Welcome from Governor Nick Markowsky

Good Fellow Optimists:

I would like to welcome you all to “This Great Year for the AMS&NW”. 2012/2013 will be the best year this district has seen in a long time. To do this we must take stock of our clubs and our district. As you all have heard, our district is shrinking.

To reverse this trend we must go out and build New Young Clubs not only this year, but for the next few years. We have a lot of clubs with the majority of members who are sixty plus in age. My quick evaluation is that if we do not start now or do not bother to build New Young Clubs we will lose up to 25% of our clubs in 5 to 10 years, because we as members are having a hard time attracting young people to join “our” Old Clubs. The ones that we do sign up are around our own age group. As a district we are getting older instead of younger.

Now do not get me wrong, Member retention as well as existing club growth is still important. My Club the High Noon Optimists was started as a new “YOUNG” Club, because the young people did not want to belong to an old club. This still exists today whether we like it or not.

So my final words are go get cracking and find New Young Clubs to build. You go out as a club, Clubs, or complete zones to build clubs collectively if that is what it takes. Do not let the OI recognition part hold you back as a collective group. We need Clubs not recognition for our District to grow.

Soaring to Greater Heights for Children

2012-13 Governor
AMS&NW District 13
Nick A Markowsky