

Shoup said it’s often easier to get people to volunteer for a one-time event than to ask them to commit to being a regular member. In fact, that is how she joined the Optimists in 2012.

“Some people just like to volunteer and they don’t want to belong to anything because of the time commitment,” she said. “Other people who want to join an organization might not know how.”

Shoup said local clubs should not be hesitant in seeking new volunteers to help out. Asking someone to dip their toes into volunteering at one event could lead to recruitment.

“Go outside your membership and seek out more volunteers to help with your club,” she said. “Usually, you might find a member out of [one-time volunteers].”

For many potential volunteers, it’s a case of being in the right place at the right time.

“You have to hit someone’s hot button,” Shoup said. “If that organization represents something they’re passionate about, they’re more likely to join that organization.”

Just because this incarnation of the Optimists has said “see you later,” it’s not necessarily “goodbye forever,” according to Shoup.

“Maybe someday there’ll be a new Optimist club in Baldwinsville. We’re hoping,” she said. “Fifteen new people can get in a room and determine the community’s needs.”