The Denny Mantel Christmas Sharing Fund:
Each holiday season (since 1984) Optimist members have provided some local families with groceries for a good holiday meal. The Northridge School System provides us with names of families who are particularly needy due to economic circumstances. Club members and other volunteers meet on a particular Saturday in December to buy groceries and deliver them to the families.  Beginning with 2014, the program has been named in honor of Optimist member Denny Mantel who had chaired the event for over 30 years. Each year he spent countless hours organizing and leading the program, and inspiring members with his dedication. Denny passed away in February of 2014, and club members have established a separate fund in his memory to make sure that we can continue the program. The fund was established with direct donations as well as from portions of club fund raising events.                                                                          

​For Donations to this fund please make check payable to, and send to:
Denny Mantel Christmas Sharing Fund
c/o Northridge Optimist Club
PO Box 131211
Dayton, Ohio 45413
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2019 Event:
​Slideshow of photos from the 2019 event are shown on the left.

 The school provided a list of 13 families for us to serve this year (approximately 34 children in the group). The budget for the 2019 event was nearly $3000 with the help of a $2000 contribution from Cargill Co, and other donations throughout the year. Volunteers teamed up by two's or three's, and each team shopped for a given family, and then delivered the groceries to that family.  Shopping was done at  at Walmart on York Commons Blvd. Volunteers included a large number of  Cargill volunteers. Afterwards most of the volunteers met for lunch & socializing at Marion's Piazza on North Dixie at Noon.
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The club wishes to thank Cargill for the financial support of the program, and also to the Cargill employees and families who volunteered, plus all of the volunteers and supporters of the program. In addition to the above mentioned support from Cargill, the company also donated gift certificates for turkeys to give one to each family. ​
Thanks to all who helped out!