Activities for Kids
Back to School
Golf Outing
Oratorical Contest
Essay Contest
Respect For Law
Food Baskets
New Club Building
JOI Club
JOI club name: Portage Central High School Rise and Shine Junior Optimist Club.
Chartered: Sunday, November 27, 2019.
Sponsor: Breakfast Optimist Club of Kalamazoo, BOCK.
BOCK members who advocated for and oversaw the creation of the JOI club: Dan and Theresa Mills.
Number of JOI members: Initially 13, as of October 2020 there are 30.
Blankets
Girls On The Run
Periodically Come Join Us for BOCK’s Girls on the Run (GOTR) Motivation Station!
The 21st Annual GOTR 5k will be held on Saturday, May 20th at KVCC. BOCK has chosen the 8:15am-11:30am volunteer time frame
BOCK’S Motivation Station will be a group of friendly/energetic optimists at a spot along the 5K course. We will have signs, noisemakers and fun energy to cheer the girls on as they run the course. They do get tired, but when they see groups cheering them on, it gives them some extra energy to keep going!
Underwear
Annually, in August, the club collects new underwear for the Kids' Closet at the Kalamazoo Communities in Schools (https://ciskalamazoo.org/open-letter-to-kids-closet-supporters/). In 2023 the need was for boys’ underwear in smaller sizes. They did not need Large or XLarge. For girls, they did not need sizes 10 or 12. In August 2023, the club delivered more than 800 pieces of underwear to the Kids' Closet.
PowerUp
PowerUp is a weekend backpack program sponsored by the Radiant Church, 995 Romence Road, Portage, MI. The church is committed to feeding hungry children in the public schools. PowerUp currently serves over 400 needy students every weekend in the Portage Public School District. Without PowerUp, many of these students would not have access to food on the weekend (https://www.radiant.church/kingdom-builders-teams/powerup?rq=powerup).
The club assists in periodically packing the food packages. The next packing date is Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
Activities for Members
Newsletter
BOCK publishes an electronic newsletter weekly.
The newsletter, which updates club members about club activities, is emailed to them on Tuesday.
Book Club
Usually meets the first Tuesday of the month at Main St. Pub, 4514 W Main St, Kalamazoo, MI 49006, phone
269.342.9710.
Those attending arrive at about 5:30 p.m. EST, order food by 6:00 p.m., and chat until 6:30 p.m. at which time the book discussion starts.
If interested show up or use the Contact link in the webpage header to ask for additional details.
Growlers Baseball Game
The Kalamazoo Growlers are a baseball team in the Northwoods League.
Link to Northwoods League homepage: https://northwoodsleague.com.
The Growlers were the league champs in 2022.
For the past few years, a group of club members and their friends have attended a home game.
On Thursday, August 10, 2023, the club attended the home game against Battle Creek Battle Jacks. The Growlers won 5 to 1.
Annual Club Picnic
For many years the club has held an annual picnic.
It usually is at the home of a club member.
Members attending bring food.
Past and Infrequent Activities
Euchre party. Play euchre for a couple of hours. Those attending bring food.
BOCK Videos
BOCK Video 1
BOCK Video 1
Theme: Guidelines for Essay and Oratorical Contests.
Narrator: Theresa Mills, BOCK President-Elect, 2020 - 2021 Optimist Year.
Created: December 2020
Time: 29 minutes and 29 seconds.
Link to video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f162g3956Wo&feature=emb_imp_woyt
BOCK Video 2