The second anniversary of the start of the global pandemic is upon us. Yet, the spirit of Optimism continues to shine despite the challenges COVID has had on activities around the world.

Nepal's District continued to expand with the formation of the Everest Optimist Club last month. The 17 members are sponsored by the Fort Worth Breakfast Optimist Club of Texas and the Kathmandu Optimist Club in Nepal, bringing the District's number of Clubs to 30.

The Kathmandu Club also held the first CCDHH contest in which young people who are deaf or hard of hearing present a speech using sign language. 

If you would like to learn more about the project, you can find that information on the CCDHH page of Optimist.org.

Many of our Clubs continue to find ways to serve their community and positively impact the lives of young people despite the latest variant of COVID. 

The Optimist Club of the Philippines has been conducting a series of webinars for the public on topics related to, Optimist way of life. Sri Lanka's Optimist Club has employed a similar strategy, where it has partnered with other organizations to promote animal welfare. Opportunities to still get out and about, as demonstrated by the Barbados Central Optimist Club in the Caribbean. Members went to Walker's Reserve in the St Andrew Parish and planted 55 trees to commemorate the 55 years of Barbados's independence.

The Optimist International Convention is set for June 30 through July 3, 2022, in Reno, Nevada, and consider this your invitation.

Those outside North America and the Caribbean should contact Jim Boyd of the Optimist staff to begin the VISA process. Optimist International will provide a letter of support for your request as you present it to the U.S. Consular's office in your country.  

Optimist International does not provide funding for members to attend the convention. Those members thinking about attending the convention should let their intentions be known by the end of February 2022. The pandemic has created long wait times for VISA application interviews at some consular's offices.

 Optimist International has sent out invoices to our Clubs and their sponsor Clubs in December and January. These invoices detail the number of membership dues owed and the Club affiliation fee where applicable.  The affiliation fee is the responsibility of your sponsor Club, and we are happy to report that many of those fees have already been paid. Our Clubs are responsible for the membership dues, which for the most part, amount to $10 U.S. per member.  Optimist International strongly encourages our Clubs to pay the membership dues as soon as possible to remain in good standing.  

Instructions will be provided for best practices to transmit the funds to Optimist International. We appreciate your attention to this issue.