2016 Lighthouse Award Recipient: University Hills Optimist Club
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]RecognizeGood is proud to announce the latest Lighthouse Award honoree, University Hills Optimist Club! This club was chartered in 1966 and was invited to start a youth baseball league soon after. Ever since, the club has been providing affordable youth sports leagues on a 100%-volunteer basis. University Hills Optimists (UHO) actually launched Austin’s first-ever youth soccer league!
Approximately 50 volunteers build and maintain the club’s facilities, as well as govern the leagues. In some years the club collectively volunteered upwards of 50,000 hours! However, land issues arising with the city over the past few years stalled some of the leagues the club can offer. Despite those hardships, the club raised over $300,000 to support area youth sports in the past seven years alone. Additionally, the organization maintains its Little Miss Kickball league that first launched in 1974. The dedication of the University Hills Optimists over the past 50 years is truly inspiring. RecognizeGood is so honored to show its appreciation with this Lighthouse Award!
Club president Kelli Saldana and founding Little Miss Kickball President Ed Reznicek accepted the award on behalf of their group in a special presentation at the Reznicek Field clubhouse. John Bosch, Jr., principal at award sponsor iRex Group and parent company TyRex Group, presented the club with an award plaque, two tickets to the 2016 Ethics in Business & Community Award luncheon, along with a donation to PET-Austin in the club’s name. This recognition represented a sincere “Thank you!” from the Central Texas community for decades of selfless service from University Hills Optimist Club.
The RecognizeGood Lighthouse Award recognizes the selfless community efforts and philanthropy of Austin-area service clubs.
By highlighting “special” organizations, we believe that we will inspire others to make our community a better place. Award nominees may be sent to recognize@recognizegood.com, and are voted on by a selection committee according to the following criteria:
- Length of Service
- Magnitude of Service
- Special One-Time Event
This is the tenth RecognizeGood Lighthouse Award for Austin-area service organization. Previous award winners include Sertoma of Round Rock, Rotary Club of Lakeway / Lake Travis, Austin Downtown Founders Lions Club, Town & Country Optimists Club, Northwest Austin Kiwanis, Round Rock Kiwanis, Junior League of Austin, The Exchange Club of Austin, and Rotary Club of West Austin. Thanks to Lighthouse program sponsor iRex Group, Ltd. for their generosity and active support of this program![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
