The Paragould Jaycees send along the following news:

The Paragould Jaycees recently went visiting and caroling with the elderly at the local mini rise Sat Dec 21. We made cookies, snacks, muffins, etc for those we visited. We also purchased food baskets for 6 meals on wheels participants. These food baskets from the Jaycees were given in addition to other items for 6 participants that were adopted by employees of Sr B’s. We also adopted 5 kids from DHS for Christmas and our kids were given a great Christmas due to the generosity of our members.

Jaycees do a lot throughout the year in their various chapters, but one of the most rewarding is lending a helping hand.

The Jonesboro Jaycees have made the news twice in one day. Even better, it’s good news!

Two projects of the Jonesboro Jaycees have been featured in The Sun, the regional newspaper of Northeast Arkansas. The first article is about Jonesboro’s Christmas for Kids program which donates toys to hundreds upon hundreds of underprivileged children in Jonesboro and the surrounding area. Last year, Christmas for Kids served nearly 1,700 kids.

The second article is about the 60th Annual Jonesboro Christmas Parade which is hosted by the Jonesboro Jaycees.

If your chapter makes news, please let us know by sending a message to webmaster@arjaycees.org.

The El Dorado Jaycees are sponsoring a motorcycle parade on August 2nd to collect school supplies for area children in need.

Participants are asked to make a $15 dollar donation or bring $15 worth of school supplies. Hamburgers and hotdogs will be available after the completion of the parade.

Word comes today that the El Dorado Jaycees have donated $2,500 towards a $15,000 endowed scholarship at South Arkansas Community College.

“By establishing this endowment fund, the Jaycees are making a commitment to the education of the future leaders of Union County for all time,” said [El Dorado Jaycees President Laurin] Rickenbacker.

Read more at the El Dorado News-Times (paid registration required).

Way to go Batesville! Great job.

by Andrea Bruner, Assistant Managing Editor
Published: Thursday, May 1, 2008

The kids are already calling it the “Spider-Man playground.”

Brightly colored, with black ropes and nets for climbing, the gyroscopic equipment does bear Spider-Man’s colors — red and blue — and loops and curves around at various angles, much like the wall-crawling, webslinging superhero does.

But the “superheroes” in this case would be the Batesville Jaycees, who donated $20,000 to the city for a grant to purchase the equipment. This is the biggest donation the city parks department has received, Parks Director Randy Palmer said.

The total cost of the equipment and installation was $45,500, Mayor Rick Elumbaugh said, with another $7,000 in administration fees, but the city received a $25,000 matching grant from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Elumbaugh said the city was very grateful to the Jaycees for their donation. “We’re very fortunate to have a piece of state-of-the-art playground equipment like this in Batesville. …

Local Jaycees donate funds for ‘Spider-Man playgrounds’ | Batesville Daily Guard