Below is the inaugural speech of our 2004 York Jaycees President, Christine Eaton, presented at the January 10, 2004 Installation & Awards Banquet:

Thank you everyone for coming tonight. I want to take a moment to acknowledge a few people.

• I would like to thank John Bade for being such an encouragement in me running for President.
• Of course, thank you to Wendy Siegel for truly impacting the future. Her and the 2003 Board were instrumental in growing the chapter by almost 10% last year.
• Thank you Maryann DiSanto for her unwavering belief in me and support.
• Thank you also to Stacey Small for her continuing guidance. She has an incredible knowledge about pretty much everything in the Jaycees organization.

I want to welcome the 2004 Board. They are a group of enthusiastic members who have shown remarkable leadership skills thus far. You wouldn’t know it but a lot of them are new to the Jaycees organization having less than 2 years experience. Remarkably some have less than a year. I am very proud of how well they are working together as a team and focusing on the interests of the York Jaycees and York community.

The theme for this year is “Back to the Basics.” This was inspired by a quote by Gandhi who said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” We here at the Jaycees have a wonderful opportunity to affect the change that we would like to see in our community. The foundation that the Jaycees was built upon included basic building blocks. This year I would like to turn our focus back onto these basics, reestablishing the Jaycees as an active contributing force within the York community.

The ABCs that we will focus on are Action, Belief and Community. Belief – well that’s easy. The Jaycees Creed starts by saying “We believe” and then lists six beliefs, which as active Jaycees we should all be familiar with. These beliefs are the foundation to the local Jaycee chapters, State chapters, the national organization and Junior Chamber International. In order for a belief to have a positive impact, there needs to be action.

Action can be fundamentally ignited by chapter or community projects. As I look around this room, I see many friendships that began by volunteering to sweep the streets and then have breakfast at market, by hammering siding or roof shingles on a house for Habitat for Humanity and by hanging out at monthly Attitude Adjustments. Your friendships have blossomed into cherished lifetime friendships as a result of the Jaycee Basics.

Action then fosters people to want to invest in the organization so they volunteer to chair projects and serve on committees or the Board. Then action leads to developing leadership skills. I’ve seen some very shy people that had a noticeable time holding a conversation with people they didn’t know grow into very competent, capable people. They will be successful in their personal and professional lives because of the basics instilled in them by their work within the York Jaycees. All of these actions also result in increased member recruitment and retention, which helps us to continue to grow by attracting individuals who share these beliefs and who want to make a change in our community.

Community is what the York Jaycees reputation has been built upon. Having a positive impact in York is what makes us different from other organizations. People will join the Jaycees because of the opportunity to make a change within the community but will then stay when they have become part of the community we have within our organization.

The last line of the Jaycees Creed is “Service to humanity is the best work of life.” Whenever we recite this, there is always a strong emphasis placed on it. It is clear that we all feel strongly about what we do as a Jaycee. Simply stated the reason we are able to accomplish what we do is Action, Belief and Community. This can all be summarized best by a quote from Henry David Thoreau. He said, “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.”

I look forward to being the York Jaycees President this year. Thank you, again, for coming tonight. This ends our program.