Noon Optimist Club to celebrate Optimist Day on Monday

After a year of some of the most trying times the world has faced, Optimist Club member Scott Moody believes being optimistic is more important now than ever.

The Rome chapter of the Noon Optimist Club will be celebrating Optimist Day during their Zoom meeting on Monday, where they will also be honoring Alex Mills, the club’s first lifelong member and his service to the Rome-Floyd community.

According to Moody, Optimist Day is a way for the club to share optimism and their ideals with the community.

“Because things have been so challenging over the past year, optimism is probably more important now than ever,” Moody said.

Moody touched on the year the Optimist Club has had and how they’ve had to change up some of their traditions, such as their speech competition and pancake breakfast fundraiser.

“We had the same challenges everyone else did, we couldn’t meet for a while, we couldn’t have our normal fundraiser,” he said. “And we asked questions like ‘Could we support the groups we’ve supported before?’”

But as Moody said, the club worked through it, and found ways to meet again safely and host their fundraiser.

“It was different because of the pandemic, but the community supported it to the point that we had been hoping to raise $20,000, but we actually raised $40,000,” he said.

While Optimist Day will actually be Feb. 4, the club will be celebrating Monday to correspond with their monthly meeting.