You may not know who they are, but their impact affects our lives everyday. The Jaycees is an international organization that brings young people together to help their communities.
We sit down with President of the Salisbury Jaycees, Jess Kling, to learn all about it.
Kling has been an avid volunteer since high school, but when she moved to the Salisbury area, she didn’t know a lot of people or how to help out, then she found the Jaycees.
“The Jaycees have been around for over a hundred years now, [founder] Henry Giessenbier was in St. Louis and decided he wanted a community group to bring more active citizens and make positive impacts on the community, and he formed the Jaycees and its gone on from there,” Kling says.
Jaycees During Great Clue Caper Event
They’re known as a group of doers. They host and participate in fun fundraising events around Maryland and Delaware to make a difference in thousands of people’s lives each year.
“There’s a Jaycees creed, and the last line of the creed is that ‘service to humanity is the best work of life,’ and I actually adopted “the best work of life” as our theme this year. And it really is. We’ve done so many things whether it’s a project we run or forming teams for something like the Great Clue Caper and pulling in our friends to help us,” Kling says.
Kling says most of her friends now are made through the Jaycees, and they’re always looking for new members. Stop by one of their meetings, or check out their website and Facebook page for more information and how to join.
For beer lovers, or anyone looking to socialize and help the homeless at the same time, Happy Hoppy Days is just around the corner.
On July 9, the Jaycees will rent a bus and head to Sussex County, Del., to visit Dogfish Head, Crooked Hammock, 16 Mile, and 3rd Wave breweries. They’ll end the night with some baseball at the Shorebirds Stadium. The best part is a portion of every ticket sold will go to local homeless shelters. You can find more information about the event on the Salisbury Jaycee’s Facebook page.
