When Bob Verne was raising his own kids, he liked to be involved, keeping them active in clubs like the Boy Scouts. So when they left home, he decided to fill the space they left behind by helping children in need.
Verne is the founder of the Chapel Hill Optimist Club, a chapter of the international organization comprising more than 2,500 clubs in 16 countries, working toward their goal “to aid and encourage the development of youth.”
“If there’s a need that we know about that we can partner or volunteer to support that need, then we do,” said Carolyn Mason, a Durham resident and the current treasurer of the Chapel Hill Optimist Club.
To that end, the Optimists host various events annually — an essay contest, for example, and an oratorical contest, both with scholarship money awarded to winners. The club organizes a watermelon party for children and their counselors in Duke's Camp Kaleidoscope, a camp for children being treated at Duke Medical Center.
The Optimist Club also funds Shop with a Cop, where club members invite students who have been recommended by school counselors to go on a shopping spree with police officers in various Orange County departments, all expenses paid.
“We try to help kids to learn how to express themselves,” Verne said.
“If we can inspire them to do better, we’re happy.”
While specific programs vary chapter by local chapter, all work to contribute to the Childhood Cancer Campaign. The Chapel Hill Optimist Club funds programs for children in cancer centers at Duke University and UNC in addition to supporting cancer research at Johns Hopkins University. The Club financially backs Mile of Hope’s annual Childhood Cancer event, where club members take children to Atlantic Beach for a weekend.
“The idea behind this is to give the kids and the parents and the siblings a break,” said Phyllis Stout, a Carrboro resident and secretary of the Chapel Hill club.
“They can be there without being under a microscope in public or anywhere else."
Verne said that when he was approached by a neighbor in 1998 about starting a local chapter of the Optimist Club, he was open to it.
“I wasn’t exactly looking for something, but I was amenable to it,” he said.
Six months later, he had enough members, and the club was chartered on March 24, 1998. Verne was the first president, and now his wife Trish Verne runs the club.
When the city of Hillsborough decided that its annual Hog Day took up too many of the town's resources, the Chapel Hill club found enough people to volunteer their time to keep the event going — and out of that effort, Orange County’s Optimist Club was born.
Chapel Hill’s Club has sponsored a rainbow soccer team and helped out at the Special Olympics, members volunteer at the town’s Halloween and Easter events and they cook food at the Ronald McDonald house. The Vernes said the club does not restrict its attention to any one group but rather aims to aid as many children as possible.
“Our main focus is helping kids in the community," Trish Verne said. "Part of the reason for that is your children in your community are basically the future of your community."
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