Sidney Jaycees Host Montana 2023 Year End Celebration

The Sidney Jaycees (JCI Richland County) hosted the Montana 2023 Year End Celebration at the Richland County Events Center last week. The Jaycees (Junior Chamber International USA) is a nonprofit organization that grows young leaders for community involvement. Nationwide the Jaycees currently have approximately 6,000 members with a worldwide membership of 150,000 in over 100 countries. The last statewide Jaycees event hosted in Sidney was the mid-year election conference in 2022.

Nathan Martin, 2023 JCI USA national president, was in attendance for the event. Martin traveled from his home state of Hawaii to participate in the Montana 2023 Year End Celebration. "The same impact we have in Sidney we are doing all across the globe," Martin said. Every chapter has done things a little differently around the world. "We all have the same mission, our same vision. We just develop our leaders in a little bit different ways. Some of our chapters might be more on the business entrepreneurial side of things. A lot of our chapters, especially in the U.S., are more on the community impact."

A total of five out of the six chapters throughout the state were in attendance at the event. Approximately 30 members from the Central chapter (Lewistown), Billings, Miles City, Havre and Richland County participated. The Dillon chapter was unable to attend due to a conflict with one of the chapter's local events.

Friday's activities included completions for members to showcase their leadership abilities. These competitions included write up and speak up competitions as well as a fun activity called Jaycee Jeopardy. On Saturday, the activities began with a business meeting with the 2024 board of directors and updates from the state and national levels of the organization followed by updates on each chapter's plans for the first half of the year.

The Sidney Jaycees hold several community events throughout the year. In June, they hold their Team Demolition Derby. The club holds their family-friendly Independence Day Celebration and Fireworks at. the Richland County Fairgrounds. This year will mark the 47th year of the Jaycees Demolition Derby held in August.

The Sidney Jaycees meet every second and fourth Thursday of each month at the Sidney Chamber building at 7 p.m. All meetings are open to the public. Membership is open to volunteers ages 18-40 who are looking to develop their leadership skills and create positive change across the community. Additional information can be found on the club's Facebook page named JCI Richland County.