Hello Jaycees! We had an excellent quarter. There are still 12 chapters showing year to date growth, with the biggest winner Coconut Grove showing +13! Plus, we added another new chapter, the Sumpter County Jaycees headquartered in Wildwood! They’re going to have a special presentation for all of us at Conference for a fundraising idea we can use for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.….
There are great projects happening around the state. We saw many chapters participate in Relay for Life. You can see how your team compared to other Jaycee Teams at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?company_id=77985&pg=natl_co_teams. If your team is not listed, we need you to give us your team name and which Relay you attended so we can get your impact added to our total.; you can email it to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I was able to attend 3 of these events with different Jaycee Chapters, and they were excellent! ACS is sending us special awards for our Relay season which will be announced at Aug Conference. If you love our partnership with the ACS, our next event with them is Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, which is a 3-5 mile non-competitive walk in October to raise money for breast cancer patient support services and preventative research and education. Check out our Priority Projects page to find out more.
Dream Oaks Camp could also use your help. Their big fundraiser for the year is coming up in Bradenton, an island themed Gala and Auction Aug 19, followed by the Tournament for Dreams golf tournament the next day. If you can help with manpower, donations for the auction, or if you want to be a party guest or golf competitor, you can contact Gilda Poe at 941-746-5659, or visit http://www.foundationfordreams.org/calendar.html.
Congratulations on all of your successes, and thank you for all of your hard work. I can’t wait to see you all at LTU in July and Conference in August. As usual, if there is anything I can do to help your chapter, please let me know.
Yours in Jaycees
Awen
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5/24/10
We had a wonderful conference weekend! Thank you to everyone who attended, and thank you to the Senate who were excellent hosts! Congratulations to all of our winners!!! If you missed it, your next chance is Aug 13-15 in Daytona. More details will be coming soon, but we are working on including a day pass to Daytona Lagoon in your registration, and training on how not be become an victim of identity theft and other crimes, brought to you by National Crime Stop, and a Media class to help you manage an interview when you get one, whether you want it or not. Before we get there though, we are planning 2 Mid-Year Leadership Training Universities, on in Ocala on July 17th, and one in Panama City July 24th. We are still working on the training classes that will be offered. If you have requests, please contact Business VP Lara Pait at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I can’t wait to see you all!
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3/3/10
It has been a GREAT quarter! We’re at YTD growth, we’ve added well over 100 new excited members to this organization, and we are making a HUGE positive impact in our communites! I could not be more proud to be serving you this year. No one could ask for a better state to belong to.
Don’t forget your deadline for all 1st Qtr paperwork is April 20th (includes CPGs, PVF’s, POS, 1st Qtr Blue Chip Evals, and nominations for Local Officers of the Qtr, One In a Million, and Helping Hands.). You’ve done all the hard work, now just finish off with a little paperwork so I can give you the recognigiton you deserve! I can’t wait to see you all at 1st Qtr Conference May 21-23 (details coming soon) so that I can award you all for the hard work you are doing and the great success you have earned.
Relay season is now upon us! I hope you’re all considering our national priority project, Relay for Life, benefitting the American Cancer Society. It is a very dear project to me and a growing tradition for Jaycee chapters around the country to make a difference in the fun filled overnight relay walk. The USJCs became ACS’s first non-corporate partner more than 2 years ago. Last year, we raised over $250,000 nation wide during Relay for Life.
Participating is easy. Go to www.relayforlife.org and have your chapter sign up a team at the Relay event in your area. The registration fee is your first $100 donation. Next, get your members to go to that page and join your team. If they register online, they will each get their own donation page that they can send their friends and family to, in order to make secure (tax deductible) donations. If you want to see an example, here’s a link to the one I just made for myself for 2010 http://main.acsevents.org/goto/arwen. The site also gives you easy tools and form letters for asking for donations and thanking those who donated.
The National goal this year is for the USJCs to donate over $300,000, and every dollar you raise gets us closer to that goal. Feel good knowing that some of the money you raise stays in your local community to provide local patient services. It also provides resources such as a 24/7 hotline that lets people get answers from medical professionals about different types of cancers, their treatments, and support in their area. The rest funds emerging research to help cure the different types of cancer (which funded the starting grants of 24 researchers who later became Nobel Prize winners for making giant breakthroughs in cancer treatment). It also supports the ACS’s political efforts that have passed laws such as stopping insurance companies from using a “lifetime benefits cap” to cut off payment for cancer related treatments (before this bill passed, parents were forced to start cashing in their 6 year old’s college funds and mortgage their homes to keep up the life-saving treatments their child needed after the insurance company abandoned them.). Please consider leading or at least joining a Relay team near you, even if you can only make an online page and stick the link in your Facebook to gather donations. If your chapter won’t start a team, I’m sure there’s another chapter in your area that would love to include you. The smallest effort by you could save your life one day! Please don’t wait, start today!
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3/11/10
It’s been another exciting month! It started with a great Leadership Training University and ended by having the great fortune of welcoming the newly extended Oldsmar Jaycees chapter!!! A big thanks goes out to everyone involved in brining these 20 excited young professionals into the Florida Jaycee family! We were +25 as a State, and provided the final members needed to also put our Nation at growth! This is the first time the US Jaycees have seen a growth February in the last 12 years! Clearly, the days of hearing “the younger generation isn’t interested” and “we can’t get members in this economy” are over! Young people all over this country are proving we do care about being members in an organization that improves our leadership and business skills while making a positive impact in our communities. We are the greatest young person’s organization in the world, and we are proving it every day. Florida Jaycees, you have a lot to be proud of; I am honored and humbled to be the President of such a dynamic and powerful group of individuals. You are not just my friends but also my inspiration. If there is anything I can do to help you continue in your success, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours in Jaycees,
Arwen
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2/11/10
Congratulations on adding 47 brand new members to the Florida Jaycees this month! Regions at growth were Region 1 who was +5 and Region 6 who was +14. Congratulations to the following chapters who grew: Pensacola +4, Panama City +1, Gainesville +11, Jacksonville +1, SW Orlando +4, Deland +1, Ocala +1, Tampa +1, Coconut Grove +1, and Key West +1! I know many of the rest of you were working hard and got very close to growth as well. Your contributions are just as appreciated!
