Their creed means seeing the positive everywhere

Each stock drop is like a dagger plunging into the savings of people lucky enough to have savings. The deadliest day in our decade-long war in Afghanistan delivers 30 bodies to Dover Air Force Base. London is ripped by riots. Stories of grisly suburban murders mar our front pages. Political rancor is a pestilence that has swept across our nation. And our now-routine burdens of catastrophic illnesses, unemployment and foreclosures overpower any new mishaps from power outages, flooded basements and toll hikes.

But John and Ruth Del Re greet visitors with a smile. They have to. When they joined the Des Plaines Optimist Club, the married Palatine parents of four vowed to live up to the Optimist creed that requires all members “to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.”#8220;It's difficult some days,#8221; admits John, 47, the president of the club, as his smile teeters on the precipice of a frown before he rights his attitude. #8220;But they say every Optimist helps 35 kids. I think that's a low amount. I think it's more like 50.#8221;The growing club now has more than 50 members, and those members have the same problems common throughout the suburbs. Some lost their jobs. A couple are losing their houses. Some are old and have health woes. Several have young kids and mounting bills. It seems almost cruel to ask those people to smile as they attend two Optimist Club meetings a month, raise money to fill backpacks with school supplies for needy kids and volunteer to help with events such as movie nights or fishing derbies,That's not the case, says Ruth, 48, who owns Liberty Computer Centre technology business in Des Plaines.#8220;If you can get away for a couple of hours and do something positive, it becomes a bright spot in your day,#8221; says Ruth, looking up from a computer in her office. #8220;When you're at an Optimist event and the kids keep coming up and giving you a hug or shaking your hand, it makes it a whole lot easier to go home and go to bed.#8221;The first Optimist Club formed in 1911 in Buffalo, N.Y., and spread to Indianapolis in 1916. In the postwar giddiness of 1919, a few existing clubs with an eye on a bright future founded the International Optimist Club. Now based in St. Louis, Optimist International boasts 87,000 members in 2,900 clubs, who spend $78 million a year in helping more than 6 million kids.#8220;Every year, when I was a kid growing up, we bought our Christmas trees from the Optimists,#8221; says John, a Mount Prospect native. Those annual tree sales still provide the vast majority of the year's budget for the Des Plaines Optimist Club, one of five clubs in the northern suburban district of Illinois, which John leads in his role as a lieutenant governor of the state organization.Some of the original members who founded the Des Plaines club in 1954 are still involved. While the club features some active octogenarians, #8220;we have more under-25 members than any other club in the state,#8221; says John.In addition to mentoring and judging the club's annual #8220;oratorical#8221; contest for kids, the Des Plaines Optimists sponsor a #8220;kite fly,#8221; a fishing derby, golf and chess tournaments, poster and essay contests, movies in the parks and other family activities that are always free and don't advocate any political party or religion.#8220;We just care about the kids,#8221; John says, explaining how members always seem to find a way to step up and help kids and families that need a little assistance. The club currently has a goal of stocking backpacks with school supplies for 300 kids. You can find out more about the clubs (or simply smile at the photos of cute kids) by visiting www.dpoptimist.org or www.optimist.org.#8220;In everything you do, you see the positive,#8221; John says. Acknowledging that #8220;times are bad for everybody,#8221; the Optimist president says his club faces that head-on.#8220;And you know what? I'll be honest with you,#8221; John says forcefully. #8220;It's really a fun thing to do.#8221;