Jaycees seek new members to help with annual events

In its heyday in the 1990s, the Virginia Beach Jaycees had about 200 members organizing the many charitable programs and annual events it pulls off each year.

But these days, the local group is down to a meager 28 members.

It's unwelcome news for Eric Kline, vice president, who's been trying to drum up interest - and membership - in the civic group.

The nonprofit's biggest event, the annual East Coast Surfing Championships in August requires the help of thousands of volunteers each year, Kline said.

"We set a record last year for the largest four-day surfing tournament," he said. "There were a couple thousand competitors."

Each year, the surfing competition takes many weeks of coordination.

"It's not just surfing, there's sand soccer, sand volleyball, a bikini competition, live music, a 5K run," Kline said.

"And it's all a free event. No one has to pay to come down here. The bands are all free."

With the event getting bigger and bigger since its start in 1963, it's also getting difficult to pull it off, Kline said That's why, Kline said, more members are being sought.

The Jaycees, also known as the "Junior Chamber of Commerce," is a leadership training and community service group for men and women, 21 and 40, according to the Web site www.vbjaycees.org.

It gives members a chance to boost their business skills, network, take part in community service - and have fun, it continues.

The local Jaycees participate in many projects beyond the surfing championships, Kline said. Among them: building houses for Habitat for Humanity; selecting the city's First Citizen, taking economically disadvantaged children Christmas shopping; and offering mentally disabled children the opportunity to go to summer camp in Bedford, Va.

Jack Wall, chairman of the board of directors, joined the group in 1999, when the local chapter had many more members. Since then, he said, he has gained leadership experience and has managed many projects.

"We had about 200 volunteers in the '90s," Wall said. "It's tough. We could definitely use more to help plan and do all the different pieces of it that need to be done."

This year, the organization plans on promoting itself a little better within the community. For example, Kline said, most area residents are unaware that the service group is in charge of organizing the ECSC each year.

"Nobody knows that we throw this event," Kline said. "They think the city throws it or somebody else. The people who actually do the day-to-day operations, those are Jaycee members."

This year, the Jaycees plan on making waves of their own during the late-summer surfing championships..

For too long, a huge banner listing all the ECSC sponsors has listed the Jaycees at the bottom.

"We're literally buried in the sand every year," Kline said. "So we're trying to let everyone this year know who's throwing this event."

For more information or to learn how to become a member of the Virginia Beach Jaycees, log on to the group's Web site at www.vbjaycees.org.

Rita Frankenberry, 222-5102, rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com