We were -11 as a state, but as we were projected to be -31, this shows what a great effort everyone put in. Truly, 47 new member adds is an incredible number, and something to be proud of! Don’t be discouraged if you are not at growth yet, I am not. No one lost so many members they cannot make them up in the coming months, and I have faith that, working together, we’re all looking at a bright future. January is always the hardest month because of the difficulties involved with changing administrations from one year to the next. I know many of you were scrambling for rosters and trying to contact the members you had due. Please keep this in mind for next year when it is your turn to hand over the books to a new administration. Try to keep accurate records so that you leave your office better than you found it. If you need help devising a plan to make up your losses, or to continue your success for the rest of the year, please don’t hesitate to contact me or the 2010 State Team.
There are a few chapters we have not yet received contact information for. If you are a 2010 Chapter President, or designated contact person for your chapter, and you have not been contacted by myself or your assigned officer, please send your name and contact information to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We are still trying to reach you. I look forward to hearing from you! As always, it is an honor to serve you.
Yours in Jaycees
Arwen
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1/24/10
I want to thank all of you who attended our Year-end Conference, especially our 18 first-timers! It was a pleasure to meet so many new members. Thank you to the Ocala Jaycees for putting on such a beautiful event! What an exciting weekend! I hope you all enjoyed the training, the competitions (congratulations to ID winners: Master’s Speak-up - David Dale, Speak-up - Michele Lippert, and Write-up - Amanda Gooding!), all the awards, banquet, not to mention the hospitality suites and parties! I hope you take that fun and excitement back to your chapters and we see an even bigger turn-out at our 1st Quarter Conference in May.
SAVE THE DATE! We have our first Leadership Training University coming up on Feb 20th. We will be having our National President Jeff Lank as a visiting trainer, and believe me, you’re going to want to be in his class! More details will follow as soon as we secure our location and finalize the training schedule. If your chapter is working on your blue chip (due 2/27 to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), you can bring your draft to LTU for feedback before you complete your final draft.
The 2010 year is off to a great start! We’ve got new members springing up everywhere, new communities asking for chapters, and a great State team waiting to get out there with you and help you be successful. Let us know what you have going on so we can offer our services to you. If you are a Chapter President and have not yet been contacted by someone on the State team, please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We are still trying to update the state directory, and it may be that your predecessor has not yet passed along your contact information. Let us know how to reach you, and I promise the lines of communication will be open and in regular use. We look forward to working with you. As always, it is an honor to serve you.
Yours in Jaycees,
Arwen
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12/18/10
I hope you’re all taking advantage of our early renewal stimulus package that gives you a $10 discount on your 2010 dues if your renewal is turned in to State by February closeout (regardless of your anniversary month) and paid to State by 3/5/10. I’ve heard from so many chapters how the cost of renewal has made it difficult to maintain their roster in the current economy; so I am really pleased to be able to offer this program. Time is running out soon though, so please don’t delay if this discount can benefit you. Remember for members to be eligible for this early renewal discount, their chapter's A/R must be current; so check with your assigned officer to make sure you pay off old debt in time to take advantage of this program.
My team and I would like you to know we are dedicated to your success. However high your goals or however challenging your obstacles, we will make ourselves available to support your chapter’s initiatives and work with you to make sure you’re meeting the desires of your members and the needs of your communities. The State’s goal is not to tell the chapters what we want you to do for us. The State’s goal is to listen to your definition of chapter success and help you reach it. If your chapter’s idea of success is to raise $5000 for Relay for Life, then the State’s goal is to provide you with resources and ideas for fundraising. If your chapter’s idea of success is to double up your membership, the State’s goal is to provide recruiting training and send officers to help recruit at your events. If your chapter’s idea of success is to help reduce the unemployment rate in your community, the State’s goal is to help you find relevant guest speakers and provide resume and interviewing training. If your chapter has not yet decided what will make this year a success, then the State’s goal is to help you survey your members and community then develop goals and a plan tailored to your individual needs. We can only do all of this though if you communicate with us. We hope you will share your goals and needs with us so that we can offer you the benefit of our combined strengths.
As always, it is an honor to serve you. I look forward to working with you all as we Launch into the Future in 2010!
Yours in Jaycees,
Arwen Pritchett
86th President
Florida Jaycees
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Hello Jaycees,
Let me start by saying that I hope to see you all at Year-End Conference in Ocala this weekend. Conferences are one of my favorite events because I get to see so much of my Jaycee family in one place. A big thank you goes to Michele, Chrystal and all of the Ocala Jaycees for all the work they put into the planning for the event. For those who must miss it, our 1st Quarter Conference will be held in May, which will include more top-notch training opportunities, Individual Development competitions, awards, parties and lots of Jaycee fellowship. Keep your eyes out for details in Gator Notes as we get closer. Speaking of Gator Notes, if you are not on the email list for State-wide communications and would like to be, simply contact your assigned State officer with your request to be added.
