The Hammond Optimist Club donated $10,000 to the Women’s Care Center.
Stanley C. Wolucka, president of the Hammond Optimist Youth Foundation, said the local branch of this international youth development organization made the generous donation to fund educational courses for young girls with illegitimate children.
The Hammond Optimist Club, founded in 1937 by 13 businessmen at Whitey’s Bar in neighboring Calumet City, operates a private club at 7015 Kennedy Avenue in Hammond’s Hessville neighborhood. The group raises money for youth charities in Hammond and northwest Indiana through raffles, smelt fries and other fundraisers.
Since its founding in 1998, over $2.5 million has been donated to various children’s projects, such as placing children in summer camps or treating them in burn centers.
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“We are a basic services organization like the Elks,” said Wolucka. “Others help with glasses or hearing aids. We help children. That’s what we do.”
The Hammond Optimist Club formerly owned land at Kennedy Avenue and the Borman Expressway, where Cracker Barrel, Wendy’s, the Indiana Welcome Center and several hotels now stand. It sold it to the late businessman Dean White for development and used the proceeds to establish the Hammond Optimist Youth Foundation, which supports various causes such as the Hammond robotics program, the Cal Ripken Little League fields and other youth sports facilities around Hammond.
Wolucka said the group continues to support local community causes such as the Women’s Care Center, which provides services for expectant mothers.
“We help children. Our motto is that we are friends of the youth,” he said. “Our main focus is on the children.”
