A destructive break-in on Christmas Day at its basketball courts and offices on North Base has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Norman Optimist Club.

"We would not have chosen for this to be the path," said Optimist Club President Jim Hardman. "It was a terrible incident that put the spotlight on the Optimist Club, and has turned out to be a good thing."

The Norman Optimist Club is a volunteer service organization that has been active in the Norman and area communities for approximately 35 years, Hardman said. The club has about 15 volunteers and sponsors a variety of athletic programs for youth from kindergarten through 12th grade, including basketball, football and baseball.

"Approximately 2,000 kids participate each year in our programs, leagues and tournaments," Hardman said.

The Optimist Club rents a World War II Navy-era building on North Base from the University of Oklahoma, where the youth basketball games are played. The building, which resembles a hangar and was once used to store planes during storms, was constructed as a drill hall for Navy personnel.

Hardman said vandals, on Christmas night, came through a side fire door, probably left ajar earlier that day. "It didn't look like a forced entry," he said. "Once inside, they had to kick in three doors and frames to get to anything valuable."

A computer used to track the organization's financial information was stolen, at a loss of about $1,000. Another $1,500 in damage was done to the building's doors and frames. The hangar and its offices were trashed, with papers and materials strewn everywhere, he said.

"We have three contractors on our board of directors who were able to make the repairs themselves," he said.

Hardman said three organizations, after seeing a TV report about the break-in, contacted the organization with offers to replace the computer.

Hi-Tech Assets Inc., a technology hardware company, offered to pay the cost for the purchase of a new computer, but Hardman said the Optimist Club respectfully declined the generous offer. "We didn't want them to have to pay the costs for a new computer," he said.

"We accepted the offer of another organization, the Computer Club of Oklahoma City, to provide us with a computer," Hardman said. The organization provides computers to other nonprofit groups, he said.

The Optimist Club also accepted a back-up computer from Zed Marketing Group from Edmond, which was installing new computers in its offices and offered one of its older models as a replacement, he said.

"With the volunteers who stepped up to make the repairs to the building, and the organizations that came through and helped out in our time of need, we're back in good shape. We've been made whole again," Hardman said.

Hardman said he's waiting for the Optimist Club's one part-time employee to return from vacation to find out if the organization's financial records are duplicated and still available.

Meanwhile, the basketball season is set to start in January and organizers are "looking for a good turnout of kids," Hardman said. "Anyone wanting to sign up should go to NOCsports.com," he said.

The Optimists Club will be searching for an executive director in the new year, to organize a fundraising campaign for much-needed improvements to the gymnasium, he said.

"Time has taken its toll on these facilities," Hardman said. "We estimate it's going to take about $1 million to $1.5 million to bring the gym up to the standards we need to serve the kids for the next 25 years."

The gymnasium needs to be gutted, re-wired and completely revamped, he said.

"We need new floors, heating, goals and a scoreboard," Hardman said. Organizers want to install new siding on the building so that it won't be an "eyesore" amid the University North Park Town Center -- a community development project that encompasses 585 acres of prime property with 2 miles of frontage on Interstate 35.

"We need the improvements to make the building look respectable," he said. "We're hoping, in the next three months, to search out an executive director to implement the fundraising and improvement plans.

"We need to elevate our services for the kids in our community," Hardman said.

The Norman Optimist Club welcomes volunteers, suggestions and donations. For more information about the nonprofit organization, call 366-1177.

Tom Blakey 366-3540 tblakey@normantranscript.com