What the Optimists do
Meet every Friday
Breakfast and a guest speaker, 8–9 a.m., in the Steve Padgett Honda training room, 750 Western Lane, Irmo. Guests are welcome.
Christmas tree lot
The club’s biggest fundraiser, in the McGregor Presbyterian Church parking lot on St. Andrews Road. It opens the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Golf tournament
A spring tournament every year; 2026 was the 40th. Proceeds fund the club’s Day of Giving.
Day of Giving
Each September the club hands out what it raised to the youth groups it supports, and thanks them for their work.
Trade scholarships
The Kenneth Shuler Difference Maker Scholarship gives $1,500 awards to local students headed into skilled trades like electrical and welding.
Hands-on help
Members volunteer too, from repairing a deck at a children’s shelter to packing snacks for school kids.
Buy your Christmas tree from the Optimists
Fresh trees and wreaths, sold by club volunteers in the McGregor Presbyterian Church parking lot, 6505 St. Andrews Road. The lot opens the weekend before Thanksgiving and runs into December.
Every dollar stays local: the money goes back to schools, reading programs, youth sports scholarships and children’s charities in our area.
Groups the club supports
- Ready by Five (Lexington-Richland 5 parenting and family literacy)
- Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
- DARE programs at H.E. Corley and Harbison West elementary schools
- Harbison West Elementary School
- Irmo Elementary summer reading program
- Irmo-Chapin Recreation Commission youth athletics scholarships and Children’s Theatre
- Irmo Police Department National Night Out
- Sharing God’s Love
- Palmetto Place Children and Youth Services
- Midlands Orphan Relief
- Katrina’s Kids
- Home Works of America
- Palmetto Project: Families Helping Families and My First Book SC
- SC Career Kids
- Universal Leadership STEAM Academy (ULSA)
- McGregor Presbyterian Church
From the club’s own list. See the full list ↗
Come to a Friday breakfast
The best way to learn about the club is to show up. Each Friday breakfast has a guest speaker on a local topic, from the Irmo mayor and state senators to Pawmetto Lifeline and the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
750 Western Lane, Irmo, SC 29063
Details come from the club’s website, Optimist International and The New Irmo News. Listing here isn’t an endorsement by the Town of Irmo.
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