Back from the edge

To say it was teetering would have been kind.

When Lydia Dewees joined the Cape Girardeau Jaycees three years ago, the group was on the verge of extinction.

"The chapter was getting ready to fold," said Dewees, who now serves as president of the service club when she's not working at her day job as retail director of Chartwell's Dining Service.

At her first meeting, Dewees, now 28, said there was "almost nobody" there. The Jaycees had already donated its municipal golf course to the city of Cape Girardeau to avoid having to turn it over to the statewide Jaycees, something that would have happened had the chapter folded.

Membership had dwindled to 20 -- the minimum requirement of the state Jaycees bylaws to even have a local chapter. And that number existed only on paper -- far fewer than what actually attended meetings.

It seemed to Dewees that people had lost interest.

But that was then, as they say. Today, the Cape Girardeau Jaycees boasts more than 120 members and continues to grow. More than 25 new members have joined this year. In fact, the Cape Girardeau Jaycees chapter recently received news that it holds the title for the most growth in the United States among all Jaycees clubs.

Dewees and a handful of other new members injected a boost of youthful enthusiasm as well as implementing a few fresh policies that gets new members to join and keeps them engaged, said Matt Hopkins. Hopkins, a Cape Girardeau city councilman, was a member from 1988 until last year, when he "aged out," at 40. (The age requirement is from 21 to 40.)

Hopkins hated to see what the Jaycees had become.

"It was dying on the vine," he said. "I didn't want to see that happen. Our predecessors had done so many good things, I didn't want to see it go away."

The service club in Cape Girardeau was chartered in 1936 and had seen many years of success in the past. The group had many worthwhile causes, too, such as Toybox, a program that provides donated Christmas presents to underprivileged children; and Jaycees Follies, a talent-show fund-raiser.

But in the late 1990s, membership -- and interest -- began to slide.

"There was just a lot of competition for people's time," Hopkins explained. "People started having children at a younger age. That meant parents were involved in a lot of their child's sporting events and other activities. And over the last 20 years or so, people are working longer and longer hours. That was limiting time people had to give to community service organizations."

Hopkins wanted to help revitalize the organization, so he made it his mission to recruit a few key young people, including Dewees. Dewees started out as an officer and rose to president.

The board added a few enticements, such as a free membership to the now city-owned Jaycees Municipal Golf Course. But they didn't want a bunch of members who joined just to play golf, Dewees said, so they required that the members be "50 percent active." That means members have to attend half of the monthly meetings and participate in half of the projects to retain their golf privileges.

As people participated, Dewees said, they became more passionate about the club. They've taken over a few programs, like Cape Girardeau's Youth Catch and Release Fishing Day. They're also working on a youth development program that centers of teaching youngsters life skills through golf. They've also been approached about taking over the Annual BBQ Fest.

Programs like these benefit the community, as well as members, by helping them develop leadership skills, Dewees said.

Packed room

And apparently it's working. At a recent meeting at Buffalo Wild Wings, a back room was packed.

"There literally was no room left," Hopkins said. "It was like a huge family meeting about what the Jaycees were going to be doing for the next month. It was wide and varied what they were working on. Plus, they look like they're becoming friends along the way. That's what it's all about."

Kelly Krutchfield, vice president of the statewide Jaycees in St. Louis, said the Cape Girardeau chapter is getting noticed around the state.

"Honestly, I wish we could come up with the formula they're using and use it locally," she said. "It's been quite a turnaround down there."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137