For the week leading up to Valentines Day we are 'Inspiring Romantic Action'.

Share your most romantic experiences on our Facebook page and if you don't have a story then start doing something romantic because there are prizes for the best stories.

Visit the JCI UK facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/JCIUK

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JCI Boston features in this weeks Boston Standard....

Read our story by clicking the link below:

http://www.bostonstandard.co.uk/news/local/living-on-1-a-day-was-a-challenge-1-4761810

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JCI Boston took on the challenge of the first National community project of the year, a £1 a day diet for 7 days to raise money and awareness of poverty for charity, save the children and Nothing but Nets. This focus came from one of the UN Millennium Goals (which JCI actively supports) to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

Participants of the diet were Alli Cowell and Jen Curtis, they were asked to work out how much their average weekly food & drink spend was, subtract £7, and donate the difference to the cause. 

There was also an option for supporters of this event, people who did not do the diet were asked to sacrifice 1 thing that week, such as a bottle of wine, and donate what it would have cost. Tracy Anderson gave up alcohol for the week.

As if the challenge was not going to be hard enough, Alli, decided it would be a good idea to host a dinner party during the week to add to the challenge.

 The idea sparked after a friend of hers said that she could cook a meal from an empty cupboard, it was more like a dare than a challenge, but before she knew it the idea was on the table and Jen Curtis and Alex Hackett, one of JCI Boston's newest members, said they were ‘in'. So pooling a grand total of 3 whole English Pounds, the next big decision was ........ what on earth shall we eat.

A traditional starter is soup, so this seemed like a good place to start, but to be honest the purse didn't stretch that far, so instead a starter of Asda Smart Price Chicken Super Noodles seemed like the next best thing, and much to I think all of our surprise the 22 pence spent was a 22 pence well spent, they were really nice. 

Ok one course down, one to go....... We needed something filling, we live in Lincolnshire, there could only be one thing for it Sausages, sadly again the purse would not allow for lovely thick Lincolnshire sausages, it did however stretch to Asda Smart Price sausages. 12 of the little beauties for the bargain price of 88 pence. This also meant that 3 could be kept back for another meal another night. With my bargain hunting eyes while shopping, can you imagine the delight when I stumbled upon some reduced priced potatoes on the shelf, and no this time it was the Extra Special range, our dinner party just became posh! So there it was the perfect meal in the making - Bangers and Mash. Alli is pretty partial to cheesy mash, but on this occasion it was not possible to have her traditional style creamy, stringy, cheesy mmmmmmm mash, and being as there was no budget for milk or butter to go in the mash there seemed only one thing for it, spread cheese....... Et voila main course is served.

Desert, the best bit of the meal some may say. Well there were 3 empty plates so it seemed to go down well. Chocolate swiss role and custard, oh yes you guessed it, the good old Smart Price range came good for us again, with a swiss roll coming in at 25 pence and the whole tin of custard for only 17 pence, it really was a sweet desert all round.

Ok so the promise was a five course meal, three courses down 2 to go. Well all good dinner parties have a cheese course. Again a small amount of imagination was needed to pull this one off, but we did it. Holding back some of the spread cheese from the mash potatoes, meant that we had enough for some plain cream crackers and a soft cheese, cheese board. The 4 grapes used for presentation purposes had been borrowed, and so couldn't be eaten, and were indeed given back.

Finally the end of the extravagant dinner party had come, when a fine selection of black coffee, water or a cheeky fizzy orange was laid before us. Fizzy orange was a steal at only 45 pence from Aldi.

With our bellies full, and our awareness most certainly raised, we did have a fun night, but it makes you grateful for so many of those small things you do take for granted when out shopping. The total shopping bill came to £2.96.

Jen Curtis, JCI Boston's 2013 President and a solicitor at Sills and Betteridge says "living on £1 a day was certainly a challenge. On such a low budget I found it almost impossible to eat a balanced diet and there were times, particularly at the start of the week, when I was hungry."

JCI Boston also took this project to the next level. Jen and Alli was joined by Alex Hackett and Michael Hallett Boston's newest members and visited Centrepoint Outreach in Boston to see how poverty effects the local community. John Marshall, Chief Executive, was kind enough to share his time, explaining the work they do with homeless and vulnerable people, with social and economic needs.

