As Jaycee members we have a long history of driving change in our communities across the country and all through our grassroots skills and efforts. For example, when a group of young business men in the Los Angeles area were dissatisfied with their representation in congress they sought out a candidate and came across a young who was a Jaycee their first reaction was here is a young man who has been through the best training in the world. This particular Jaycee won their confidence and was elected to serve them in congress. He went on to serve his country as our nation’s President. Here’s another example of Jaycees and politics; Did you know Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Gerald Ford, Ralph Nader, Dick Chaney, Joe Biden and many more were all TOYA recipients? Still need more proof you say…. ever hear of the Young Republicans Party? Well it was founded by then Jaycees National President George H. Olmsted in 1932 after being called upon by US President Herbert Hoover who was looking for a way to get more young men out to vote and involved in politics. Speaking of getting out to vote did you know that Get Out The Vote is our very own national program for the Jaycees organization under the Government Involvement area? Which mean each chapter should and is encouraged to run a project to support this program. The easiest thing to do is to run a voter registration drive in your community at one of your town festivals or events. A toolkit can be downloaded from http://www.usjaycees.org/index.php/government-involvement and information on how you can best serve your local community can be found through your local County Clerks office.

Over the weekend I read another chapter of the book Young Men Can Change The World. I came across another great story this one of how the Abbeville Jaycees was founded. The story was a recount of the adventure of at the time U.S. Jaycees National Vice President Robert E. Condon who at the age of 29 also held the position of civil defense commissioner for the greater New York metro area. Condon decided to use his position in both the Jaycees and personally to grow the organization as well as help his community by introducing an airmail service from New York to Atlanta. After introducing his plan the two cities and U.S. Post Office were excited to put it into action. During their first flight from Atlanta the plane developed troubles over South Carolina with Condon at co-pilot which ended with a crashing landing in a  farm field outside the town of Abbeville, SC. After hitching hiking into town Condon was interviewed by the local newspaper reporter he began to tell him that this was the inaugural flight of The United States Junior Chamber airmail program when the reporter said The United States what????? Well just like Jaycees do theses days when presented with the opportunity of spreading our message. Condon told the reporter all about the Jaycees by night fall he rounded up a group of young men typed out a charter for the Abbeville Junior Chamber Of Commerce and had their charter fee in his pocket. The plane never made it to New York but as result of Robert’s trip it resulted in the founding of the Abbeville Jaycees chapter. Condon went on to meet Charles Lindbergh while waiting for a flight and invite him to our organization and serve as our 7th Junior Chamber National President.

Since 1954 Outstanding Young Farmers has been a signature program of the US Jaycees and believe it or not we’ve got very little to do with. now i know that’s hard to believe that the largest Jaycee state and is covered by 80% of farm land hasn’t Produce an Outstanding Young Farmer since 2008. Well that changes this year, because our states goal is to submit 5 outstanding candidates for this award. The requirements for submission of this award is simple they must be in Jaycee age range, they must be actual farm operators, deriving a minimum of two-thirds of their income from farming, and All information on the nomination form must be completed. The cost of nominating someone to your chapter is free because it is sponsored by John Deere and as a bonus for submitting you can earn POC points for your chapter. So there’s no reason why our chapters in farming communities can’t submit at least one nominee.

As i write this i reflect back on January when State VP Geno asked me what was my Goal for Nothing But Nets? I pondered for a second and said I want to double what we made in 2010 and I wrote down $3000 dollars and then i started to wonder could we really do it? Well I’m excited to say that in just 5 months we’ve crossed the $3,000 dollar mark and were still going. That’s huge in my book Illinois Jaycees put their brains together and thought of ways they could help some chapters ran Bar Olympics for the cause while other chapters ran change collection drives. If you haven’t done so visit our donation website and make a contribution to help save a life http://www.globalproblems-globalsolutions.org/site/TR/Events/NBN?pg=team&fr_id=1040&team_id=4161.

By Richard Lewis

National Programs & Government Involvement State Chairmen

Richard.lewis@iljaycees.org

It’s that wonderful time of year if you’re a student the nice weather outside may signal the near end of another year and it’s the time when most Jaycee chapters give away there annual scholarship to students in their communities. But did you know that as a Jaycee member you and your family are eligible for FIVE scholarship programs funded by our organization? There are three from The U.S. Jaycee Foundation and two from our very own Illinois Jaycees Charitable Foundation below is a little information about each scholarship program and the requirements. If you have any additional questions feel free to email me at Richard.Lewis@iljaycees.org

Want to win 100 bucks? This year’s National Chair for the Support Our Troops program has setup a facebook group to communicate challenges and project ideas to directly to chapter members.

She is running a challenge, she wants the chapters around country to send their completed CPG’s to her for projects they’ve ran this year by June 1st and she will give the best one selected One Hundred Bucks. Join her group at http://www.facebook.com/pages/US-Jaycees-Support-Our-TroopsToys-for-Tots-Program/112406932168921