Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey Kids make slime at the New Ulm Country Club Thursday during the Youth POWER day of positive play.

NEW ULM — Kids were invited to a day of positive play last week to kick off a new effort for youth to create a positive impact on their community.

The Optimist Club is teaming up with the Underage Substance Abuse Council (USAC) to encourage youth-led service projects.

Youth POWER (Positive, Optimistic, Welcoming, Encouraging and Respectful) is a new initiative that started with a day of positive play at the New Ulm Country Club.

On Thursday kids gathered for some fun activities including making slime, painting rocks and a performance of SPOTS (Students Performing On Tough Situations).

The day was intended to help kids meet each other and generate ideas that they wanted to do for service projects.

Organizers hope to hold a Youth POWER event every month. They will alternate between positive days of play and a service project each month.

The first project will be to paint positive messages on the art wall just north of Johnson Field. The wall was designated for graffiti and street art over a decade ago by the city council.

Going forward the group will begin to use ideas that the kids themselves think up. They hope that will encourage youth engagement.

There is not end-date to Youth POWER, though how often it holds service projects will depend on how involved kids are.

Youth are welcome to sustain work on multiple projects, or just join up for a single day.

“It is an event that we are hoping will progress into this group of kids, ages 8 to 13, will be able to do service projects or specific events throughout the year,” USAC Program Director Abigail Schwab said.

The Optimist Club reached out to USAC near the beginning of the year. The coalition agreed to help as a way to spread its drug-free message.

To join the campaign contact the Optimist Club via its Facebook page or reach out to USAC through its website usacbrowncounty.org.

ccummiskey@nujournal.com