Monta Vista Octagon
◊ About the Club
Monta Vista Octagon dedicates itself to serving the school and community through projects and significant fundraisers. It boasts of a 600+ strong core membership and a team of devoted officers and advisors. Projects are motivated by issues ranging from poverty to the environment to the children and eldery and are often recognized by the public. Annual fundraising events include the successful Cure Cancer Cafe, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Walk, Leukemia Fund, and the district-wide Holiday Canned Foods Drive. Octagon conducts regular meetings, holds fund-raisers, plans social events and completes joint activities with its sponsoring Optimist Club.
◊ Activities, Past and Present
If you'd like to see a list of upcoming activities, click here. Pictures from past activities are available by clicking here.
◊ What does Octagon membership offer?
- Non-traditional ways to learn about citizenship, teamwork, communication, self-esteem and money management
- Impressive credentials for college applications
- Opportunities to develop leadership skills at club, district, and international levels
- Individual and club recognition through an international awards program
- Exposure to Optimism as a philosophy of life
-Incentives for outstanding members
◊ What does Octagon offer to the Community?
- An additional nucleus of volunteers dedicated to improving the quality of life
- A forum to address youth-related issues
- A unique opportunity to gain regional and national visibility
- Training for future community leaders
◊ More information
If you'd like more information about Octagon, you can find it at the official Junior Octagon Optimist International website.
Our Annual Fundraising Event:
◊Cure Cancer Cafe
As part of our ideology of non-traditional community service, the officers of Monta Vista Octagon pioneered the first annual Cure Cancer Caf� nine years ago, a one night fundraising event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The project's purpose was to simply raise awareness of blood cancers to fund future cancer research and in only nine years, the event has raised over $90,000 to benefit the society and produced a positive impact while connecting the community. More then 300 people attend each year to watch various live performances, participate in the silent auction, and eat deliciously prepared food. Through our creativity and dedication to this cause, we have produced a unique event funded and organized exclusively by students, of which all of the proceeds went to benefit a non-profit organization.
This year's Cure Cancer Cafe will take place on March 7th, 2010, from 5:30-9pm at the Cupertino Quinlan. To purchase or reserve tickets please contact mvoctagon@gmail.com.
◊ Get Involved! Join a CCC Committee
In order to organize and prepare for Cure Cancer Cafe, 5 committees are set up to focus on a specific portion of the event: Acts, Decorations, Public Relations, Silent Auction, and Waitering/Catering. Each commitee is run by 3-5 people - 1 or 2 officers and up to 4 club members who coordinate all functions relating to their commitee. If you are interested in helping out or getting more involved with Octagon, Click here for the application. More information on each committee is located below.
◊ Acts Chair
The Acts committee will focus on finding and organizing all the performances that will take place the night of Cure Cancer Caf�. Together with the officers, the committee will focus on trying to find diverse acts and organizing the schedule for the night of CCC.
◊ Decoration Chair
The decorations committee will be planning the aesthetic aspect of Cure Cancer Cafe. They will decide on a basic design for Quinlan Center, buy whatever it takes to make it look classy (but stay in budget!), and be at CCC on the day of set-up to put up all decorations and organize volunteers. Some of the main focus's include balloons, tablecloths, centerpieces, helium tank, artwork, and posters. Check out some of the pictures, ALL decorations are taken care of by this commitee.
◊ Public Relations Chair
The public relations committee focus is advertising and selling tickets for CCC. The task is simple, but requires a lot of dedication, organization, and positive attitude. Some other responsibilities include going to all the classrooms on campus, helping design fliers along with the decoration committee, and organizing as well as keeping track of the 350 tickets that need to be sold.
◊ Silent Auction Chair
The Silent Auction Committee Chair�s main job is to get donation items, from companies or people, that are suitable to auction off to teenagers and adults. Every weekend, the committee will go out to local shopping areas and ask the store managers for donations and briefly explain what Cure Cancer Caf� is (student organized, for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society etc). Also, the committee will send the CCC letter to many corporations asking for donations because many individual stores are not permitted to give donations. On the day of the committee will be incharge of organizing and setting up all the items. The set-up for the day of will look something like this.
◊ Waitering/Catering Chair
The waiter chair's main responsibility is to organize and coordinate all the waiters for CCC. The event itself includes 350 guests, all of which need to be served with food, drinks, and dessert. In order to organize the 50 waiters, the committee will be in charge of holding a waiter training session, setting up a system in which to serve the 350 people, and coordinating with the Acts committee to optimize serving time. Along with these responsibilities, the committee will work with the officers to find a catering company that can serve 350 people at an affordable price. .