If you missed Meet the Candidates yesterday, here's a chance to check out my speech. I believe there will be video up shortly, and we will post as soon as we get it!
___________________________________
Thank you Steve for the introduction.
I’d also like to take a moment to thank my home chapter, the Lansing Jaycees, and the Region D for all your continued support of my endeavors. I truly appreciate it and love you guys.
You’ve all come here today to find out more about the visions that the candidates for 2011 Michigan Jaycee office have to offer. We’re at a turning point in our organization and we must ask ourselves – where do want to go from here? This will be part of what you’re asked to decide.
The theme I’ve chosen for my campaign is “Over the Moon”. For all of you who are familiar with “Rent”, you’ll know where this phrase comes from. For me – I believe that the Jaycees are great in the Community area. But as great as we are in this area, we can take it to the next level – “Over the Moon”.
Community is a huge passion of mine. I joined the Jaycees to get involved in my community and help make it a better place for everyone who lives there. The chapters in the Michigan Jaycees do this every day in their communities. It’s what we’re known for. I would love to see our chapters keep their efforts local and meaningful. My vision for the Michigan Jaycees Community Team is that we be the support system for our local chapters to serve their local communities.
Programming we do at the state level should supplement what our chapters are doing. A perfect example is Relay for Life. There are Relay events in our local communities that our chapters participate in. The Community Team can help further the mission of Relay by doing more effective statewide fundraising for it or helping our chapters raise even more money for their local projects.
The more impact we make at our local level, the stronger our chapters will be. It will help our chapters gain more partnerships in the community, and lead to more people knowing about the Jaycees and the programming we offer.
In most chapters, community programming is what they are most known for. We need to capitalize on this and use it as a recruitment tool. Not only do we expose our chapters to thousands of people each year through our community projects – we have to take the opportunity to actively promote the Jaycees to those that come to our community projects. Not only do we need to let them know the project is sponsored by the Jaycees, but we need to share how to join, other projects, and also get contact information for these people. Most people want to help their communities and this is the perfect way to let them know how they can.
Lastly, there are four commissions in the Community area – community service, children & youth, community fundraising and government and civic involvement. But how often do chapters run programming in all of these areas consistently? In 2011, the Community Team will help our local chapters branch out and try new things. We need to provide well rounded programming, not only in the community area, but all around.
The Community Team should be the clearinghouse of best practices – we need to help share what other chapters have done and help to increase the variety of programming our chapters offer. We will help provide the tools our chapter needs to provide programming in all 4 commissions in the community area.
I do hope that you’ll all take a few moments to check out my website, www.overthemoon2011.blogspot.com or find me on Facebook – Just search Over the Moon 2011. There are brochures in the back and all of this information, along with my contact information, is available there. I welcome any questions, concerns, and input as we try to take the Community Area of Opportunity Over the Moon in 2011!
No comments:
Post a Comment