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SiG MT 44 Uptown Optimists Shane Neuman knows this all too well. President of the Uptown Optimist Club, Neuman is perhaps one of Great Falls' greatest cheerleaders and motivators for change. But it wasn't always that way. He went through some prey rough times, including a difficult divorce and bier child custody bale. He had about hit rock boom when a friend in the Optimist group stepped in to help. "e Optimists saved my life," Neuman says. "My friends in the club got me involved and gave me a purpose in life when I didn't have one." e Uptown do-gooders have been improving the lives of local youngsters since 1956. An off-shoot of the Optimist Club of Great Falls, Neuman's is now one of the larger Optimist International groups in the country, with close to 185 members. You've probably seen them out and about, striping parking lots for local businesses or selling Christmas trees at the state fairgrounds. An annual Childhood Cancer Golf Tournament (this year on August 24 at Anaconda Hills) directly supports families with sick children. Fundraisers have helped the Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Lile League baseball, the Children's Museum, Special Olympics, and Juvenile Drug Court, among others. "We can help the families in so many ways," Neuman says. "It's as if the kids become your own children." A member for 14 years, Neuman is the club's youngest president at age 31. Now a single parent with a daughter at home and that custody bale behind him, he owns an auctioneering business and helps his grandfather run a feed lot when he's not helping others. Optimists International clubs support young people across the globe. Uptown Optimists raise money by striping lots, while the Optimists of Great Falls handle parking at the state fair each summer, among other initiatives.

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