Matt Tillson
Duncan civics groups are in need of new members. However with the tight financial times some people cannot afford to join these groups.
Duncan Jaycee’s president Jay Head has expressed his concern for drop in numbers with the Jaycee organization. Head said that part of his concern was that some of the current members of the organization were the same members that participated in each of the events.
“We have 20 active members right now and when you have that many people it seems that the same people are helping with each of the events,” Head said. “Some people are fine with helping with each event because it has to be done but after so long it starts to get tiresome.”
Head said that another factor that the Jaycees have been facing is that some of the current members are getting older and reaching the cutoff age of being part of the organization.
“We go from the age of 21 until the age of 40,” Head said. “This seems like a long time but the cutoff age gets here faster than you know it for some of the members.”
The Jaycee organization does many fundraisers throughout the year that help benefit the Duncan community.
“Our biggest fundraiser that we do each year is the Jaycee Christmas Auction,” Head said. “This year we raised around $25,000 and helped around 300 kids.”
Other fundraisers the group does is their annual night golf tournament at the Elk’s Country Club and the Punt, Pass & kick fundraiser which is held each year during the Duncan High School football season.
“This year our night golf tournament will be on July 16,” Head said. “This is just a great time for people to come out have some fun and get to know some of the Jaycees.
The Jaycees meet every first and third Monday of the month and dues are $35 per year.”
The next meeting will be held at noon today at The Merchant Eatery on Main Street.
Another civic group that is experiencing some of the same hardships as the Jaycees is the noon Lions Club organization. Lions Club board member Joe Henderson said that the noon group has fewer than 25 active members. Henderson said that some of the difficult times that the Lions Club has had is recruiting the younger generation.
“We have had an extremely difficult time recruiting some younger members,” Henderson said.
The Lions Club is facing a similar problem in the current members getting older in age.
“Some of our members are getting up there in age so they can not help as much as they really want to,” Henderson said. “We have members that are just not capable of doing things that they had done before because they are just not in as good health as they were before.”
The Lions Club sponsors the annual Rodeo during the last full weekend each June and help bring the carnival to Duncan each year.
The Noon Lions Club meets every Thursday at the Simmons Center.
The Kiwanis organization is one group in the area that are doing well right now in the numbers of members right now. Kiwanis board member Melvin Jones said that the Kiwanis of Duncan recently merged with the Chisholm Trail Kiwanis organization.
“Our membership was down recently and their membership was down so we decide to merge the two organizations together,” Jones said. “After merging the two together we are around 60 active members strong.”
Jones noted that the Kiwanis help with many things in the Duncan area, including helping with Empire Schools as well.
“We hold swimming lessons in the summer at the Duncan Pool and sell Christmas trees in the winter,” Jones said. “We also sponsor the Key Clubs at Duncan High School and Empire High School, and sponsor the Junior Police Program at Duncan.”
The Kiwanis meet at noon each Tuesday at the Simmons Center and dues are $90 every three months.
— Matt Tillson is a reporter for the Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354 Ext. 142 or via e-mail at matt.tillson@duncanbanner.com.