Michael commented on the visit, "Upon joining my local chamber of JCI one of the areas which I wanted to get involved with more was the work of supporting our local communities through charity. When we visited Centrepoint Outreach I was astonished.
Centrepoint Outreach is a marvelous charity which supports homeless, lonely and vulnerable people of the local community. It does this in a variety of ways, through receiving donations and income through its charity shop, offering advice on such matters concerning debt issues and budgeting, as well as providing basic materials for those in needs including food parcels and home furnishings. I was amazed at the amount of effort all those involved put in and the organisation of it all, like a well-oiled machine. It is certainly great to know that there are those in Boston which are doing their bit for the local community. Since then I have certainly had time to reflect on my life, I often think now how trivial some of the issues I worry about are compared to the trials and tribulations of those less fortunate than myself. All in all I thoroughly commend Centrepoint Outreach for their great work, I look forward to helping them in the future."

Alex Hackett also commented, "Without Centrepoint Outreach Boston, those genuinely unfortunate local Boston people that cannot afford the simple things in life, (which most take for granted, food, a shower, heating, bedding and in some cases a place to stay), would have remained hungry and cold in the sub zero temperatures this winter.
We owe a great deal of thanks to those at Centrepoint Outreach Boston who have helped not only the homeless, but also families who cannot afford the very basic necessities of life. I feel that Centrepoint Outreach Boston is a very worthwhile charity for JCI Boston to support and I for one look forward to offering all I can."

JCI UK exceeded its target of raising £1,000 for charity. The money raised will be divided between 2 different causes, save the children and Nothing but Nets (JCI's global charity dedicated to eradicating malaria in Africa.)

You can still donate, visit the just giving page. http://www.justgiving.com/JCIUKpoundaday

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The first national event of the year saw members around the UK gather at the Jesus college in Cambridge. This would be my 4th inspiration day so Cambridge had their work cut out, but I wasn't disappointed.

Despite a fear of not being able to actually get there because of the weather, the snow held off in Cambridge and the journey down wasn't that bad at all. I was greeted by James Mitchell, JCI Cambridge's president for 2013.

The event started with a welcome from Patrick McCrae and James, then the 2013 JCI UK National president Emma Eastwood took to the stage and told us all about her ‘Inspiring Action' theme, introduced us to the national board for 2013 and told us what events to look out for in 2013.

Next there was a presentation from Ruth Hockaday from Save the Children. The first national community project of the year was the£1 a day diet for 7 days, Boston members Allison Cowell and president Jen Curtis were presented with their certificates for achieving this, and a cheque for a massive £1423.22p was then presented to Ruth for the money raised throughout the UK.

The next activity meant were we split into groups and were all given a UN millennium goal. We had to come up with a project that could be used in the UK to help achieve/support our goal.

The group debriefed, then it was time for Patrick Knight. Patrick a JCI member from the USA had flown in from Miami to give us a training session on how to ‘Jump Start Your Chamber.' Now this was a tried and tested theory, when Patrick was a local president his chamber attracted 152 new members!! I got a lot out of the session and have pages of notes.

After a spot of lunch, we wrapped up to hit the streets of Cambridge for the treasure hunt, and with all JCI treasure hunts they required a photo competition! My team consists of Diana from Cambridge (we gave her the map!), Tim from Leeds, Katie from Doncaster and Ricky from London. The hunt took us through parks, around colleges and shops. We manage to get a picture in the top 3 thanks to mine and Tim's acting skills!

After some fresh air, we returned back to Jesus college for Patrick Knight's second session of the day.... and all I will say is wow, what a powerful story. Patrick stood in front of all and told us how he was a victim in a tragic shooting incident on Thanksgiving in 2009. He told us about his story of survival and recovery after he was shot by his brother-in-law who also murdered his wife and her twin sister.

Patrick was shot in the stomach and was in a coma for three months. When he woke, he had to relearn how to do everything from talking to writing. This is an emotional story, truly inspirational and brought inspiration day 2013 to a close.

The evening saw us return to the Jesus college in black tie and posh frocks for JCI Cambridge's gala dinner.

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We are very proud to announce that JCI UK has been recognised with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award 2012.

JCI UK is one of 60 recipients of the award which is the highest standard of recognition given to volunteer groups across the UK and we were recognised for the wide range of initiatives that we have undertaken over the year. This ranges from projects including the launch of a training and apprenticeship academy for young people in Southampton in conjunction with Costa Coffee to the Leadership Excellence in Action Programme that was launched in August, amongst others.

So we want to say THANK YOU to all our members, senators, patrons, corporate supporters and friends! It is those who give their time to make a real difference in the communities in which they live and gain valuable skills and experience along the way that have made this happen!

