On April 21st., Optimist clubs from Southern California, including our two local clubs, S.C.V.-Newhall Optimist and the Great S.C.V.Optimist club will participate in the Annual Blind Olympics, formally known as the Optimist Track and Field Olympics. The change has come about with the insertion of several new events, which include archery, aquatics and rowing.
Blind students, ages 6-19 will have the opportunity to get together and compete in many different events. Events will include: high jump, soccer throw, goal ball, running long jump, shot put and the 100-yard dash. Those attending will be coming from all over the Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno areas. Out-of-state students will be arriving from Arizona , Texas, Washington and Utah . They will be hosted by local Optimist club members either in their homes or at local hotels. When the games end, most of the participants from out-of-town will be treated to a movie and refreshments. You may ask how blind children can watch a movie? Thanks to modern technology and the generous support from Disney Studios the movie will be shown on a wide screen and narrated with voice-overs.
Many of our readers know that my husband Mike plays Santa Claus for our club and has done so for many years. Just recently Mike a.k.a. Santa Claus was surprised by a return visit from a young lady he had visited and eight years ago. Mike is playing Santa Claus at a local block party, which he had been doing for several years. A little girl, runs up to him and sits on his lap. {quotes align=right}Santa asks, “What do you want for Christmas?,” She bolts and runs.{/quotes}This continues with her running to Santa, jumping on his lap and taking off over whenever she is asked, “What do you want for Christmas?”
Finally after careful prodding and coaching from Santa, she reveals she wants a telescope for Christmas so that she could look up in the sky and see her Daddy’s star. Her Dad had passed away a month before. Not to disappoint her, the S.C.V.-Newhall Optimist club bought her a telescope. Several days later Santa Mike went over to her house, met her Mom and greeted them with the telescope, plus other goodies and presents. Upon seeing the telescope, tears flooded both her and her Moms’ eyes. Santa offered to help her put it together, but could not see and needed his other glasses. He then asked if he could call his friend Mike and have him come over to help, since Santa still had a lot of work to do. She certainly agreed and off he went and came back as Mike. Fast forward to the present at a local Chamber of Commerce meeting. Recently one our members, Cathy McCutcheon was speaking about the Optimist Club and a lady stood up and proceeded to tell Cathy about the telescope experience. Cathy having heard this story knew the ending and offered to reintroduce Mike to the woman and her daughter. She also explained that Mike is having a battle with recurring cancer and knows that this will give him a charge. We got Mike to the meeting even though he didn’t want to attend because he was not feeling up to par. When Cierra and her Mom, Cindy arrived, Mike was still unaware of what was going on until Cindy started to tell her story. There was not a dry eye in the room. Mikes’ eyes filled up with big tears. It was something to behold. Thank you Cierra and Cindy for giving my husband one of the highlights of his life. It is something he will always cherish.