New volunteer program in Lake Ridge and Occoquan focuses on youth

Lyle Beefelt believes that creating a better future means working with the children and teens of a community.

Beefelt, the president of the Manassas Optimist Club, is working with other volunteers to start a new chapter of the Optimist International Club in the Lake Ridge Occoquan area.

“The end goal of any optimist club is to take kids and help them grow up to be good citizens,” Beefelt said.

The Manassas chapter has sponsored awards, essay contests, and oratorical contests for youth.

“Later on this year, we’ll have a bike rodeo, and a bike safety thing,” Beefelt said. “We also support the Occoquan River cleanup.”

Other common Optimist International Club activities include collecting food for the hungry, and awareness training about the dangers of drug use.

The Lake Ridge Occoquan chapter is still in the development stage. Before a chapter can be officially recognized by the Optimist International Club, it must have 25 members, and those members must choose the chapter’s officers from among themselves.

“Right now we’ve got a lot of people in Centerville and north of here that are coming down to Manassas,” Beefelt said. “But being a volunteer organization, you don’t want to make it so large that it’s hard to run.”

The Manassas chapter has over 50 members. Though Lake Ridge is not an incorporated town, Beefelt considers it a “community in and of itself, distinct from Manassas.”

Starting a new chapter in Lake Ridge and Occoquan just made sense, he said.

Connie Moser, of Dale City, was one of the first volunteers to sign up for the new chapter.

“I am blessed (or cursed) with the volunteer gene,” she said. She’s president of the Dale City Civic Association, serves on the board for the Clean Community Council, and organizes local cleanup efforts.

“Most of my volunteer work revolves around hot, dirty, sweaty, mosquito-riddled, poison-ivy-laden jobs,” she said, laughing.

But she’s excited to join Optimist International, and hopes to work with youth to honor leaders, educators and public safety workers.

“[These clubs] are a link between youth and adults in a positive atmosphere,” she said.

“Optimism is a friend of the youth,” Beefelt said. “If we work together and do the best we can, we can make a difference in how peoples’ lives turn out.”

For more information on volunteering with the Lake Ridge Occoquan chapter of the Optimist International Club, contact Sam Shankar at 703-590-5061 or khsamshankar@hotmail.com.