Special thanks also go to JCI Senator Tracy Viner from the Cathedral Archer Project and Wayne Clark, Managing Director of Best Companies Partnership LLP, who both gave supporting testimonials for the award. Wayne said of JCI UK: "JCI UK is the most inspirational organisation I have ever come across. In my daily work I advise organisations on how they can get more engaged employees, but I've never met a group as engaged as JCI, and this blew my mind."

"The first time I met JCI members I thought they were a crazy bunch to use their Saturday to run and attend a conference. I've come to learn that this is what JCI members do. They spend their free time and holidays to make their communities better and to better themselves in the process."

We are exceptionally proud to have been recognised with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award 2012. It is an honour to think that JCI UK is one of only 60 organisations the country to win this award! It's a great end to the year!

For more information please visit:

The cabinet office article

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Meet Tracy Anderson

Length of membership: 5 years

Role(s) held with local chamber: Current Immediate Past president

Why did you join JCI: For social reasons, to meet new people and make new friends

How has your membership had an impact on your personal development?

JCI has given me confidence in myself and my abilities. I've never been a fan of public speaking but after doing the JCI Presenter course I had the confidence to give a presentation at the Boston Business club and my outgoing president's speech.

I have also developed so many skills, such as networking, uploading content on a website, editing a monthly newsletter, organising events.

What do you enjoy most about your membership of JCI?

The buzz! I have attended so many JCI events and come away with this buzz. It's hard to describe but you feel inspired to do something, you've met old and made new friends. This buzz around JCI UK is brilliant at the minute and I really want to be part of the National Board in 2013. The opportunities you get are endless in JCI, it's up to the individual how much you want to get out of it. It's true what they say; they more you put in the more you get out! I have to say I've got lots and intend to get more out of JCI.

What is your favourite area of JCI opportunity?

I would have to say community. Last year as president of JCI Boston I made sure community projects played a big part of my year. As a chamber we raised over £850 for the JCI Nothing But Nets campaign which meant we helped save 275 lives, and my highlight was our Easter Themed Hook a duck Market stall on the Boston Market on Global Malaria Day.

What did you gain from attending your first national/international event?

My first national event was attending the National awards ceremony in Manchester, this was when I really got JCI, meeting liked mined people from all around the UK. I've been hooked since and attended every national awards ceremony. I'm really looking for to this year's National convention in Belfast.

What is your most memorable experience within JCI?

So far, I would have to say last year, hosting the regional awards last year in my home town Boston and being a multiple award winner, I then went on to be awarded nationally as the most outstanding leader!

I say so far because I really excited to be attending the European Conference next year in Monte Carlo.... for my 30th Birthday!

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In July we travelled up the A1 to Retford for their Fake Festival. You might be thinking this is a bit random, but last year the fake festival event came to Boston. We attended the event in 2011 and when we heard that it wasn't coming to Boston again we researched where we could go and for us the line up at Retford caught our eye.

Basically a fake festival has official tribute acts of our favourite indie rock bands, and at Retford the line included tribute acts for the foo fighter, oasis and the Killers.

We managed not to get wet but had appropriate footwear on 'just in case!' We sang, danced and drunk. For me a perfect social event!

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Ilona Alcock from JCI Sheffield visited JCI Boston for the first time when she attended our first monthly training session. She tells us about her experience:

Usually at JCI training I expect to learn skills I can take back to my workplace, to gain knowledge that will assist my chamber and to meet exciting new people. Whilst Kate Senter's "Why doing good is good for business" session for JCI Boston delivered on all three counts, I got a little more than I bargained for.

There were five attendees on the course, and the whole Chamber is not much bigger. But before you write JCI Boston off as insignificant you should know those attendees include Alli Cowell, 2011 National President, and Tracy Anderson, candidate for 2013 JCI UK Community Director. The enthusiasm, passion and determination of all present to improve themselves and their local community was inspiring.

Kate took us through the four key areas of CSR and the business benefits of having a structured CSR programme. We discussed what it means to "do good", what experiences we had from our employers and chambers, and shared ideas of how JCI's community focus can be used as a selling point to businesses. I won't give too much away as I'm keen for Kate to repeat the course in Sheffield soon but a key takeaway for me was to look at all angles. CSR, as with so much in life, is not black and white.

During my visit I also discovered that cauliflower rolling is a controversial way to celebrate the jubilee. That businesses in the Boston area use village fetes as networking opportunities. That places like Mucktown and Gypsy Bridge actually exist. And did you know that if you visit near Christmas you'll be able to see Yorkshire sheep eating the cauliflower stalks?!

