“We had a heck of a chapter, back in the day! We were something else!”, said Debra Gronvold, Executive Director of the Hollywood chapter of the Jaycees, speaking of her days with the Coconut Grove chapter. “At first, it was social, it was about meeting other young people. But I liked the projects they did, and I stayed.”
“I was 28 years old, and I was working at my family’s True Value Hardware store in Coconut Grove, when a couple of my employees invited me to a meeting of the local chapter,” she recalled “I joined right away.
Gronvold has now been with the Jaycees as a member or an employee for 32 years.
“When I was a kid, this was an extremely active chapter,” said Stacy Mahar, current President of the Hollywood chapter.
And she should know.
“I kind of grew up here,” explained the mother and special needs teacher by trade. “My dad, Bob Anz, was involved in the Jaycees in a very big way. We were always doing something.”
Today, as the Chapter moves into its fourth quarter-century of service to the Hollywood community, it’s gearing up for a huge celebratory Gala in early November, and collaborating with the international umbrella organization, JCI International, on a rebranding that is aimed at updating this venerable organization’s image and attracting new blood into the fold.