Let your Flag Fly thanks to the Optimists!

Hard to believe with this crazy weather that this weekend is Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start to summer!  One of my favorite things about Memorial Day weekend in our area is that all the flags are flying.  Do you know who makes the Avenue of Flags happen in these towns?  The Optimist Club.

We are blessed to have the Riverside Optimist Club that covers Oakland, Carson, and Macedonia, as well as the Treynor Optimist Club, Underwood Optimists, and the Walnut Optimist Club.  Although the only three clubs offering the flag service currently are the Treynor, Underwood, and Riverside Clubs.

Treynor, Underwood (the Junior Optimists), and Riverside Clubs put up flags for Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day plus a couple of others if the weather permits!  They do all that for us and the community! 

Would you like them to put a flag in your yard, too?  They will if you have an address in their area.  For $40 in the Riverside District and Underwood areas or $35 in the Treynor District, they will put a flag in your yard for all those holidays, as well.  Or if you’d like them to put them in your dad’s yard or a friend’s, they could do that instead.  Or if you’d rather they just put up extra ones along the road, you can donate for that, too! 

All the money they make goes towards helping area kids through scholarships, uniform donations, educational assistance, etc.  They devote their funding to youth and they donate their time putting up the flags to all of us. 

If you’d like to take part, you can fill out a form and drop off a check at Arbor Bank in Oakland for the Riverside area.  Checks should be payable to Riverside Optimist Club.  If you have questions, you can call Alan Gardner at 402-660-7292.  You can also mail a form and checks to Riverside Optimist Club – Avenue of Flags PO Box 68 Oakland, IA 51560.   Or if you need quicker info, find them on Facebook. 

If you’d like to take part in the Treynor program, you can find the form on their website and fill it out and mail to Optimist Club of Treynor P.O. Box 354 Treynor, IA 51575 or for questions, you can find them on Facebook, as well.

If you’d like to take part in the Underwood program, you can get forms off the Underwood website.  If you have questions, contact Gina Pearson at 712-326-9735 or gpearson995@gmail.com.

They’ll be happy to assist you. 
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Happy Memorial Day!