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🌟 Start a JOI Club Today!
Empower Youth. Build Leaders. Change Your Community.
🎉 New Club Incentives
New JOI Clubs chartered by the first week of September receive:
- ✅ First-year charter sponsored by the Optimist Club of St. Louis
- ✅ $1,000 Youth Community Impact Grant
- ✅ Leadership, service, and project support
✔️ To Qualify
Your JOI Club must:
- Be a new JOI Club
- Have 8–16 youth members
- Be sponsored by an Optimist Club
- Have a JOI Advisor who is an active Optimist Club member
- Complete the charter process by the first week of September
🌟 Youth Choose the Project!
Every JOI Club decides what project they want to pursue. Whether it's building leadership skills or making a difference in their community, the possibilities are endless!
🌟 Improve Yourself
🤝 Improve Your Community
💡 Have another idea? Bring it! If it helps young people grow or improves your community, we'd love to help make it happen with your $1,000 Youth Community Impact Grant!
⏰ Deadline: First Week of September
Don't miss this opportunity to empower the next generation of leaders.
Questions? Ready to Get Started?
Contact Katie Hucks, JOI District Chair
Oratorical Winners
EMO District Oratorical Chair Karl Tyminski with First Place Winner Kaitlyn Green (Marble Hill Club) Second Place Winner Anna Johnson (Jonesburg Club) and Third Place Winner Gannon Seyer (Ashland Club) with EMO Governor Jennifer Daw Bagwell
East Missouri Optimists: Empowering Communities
Save The date
- June 5, 2026 EMO Jr Golf Tournament, Ste. Genevieve Golf Club
- June 28 - July 1 OI Convention, Jacksonville, FL
- July 16-17, 2026 World Oratorical Championships, St. Louis University, Center for Global Studies, St. Louis, MO
- Aug. 21-23, 2026 EMO Fourth Quarter Convention, Comfort Suites, Rolla
Find Our District Directory Here
Check out our new District Members Portal
Click the EMO Resources button below. Then choose the Members Portal from the drop down menu to login to your account.
Communication Communication Communication
Keeping In Touch
Coming direct to your inboxes! We are evolving and new methods of sharing information are on the way! Be sure to add emoptimistdist@gmail.com and emo.aa.ad@gmail.com to your contacts so you will easily see various emails and newsletters from our district leadership! Yes, every member will be receiving things such as call letters for our conferences!
****We are once again using FlashIssue as our software for our newsletters. But rest assured, this is a legitimate email. In fact, it will be a good idea to add this email address to your contacts or in some manner mark it so that future newsletters will not end up in your spam folder.****