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The Southwest Times
Melinda Williams, Staff Writer
02-26-2007
PULASKI — For the first time in its 60-year history, Pulaski County Jaycees, in 2006, won the state organization’s top award.
The local chapter was selected from 36 chapters in Virginia to receive the Annual Achievement Award (AAA), said Lee Wolfe, 2006 local president and 2007 chairman of the board of directors. The award was one of about two dozen the local chapter took home during 2006.
Wolfe said the AAA is the top honor a chapter can receive in state competitions. She said it is based on points collected during the year for programs such as individual development, community, membership and international.
She said points can be accumulated in the individual development category for activities such as hosting social events or inviting speakers to chapter meetings.
During 2006, some of the community activities the chapter sponsored included the After Prom party, bingo for high school students, refurbishing picnic tables at the Sixth Street park, and hosting Punt, Pass and Kick and Pitch, Hit and Run competitions.
Wolfe said the organization also acquires points by bringing in new members. Presently, the local chapter has 38 members, but she said, “we’re more than willing to grow.” Jaycees is open to persons ages 21 to 40. They meet the first and third Tuesday of each month. Anyone interested in joining should call 2007 chapter president Mike Wolfe at 540-250-1637, Jamie Williams at 540-616-5111 or Lorrie Williams at 540-616-6860.
International points are received by participation in the Junior Chamber International’s YES (Youth Educational Support) Program. YES is designed to help students be better equipped and prepared educationally.
Wolfe said the local chapter would like to start a Junior Jaycees chapter for high school students, but they haven’t been able to get much participation yet. She said the local chapter also is a “big supporter” of Camp Virginia Jaycees, a camp for children and adults with special needs, which is located on 82 acres in Blue Ridge, Virginia.
In addition to being the first time Pulaski County’s chapter has won top honors in the state, Wolfe said the award marked another first in the state. She said it was the first time a chapter had won AAA while one of it’s members was serving as president of the state chapter. The 2006 president of Virginia Jaycees was Bryant “Bubba” Blankenship from Pulaski County.
Other awards the chapter won in 2006 included first and second place in a writing competition in May and first place in a November writing competition. Mike Wolfe, who won first in November, will compete at the National level this March in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The local chapter is working on several projects for 2007, including a golf tournament at the end of April, participation in Relay for Life in Radford, Pulaski and Wytheville, and they are looking for a place to hold their haunted house. Wolfe said they didn’t get to have the haunted house in 2006 because they could not find a place to house it. Anyone having a place the group could use is asked to call the numbers listed earlier.
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