Shelton Jaycees Newsletter Sept. 2008

     July and August were INCREDIBLE!

     It's fitting that the Shelton Jaycees ended the summer with a HUGE project!

     This year's Annual Car Show & Bazaar was one of our best ever! Special thanks go out to Sarah and Duke, Jim W., Raj, Scott, Wendy, Mark, Michael, Nikole, Jim N., Matt, Dave, Val and everyone who worked so hard to make it such a success!

     Congratulations go out to Wendy for running an outstanding event. We had nearly 250 Show Cars and 37 Vendors. The event was so packed with people we sold out of hot dogs and hamburgers and raised $896!

     We started July helping our friends at the Pine Rock Park Volunteer Fire Department. We helped run the free food booth at their 75th Anniversary Parade. Members gathered in front of Carol's Home Improvement on Howe Ave. and served up hundreds of free hot dogs. After the parade some members visited the carnival at Riverwalk Park to watch the Shelton Fireworks display.

     In mid July we ran our first on-line chapter survey to help determine our calendar of events through December. This method for instant feedback worked great and we'll be using it even more in the future. On-line surveys can now be inserted into our e-mailed newsletters, or just e-mailed on their own. Both our past e-mailed newsletters and our on-line surveys can be accessed from the archives button on the top of our web site home page.

     Throughout the summer individual members canvassed popular Car Shows and Cruise Nights across the state, passing out flyers promoting our event. At the end of July an entire team of members passed out flyers at the 2nd largest Car Show in Connecticut, The Annual Time Machine's Show in Guilford CT. This is always a huge show, although due to weather, this year's attendance was not much more than our show!

     Members also attended the CT Jaycees Region 1 meeting and the Quarterly State meeting. The Region 1 meeting was hosted by our friends in the Cheshire Jaycees. Region 1 includes the chapters from Cheshire, Shelton, Danbury, Milford, Greenwich, and Norwalk. The Statewide meeting was held at Watrous Park in Cromwell. The state executive board hosted a picnic for all of Connecticut's chapters where the Shelton Jaycees were ranked #5 in the Parade of Chapters competition!

     There are a ton of projects coming up and big plans for the end of this year. Check out the events happening in September and October below and click the links to sign up.

     There's so much to choose from - plenty of opportunities to help run an event, take a chance, and Change Your World!

Sincerely,

Kate Jager
54th President
Shelton Jaycees

Benefit Rock Concert for Mia

Benefit Concert - Saturday September 20th from 3pm - Midnight. Melissa has organized a rock benefit concert for Mia, a 5 year old girl recently diagnosed with cancer, at Downtown Danny O's on 441 Howe Ave. in Shelton. Tickets are just $10. The line up includes Acoustic Kane, Keith Ryan, MindScream, Eula, The Bittersweet Vine, and DJ Knowledge.

To purchase a ticket in advance or for more info on how you can get involved Click Here to email Melissa. Tickets are also available at the door.

Food Drive to Benefit Spooner House, Local Homeless Shelter

Food Drive - Saturday October 4th from 1pm - 6pm we will be running a Food Drive at Shaw's Supermarket on Bridgeport Ave. in Shelton. Non perishables and other supplies will be delivered to the Spooner House, a local homeless shelter.

There are two entrances and two exits at Shaw's so we'll need at least eight volunteers. We station greeters at each entrance to hand out a shopping/wish list to customers as they enter the store. At each exit we station volunteers with decorated shopping carts to collect any donations, smile and say thanks! As the carts fill up volunteers are needed to load the van.

At 6 pm we'll close up the van and load any additional vehicles needed and drive all the donations to the shelter. The shelter's clients handle all the sorting and storage so if you'd like to be a part of the delivery team, you'll need less than an hour to unload the donations.

CLICK HERE to sign up as a volunteer, or call (203) 521-2498

Intro to Astronomy Seminar

Astronomy Seminar - Sunday October 5th, 8 pm at the East Village Park Soccer Field in Shelton, past Chapter President and JCI Senator Mark Holden will be sharing his expertise on one his favorite hobbies. No we wont be brewing beer again but if we ask nicely maybe we can get him to check his availability in January for that. Instead we'll be learning some basic observational astronomy. As a Hamilton Award winning State MDVP Mark Holden has a long history of providing entertaining and informative training programs for our club. He's kind of like our own Mr. Wizard, only much taller and with better hair.

To sign up for this event CLICK HERE or call 203-913-3147

Membership Meeting and Social

Membership Meeting and Social - Tuesday October 14^th 8 PM at Pinerock Firehouse, 722 Longhill Ave. Shelton. Project reports run about 20 to 30 minutes. Shooting the bull runs about another 15 to 20 minutes after that. Later we usually head out to a nearby pub or restaurant. Guests and prospective members are always welcome.

To e-mail Matt for details and directions, Click Here.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk & Kite Flying at the Beach

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk - Sunday October 19th, 9 am. We'll be bringing a team to the American Cancer Society's Making Strides event at Sherwood Island State Park.

You're invited! To join the team CLICK HERE .

There's no minimum pledge amount that you need to collect so any donation qualifies you to participate. The Cancer Society provides some great online tools to help you collect donations. The walk itself is about 3.5 miles along the beach and around the west side of the island. Our team has a tradition of cutting out after the first lap and flying kites on the beach. If you've never been to one of these walks you're missing out!

Sherwood Island is right off I-95 at exit 18. Only a few miles south of Bridgeport. If you leave the event immediately after the walk you can be back in Shelton before noon. Some of us hang around flying kites through early afternoon. Beverages, Bagels, Cream Cheese, & Fruit will be provided by the chapter.

Kid Safe Halloween Party

Kid Safe Halloween - Friday October 31st, 6 pm at Pinerock Park Firehouse, 722 Longhill Ave. in Shelton, we'll be helping our friends at the PRP Fire Dept run their annual Kid Safe Halloween event. We help run the Kiddie Carnival Games in the large meeting room. Some Jaycee volunteers do the costume thing, some are no fun and don't...Just kidding...but seriously there will be a prize for best volunteer costume! Pizza and beer provided after the little ghosts and goblins go home with sugar shock.

To sign up CLICK HERE.

Coming Up in November & December

SAVE THE DATE!
New Member Orientation on Tuesday November 18th
Assist Stratford Jaycees Alumni Thanksgiving Dinner for Seniors Thurs. Nov. 27th

Adopt a Child - Kid's Holiday Wish List Shopping, date TBD.
Bring In your favorite Take-Out / Kids Wish List Gift Wrapping Night, date TBD.
and much more!

The Jaycees� are also known as The Junior Chamber�. We offer men & women between 21-40 opportunities to meet people and volunteer. It's hands-on Leadership Training through Community Action over and above what's available through the corporate world or other organizations. Members volunteer as much or as little as they like and only at activities that interest them. To learn more visit our Chapter Web Site !

Sincerely,

Katherine Jager
54th President
Shelton Jaycees Inc.