Annual Meeting 2013

The Franklin Young Professionals had our Annual Meeting on March 5th, 2013 at The Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub in downtown Franklin.  Special thanks to the Rathskeller for being awesome hosts and for the goodies they supplied.  We had food catered from Frogtown Market and amazing desserts made by Pattycakes Bakery. 

Frogtown Market, Pattycakes & Rathskeller provided food & desserts

Annual Meeting 2013

Our Annual Meeting was a time to reflect back on the previous corporate year and to look forward to the upcoming year.  President Mandy Lail reflected on both our strong past and helped prepare us for the year ahead of us.  We had a fun slideshow of pictures from the past year.  Some highlights of this past year were our monthly socials, the Adopt-A-Highway road clean-ups, helping out with the Franklin Folk Festival and Mountain High BBQ Festival, as well as continued support for the Macon County Care Network Weekend Backpack Program.  Our most exciting achievement was our first annual Macon Waves Ducky Derby, which was the first big event FYP hosted here in Franklin.  The Ducky Derby was held in conjunction with the NC Big Sweep event down on the Little Tennessee River.  Our Ducky Derby raised over $4000 and has helped us start up a new scholarship for local high school students, called the FYP Scholar Award.  We have chosen a very well-deserved boy and girl who will each be receiving a $1000 scholarship this spring.  We will be announcing the names of winners very soon so be on the lookout!  This was a huge deal for us and we hope that will be able to provide this scholarship for years to come.

Annual Meeting 2013

President Mandy Lail saying a few words

Our new Board of Directors for 2013-2014 was also announced.  We have a number of board members that will be continuing to serve, some of them in new and different positions, but we also have a few new faces!  We are very excited about the energy and enthusiasm our new board has and we look forward to a great new year.   

Looking forward to a great new year!

Cold For A Cause 2013

The Franklin Young Professionals were on hand to help out with this year's Cold For A Cause.  Every year in January Patrick Jenkins of Farm Bureau gets hoisted up on a crane in the cold to help raise donations for charity and to bring about an awareness of needy families in our area.  The Young Professionals helped promote the event and bring about local awareness of the cause.  We also helped out on Saturday January 19th collecting donations and putting them into the trucks.  We do not yet have the final tally, but the trucks were filling up all weekend long.  We collected items such as coats, winter clothes, hats, scarfs, gloves, canned goods and non-perishable food items, blankets, etc.  The charitable donations will be taken to CareNet of Macon County.  

FYP Members loading up the trucks

Patrick up in the bucket, braving the cold!

The Franklin Young Professionals lend a hand

This is the second year we participated in this event and we are planning to help support the event in the future.  We have also been working hard every few months cleaning up along our Adopt-A-Highway stretch of road on Porter Street.  We are also looking forward to hearing from the first of the applicants of the Franklin Scholar award, which is being offered for the first time this spring to a well-deserving high school senior of Franklin.  Check back frequently to see what we are up to and where you might find us helping out around Macon County!  

Have you spotted us in our new T-shirts?

We recently ordered brand new FYP logo t-shirts from SportsZone.  They turned out great and we are all proud to sport our new logo.  Look for us around town and at local events!  We are in the process of ordering "FYP" t-shirts in bulk to sell to anyone who wants to help support our group and help spread the word about FYP.  Stay tuned for more information.  Special thanks to our VP Laura Tallent and to SportsZone!

Lovely ladies of FYP sporting our new logo T-shirts

First Annual Ducky Derby is a Success!

On August 4th, 2012 the Franklin Young Professionals hosted the First Annual Macon Waves Ducky Derby.  The event was held at Big Bear Park on the Little Tennessee River Greenway.  In the morning FYP members helped out with the Big Sweep river clean up headed by Guy Gooder.  There were more than 1.1 tons of trash collected!  From noon to 4 pm we held a small festival at the park.  We had hotdogs, drinks, and snacks for sale, as well as music, games and family fun.  At 2:00 pm the Ducky Derby started.