A lot is made in JCI of our international aspect. You can travel to the far ends of the globe and discover an array of exotic cultures. Sometimes we focus so much on other countries that we forget that life on Britain can vary enormously from county to county, and from town to town. The challenges we face in Sheffield differ from those faced in London, in Cambridge and in Southampton.

However, the fact that these challenges can - and should - be addressed by young people remains the same. This is why I'm passionate that every area of Britain should have a JCI. It is an organisation that offers development opportunities, socials and the chance to meet people outside your usual circle. But more importantly than that, it is an organisation that really does make a difference.

Ready for Corporate Social Responsibilty

Trainer Kate Senter

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Jen Curtis JCI Boston

Length of membership: 1 year 

Role(s) held with local chamber: Member

Why did you join JCI: To meet like minded people for both social and networking reasons

Describe your membership of JCI in three words*: worthwhile, energetic, challenging

How has your membership had an impact on your personal development?

One of the key areas where JCI has had an impact is in relation to working as part of a team (and no, I am not writing a job application!). Firstly, there is the day to day aspect of being involved in a local chamber. JCI Boston is one of the smaller chambers and it's really important that we can all work together to ensure that we really do make a difference to our local community and maintain a strong presence and involvement within JCI UK. Being part of a small team has really helped to reinforce when to speak up with my own ideas or suggestions and when to sit back and listen to others.

My experiences as part of JCI have also shown me how a good welcome can really make you feel part of a larger team. It can really make a difference in terms of getting stuck into the training session or event that you are at. As my network of people within JCI is growing, I really hope that I make the effort to engage new members.

How has your membership had an impact of your career?

The most immediate impact has been from the networking opportunities JCI offers. I work as a solicitor in a town where there are a wide variety of languages spoken and it is not always possible to communicate with clients in English. Through my first JCI event I met the director of a translation company. They now provide an invaluable service to the whole of my firm and we are able to make mutually beneficial referrals. Their cooperation in terms of meeting the requirements of the Legal Services Commission has gone down very well with my boss!

I also found attending JCI Presenter to be in valuable as part of my job. Whether it is presenting information and advice to clients or presenting a case to a District Judge, the tools and techniques that I learned have already come in very useful in getting the message across.

What do you enjoy most about your membership of JCI?

There's always something new to do or try!

What is your most memorable experience within JCI?

Being given the Members' Member award at our President's dinner in March. Receiving an award came as a complete shock to me, and it was made even more special by the fact it was voted for by my fellow members of JCI Boston. It is not very often that I am made speechless!

What did you gain from attending your first national/international event?

I have not yet attended a national event: I have however helped to organise and attended the Yorkshire Regional Dinner which was a great opportunity to meet a wider network of people in JCI. I was really proud to see Boston take centre stage for the event and it really showed me the commitment from chambers all over the country in coming to celebrate with us.

How does your membership help you to be an active citizen?

I think that it is really important to have an organisation such as JCI in a small town such a Boston. Boston is struggling to find its own sense of community given the changing population: having a JCI presence in the town can only help.

My memberships of JCI also helps me to maintain a global perspective on issues. One of JCI Boston's main focuses has been supporting the Nothing But Nets campaign through its clothes collections. This has been a really good way to highlight my involvement with JCI - it really gets you out into the community explaining to friends, family and anyone who will listen why I am happy to collect their unwanted clothes and the ways in which it will make a difference.

Anything else you'd like to add about your membership experience?

I moved to Boston for work reasons and I was very sceptical about being able to meet like-minded people who want to get out and do things. Joining JCI has been an absolute lifeline for me, both for work and for my social life!

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Are you having a spring clean?

If so we can take bags of clothes off your hands.

JCI Boston is working in conjunction with Bag 2 the Future, a company that recycles old clothing, bedding, bags, curtains shoes and belts. We will gladly take all your old clothes that either don't fit or we don't like any more.

The clothes we collect are sold to developing countries in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and parts of Eastern Europe.

The majority of the clothing collected is shipped to wholesalers where they are sorted and sold to the general public via retailers.These countries are encouraging entrepreneurs to develop import markets and build up business structures, thus creating employment opportunities.

This is win win situation, your clothes get donated to poorer countries and we raise money for the nothing but nets campaign.

A member of the JCI Boston team would be happy to come and collect your old clothes, and we can even provide recycling bags. The deadline for collections is Thursday 21st June as our bags are being collected on the Friday.

We hope you will be able to support this worthy cause if you need any more information please contact our Community Director Allison Cowell on 07787 570026 or email her on Allison.cowell@jciuk.org.uk

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