Children's Cancer and Scholarship Fund

Large Turnout For Optimist Benefit

By DENISE FLEISCHER Lifestyle Editor
As featured in the Glenview Journal Online

The Optimist Club of Glenview held its third annual Children's Cancer and Scholarship Fund benefit Jan. 24 at White Eagle Banquet Hall in Niles.

The evening featured an open bar, dinner and dancing, a silent auction and a performance by Beatles tribute band, American English.

According to Tom Durment, chair for the Childhood Cancer Campaign, 225 people made reservations and it's the club's "best year (in attendance) despite the economy."

"The Optimist International started this campaign because of the high rate of childhood cancer," said Durment, who has been a Glenview resident for 12 years. "The Glenview club started it to help the kids in our own community. We raise the money and give it to children in Glenview affected by this."

The club also uses the money for its scholarship fund.

"We've given out $150,000 to Glenview high school seniors over the last 20 years," he stated. "In the majority of these cases, the students have a severe financial problem due to death, disability or loss of a parent."

As for the club, there are 52 members, both men and women, from all walks of life. They meet every Tuesday at noon for lunch at Hackney's on Lake and have been meeting since 1965.

Members sponsor the Snowflake program at local junior high schools, which teach children to make good decisions. They also sponsor the Student 2 Student club at Glenbrook South High School, a program to help students stay drug and alcohol free, and the Character Counts program.