Hello and Thank You for visiting the Indiana JCI Senate Website. I am Michael “Animal” Shoback, the 38th President of the Indiana Jaycees. I follow a long list of very successful JCI Senate Presidents so I have a large task ahead of me.
It is now October and my theme for this year has been “Preparing for the Future”. My primary goal as President is to rebuild the Senate in preparation for our future. Like many States, we are in need of new blood in the Senate. The Jaycees provided us with three new Senators recently but some of them like to stay local and we need Senators who are willing to step up and help run this organization in the future years.
It’s hard to believe that we are already in the fifth month of my year as President. Since the last newsletter, I had the privilege of making out with a real pig at the Ohio Pig Roast (no jokes please), sat in a 5-hour meeting at the Illinois Summer Picnic and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at the Kentucky Bourbon Bash where Lynn and I discovered an absolutely wonderful Bourbon Slush recipe. For those of you who travel and those that have been thinking of traveling, the Border Bash will be held in Coldwater Michigan during the weekend of October 21st – 23rd. We have attached a copy of the Registration form for your convenience. This should be a fun time for all and I hope that Indiana is well represented.
Tracy Brown and I recently met with the Jaycee State Officers and we believe that we have all the details worked out for the Agenda. The only thing that remains is getting the Jaycee chapters and members to participate. A copy of the November Convention Registration form and Agenda is available on this website. The Indiana JCI Senate is hosting the Indiana Jaycee Convention and Elections, and we are providing four training sessions for their membership with the incentive that anyone who attends a training session will be offered free hospitality from the Senate. The four training sessions are State Officers Training, Local Officer Training, Recruiting, and Jaycee 101 for newer Jaycees. As such, I would like to ask those Senators that will be attending the November Convention, to please drop me an email at mjshoback@hotmail.com so that I can get an idea of who will be attending the meeting.
One of the priorities that were set for my year as President was to bring our current By-Laws in line with present day standards since the last changes made have been in existence for over 30 years. I would like to thank Parliamentarian Jerry Luttman #46155, and the By-Law committee members Mike Malott #42895, Dave Murrell #27109 and Noble Carpenter #15536 for their input. The recommended By-Law changes are attached to this Newsletter and are being presented in a timely manner for your review in accordance with the current Constitution and By-Laws. The changes will be voted on at the November Meeting which will be held at 11:00 A.M. E.S.T.
A second priority that I set for this year was to raise enough money to secure a minimum of 2 Senatorships to Exhausted Roosters who deserved one during their Jaycee career, but for some reason or another were not blessed with this prestigious award. Our future as a viable Senate depends on new blood to take over the management roles and as we have discovered, we cannot depend on the Jaycees to provide us with that influx of membership. Committee chairmen Mike Malott #42895, reports that we have commitments totaling $350 at present. We would like to have those awards paid and ready to present at the Spring Fling Meeting in Indianapolis, the weekend of March 16-18. If you know of someone that warrants a Senatorship, please submit their name to Mike Malott or myself. Even if you don’t have anyone to recommend for the award, your financial support would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Mike Malott with your donation.
My primary goal as President this year is to rebuild the Senate in preparation for our future. A review of a Indiana Senatorship List from 2007 showed that over 950 Senatorships have been awarded in Indiana over the years yet our September Dues Kit showed that our membership was under 290 paid members, with 260 of these being Life Members. Our paid membership is filled with the top recruiters in the history of the Indiana Jaycees and this offers us a ton of opportunity to increase our active paid memberships through the assistance of everyone reading this letter. I understand that many of the lower Senator Numbers may have passed, but that still represents close to 600 members that are available to bring back to our organization. Even if we can bring back 20% or 120 of those members, and we get 10% of those to come to Conventions, that represents a substantial increase in active members as well as a substantial income boost for our future budgetary needs. I am asking each and every one of you reading this page to check this website periodically over the next few weeks for that list. If you see a name of someone that you know well, please have them contact me at mjshoback@hotmail.com or join our Facebook Page under the name JCI, to let us know how they can be contacted. You are all trained Recruiters so I am asking each and every one of you for your help in getting our lost Senators back to being paid members. Together we can truly make the Spring Fling Meeting a great Reunion.
I would like to thank Tom Shanahan #33841 for his time and efforts in sending cards to fellow Senators who have lost loved ones or who have fallen ill. Please notify Tom at pastortbs@yahoo.com if you become aware of anyone that has suffered an illness or a loss.
Finally, for those of you who are Pin collectors, Indiana still has some of the new Pins that sell for $4 for one or $6 for two. You can contact Tracy Brown or me if you are interested in purchasing a Pin. We are also selling raffle tickets to help with the costs of the Spring Fling. Tickets are available through our Raffle Chairman Reese Malott #63926.
As you can see, the Indiana JCI Senate and I have lofty goals for the upcoming year but these goals need to be accomplished to insure the future of our organization. We have all heard the saying “When you stop growing, you begin to die”. There are too many people that care about this organization to let that happen so it is time to begin “Preparing for the Future” by getting more people active in Indiana JCI Senate. Please contact me if you have any other ideas or suggestions. I look forward to the challenges that this year has to offer and I hope that we can enjoy this year together.
Yours in the Indiana JCI Senate;
Michael “Animal” Shoback, #45316
38th President of the Indiana JCI Senate 2011-2012
