Optimist Renee Bechtold awards a medal to Hailey Trong after the teen read her winning essay at the club's 25th-anniversary celebration at the CSD Building. In the background are 27 plaques thanking the Optimists.

RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Despite some recognition for splashy happenings such as the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, the GPS-tracked ice cream truck, the July 4 Carnival at Lake Clementia and the annual shredding event, Rancho Murieta Optimist Club members have mostly operated in obscurity over the past 30 years.

 Optimist Alicia Correa sells an ice cream treat to a youngster during the 2020 pandemic. The club sponsored the annual ice cream truck visit for 10 years.

“As Optimists, we work behind the scenes and are the best-kept secret in the community,” said Bob Wright, who has been the club’s president many times over. “But for the most part, we really didn’t care because we knew what we were doing.”

 The Optimists bring in two trucks for their 2023 shredding event at the RMA Building parking lot.  It became a big money-maker for the club.

However, their mostly undercover mission to support the community’s youth ended on Feb. 25 when the club held its last meeting and disbanded. The demise coincided with the 30th anniversary of the club’s inaugural meeting held on Feb. 25, 1994 at the Sloughhouse Inn.

“It really is an end to an era,” said Melinda Martel, who has also served as club president many times. 

A dwindling membership, compounded by the loss of key members and a lack of publicity led to the club's demise.  

"That was one of our downfalls. We couldn't attract new members because people didn't understand what we did,” said longtime Optimist Randy Jenco.

 A water feature is an irresistible attraction when the Rancho Murieta Optimist Club presents the annual kids carnival at Lake  Clementia on July 4, 2019.  It was the last year for the event, due to COVID-19. The club disbanded Feb. 25 after 30 years of service to the community.

Wright, Martel, and Renee Bechtold, the final club president, met recently to reminisce and review the club’s activities over 30 years. Martel compiled a comprehensive list of community support activities spanning three decades.

The Optimists took over the July 4 carnival and Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony when the Rancho Murieta Community Club folded around 2009. Martel said the Optimists had already been feeding the kids free at the carnival.

 Long-time Optimist Melinda Martel (Mrs. Claus) listens as Tony Avampato (Santa) leads the countdown at the annual Christmas Tree lighting in 2021.

 Longtime Optimist Bob Wright helps serve refreshments at the 2021 Christmas Tree lighting.

In addition to adding more games, bounce houses, and a watermelon-eating contest to the July 4 carnival, the Optimists brought in a deejay to entertain the older kids in the gazebo before the fireworks show. RMA later took over the gazebo event.  

Additionally, they initiated events such as the Trash & Treasure sale behind the Post Office that went on for about six years and a Christmas craft fair at the Rancho Murieta Country Club over three different years.

Martel remembers the excitement of the kids when the Optimists pulled up in a bus to take them to a Kings' Game with a stop at McDonald’s first.

“We always try to do things that are magical for the kids,” Martel said.

Nor will she forget when the Optimists organized video game nights back in the days before cell phones. The Optimists filled the RMA Building with the same video machines that could be found in a pizza parlor and placed some bounce houses outside.  Not only did the kids have a ball but it was also a night out for the parents.

 “We would tell them: ‘Do your Christmas shopping and don’t worry about food because we will stuff them with hot dogs,’” Martel said.

More recently, the Optimists started the annual Family Bingo Night to provide an option to the adult-only games sponsored by RMA. Bechtold said Martel always assembled 20 to 30 lavish baskets full of kids' stuff before each game. “

The kids just went crazy when they saw them,” Bechtold said.

The Optimists were also in on the ground floor with Summerfest. They organized a kids' camp with a climbing wall to complement the adult wine tasting before Summerfest brought in a commercial carnival later on.

At one time, the club’s main fundraiser was Casino Night held in conjunction with the Kiwanians and the Cosumnes River Elementary School (CRES) PTA. Carol Anderson Ward always donated the main arena at the equestrian center for the event. After it became less successful, Wright proposed setting up a shredding event like one organized by another Sacramento Optimist Club to which he still belongs.

Held shortly after Tax Day, the shredding event became a great money maker, even when one of the shedding trucks caught fire one year. The fire department swiftly put it out.

Optimist Alicia Corriea dreamed up the idea to sponsor the annual ice cream truck that roamed the community for 10 years “to make Mayberry even more Mayberry.” Many residents compare Rancho Murieta to the Mayberry in the Andy Griffith Show.

Unlike Corria’s childhood when kids listened for the ice cream truck music, Rancho Murieta kids tracked the GPS-equipped truck online, thanks to help from Ralph Frattura of RanchoMurieta.com.

Their support extended beyond events with donations to local organizations, causes and individuals. One of the major recipients was Little League. The club also paid for one of the baseball field scoreboards, sponsored the All-Star Games, trophies, and gave athletic bags to the young athletes.

Jenco was the Little League president in 2003 when he asked the Optimists to donate to his cause.  

“They were so good about it and so enthusiastic, that I decided they were a pretty good group of people, and I joined them,” he said.

Other recipients included the Junior Golf Classic at the Country Club, the Pleasant Grove High School (PGHS) Lacross, wrestling and robotics teams, the PGHS sober graduation night, the Sheldon High School varsity football team, the local Scouting troop, and Summerfest.  The Optimists also supported Red Ribbon Week and the Harvest Festival at CRES.

Wright nostalgically remembers planting a tree at CRES every year to honor each graduating sixth-grade class. All of the trees were torn out when the new school was built.

A testament to the group’s generosity can be seen with 27 plaques on display inside the CSD meeting room where the Optimists always met twice a month.  

When the community’s high school seniors had to forgo a graduation ceremony in 2020 because of the pandemic, the Optimists paid the entire cost of producing individual banners for each senior that RMA hung from light standards along both parkways. They also helped pay for the banners the following year.   

The Optimists also have aided many kids individually. That included Eagle Scouts seeking funding for their Eagle projects, or CRES students whose families couldn’t afford to send them on field trips with their classmates. The club also has handed out scholarships and prizes.

Wright summed up their efforts at the club’s 2019 anniversary celebration. “We have probably served in excess of 45,000 kids in one way or another,” he said. “We are a small club but powerful.”

Wright also pointed out that Optimists International is one of the four largest volunteer organizations in the United States. The others are Rotary, Soroptimists, and Kiwanis.

As the last club president, Bechtold presided over the passing of the torch. She said the Optimists bequeathed the shredding event to Scout Troop 633. The RMA Recreation Committee, which Bechtold chairs, will take over the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.  Bechtold said they have dispersed all of the remaining funds in the treasury to the community. That includes a $2,000 check to RMA to help pay for a new drinking fountain in Clementia Park.

Bechtold said it had been a pleasure to work with all members of the Optimist Club, past and present. “We accomplished a lot and made a difference,” she said.