The organizations continue to serve the community and staff their projects, but have become more focused on their particular missions and more creative about meetings and memberships. We've had speakers say, 'you must be optimists to meet at that hour' but we find that time really works best for us. Many of the members commute to Omaha or Fremont during the week, and later times on Saturday end up conflicting with other events, she said. Workman said the Jaycees have a high overall participation rate, but also noted that a minority of members do the majority of the work. But 90 percent of the members participate in some project during the year.
People pick projects that they are interested in.
That support is really important. The Eagles boosted their ranks by opening their charter some years ago to offer full memberships to women. Anyone over 18 is eligible to join, but most members are between 30 and 70 years old, Rahlfs said. The lodge has focused their efforts on social fundraisers that raise money for heart, kidney, cancer and diabetes associations, to name a few. The Eagles have Vegas nights, soup and dessert suppers and dances to raise money for their causes.