Over 750 ducks were put into the river and floated down about one quarter of a mile to the finish.  For the past couple of months, members of FYP had been selling duck sponsorships all over town, and even out of state in some cases!  We had also been hard at work getting local businesses to help sponsor the event and donate prizes for the winners.  There were prizes awarded to the first 23 ducks to cross the finish line.  Prizes included a stay at Old Edwards Inn, a night stay at Fly Away Cabin in Pigeon Forge, numerous local restaurant and retail gift certificates, a piece of Barber Pottery, a 3 month membership at Franklin Fitness Center, Dnet Leadercast Tickets, a gift basket from Franklin Veterinary Hospital, Visa Gift Cards from local businesses, and rental packages from Outdoor 76.

Alauna Kiser receiving her Ducky Derby prize

We were able to raise over $4,000 during the event, through duck sales, food, and game tokens.  Proceeds from the event are going to be put towards the Franklin Young Professionals Scholarship Fund and a small portion back to the Greenway.  The first recipients of the FYP Scholarship will receive their awards in the spring of 2013.  The scholarship(s) will be awarded to a well-deserving high school senior who plans to go to college and then return to the Franklin area to work and support the local economy.  

Special thanks to Gooder Grafix for the awesome banners!

We are very thankful to all of the businesses who sponsored our event and to all of those who helped make it a success.  This event would not have been possible without all of the help.  FYP is very pleased and proud that our first big event was a success.  We are very excited about the future and are already preparing for next year!

1st Annual Macon Waves Ducky Derby

The Franklin Young Professionals are preparing to host the first annual Macon Waves Ducky Derby this summer.  The event will be held on August 4th at Big Bear Park on the Little Tennessee River Greenway.  We will be partnering with the NC Big Sweep, a statewide initiative to clean up our waterways.  We have partnered up with the Big Sweep to help promote their cause and to support the beautification and preservation of our community.  We will be participating in the Big Sweep clean up in the morning and will hold our family oriented festival in the afternoon.  At 2 pm we will hold a rubber ducky derby on the Little Tennessee River.  There will be a number of great prizes available, most of which are coming directly from local businesses.  There will be food, music, and games for all ages. 

All proceeds from the event will go towards the FYP Scholarship Fund and back to the Greenway.  We plan to offer a scholarship to a well deserving high school senior (or possibly more than one) from Franklin, who plans to stay in the Franklin area and become a future young professional.  The race ducks will be sold for $5 each or a flock of five ducks for $20.  They will be available from Macon Rental, Repeats Consignment or from any Franklin Young Professional member.   

FYP has Adopted a Highway!

The Franklin Young Professionals have officially adopted a highway.  We have committed to cleaning up a portion of Franklin's roadways to help keep the community and the environment clean.  Our two mile stretch it located on Highway 441 Business Route through Porter Street downtown.  We have been sending groups out quarterly to help with the clean-up effort.  If you see us out there in our bright orange vests give us a wave or honk your horn to let us know you support FYP!!

Have you seen our new sign?

June 16th Clean-Up Crew

Annual Meeting & New Board of Directors

On Friday March 16th, 2012 the Franklin Young Professionals met at Cat Creek Lodge for our annual business meeting.  At this meeting we presented awards to some of our members for their involvement and participation during the 2011-2012 corporate year.  Ten of our members received perfect attendance awards.  A few members received special awards for their superior dedication to the group and our mission.  The award recipients are as follows:

• Most Active - Ashley Freeman
• Most Enthusiastic - Erica Browning
• Most Productive - Ryan Finn
• FYP Mama of the Year - Jessica Jenkins
• Seen But Not Heard Award - Johnathan Dean

We also had the extreme privilege of installing our new board of directors for the upcoming 2012-2013 corporate year.  Our charter board stepped down and handed over the reins to the new board members.  We were pleased to have a few of our previous board members stay on for this upcoming year, but also glad to see a number of new, fresh faces step up.

FYP Board of Directors 2012-2013

Franklin Young Professionals, Inc Board of Directors 2012-2012: 

President - Mandy Lail* 

Vice President - Laura Tallent 

Past President - Ashley Hyder* 

Secretary - Kelly Rogers, DVM* 

Treasurer - Johnathan Dean 

Events Chair - Craig Berry* 

Membership Chair - Bethany Ledford (co-chair Ryan Finn) 

Marketing Chair - Matthew Bateman  

Historian - Ashley Freeman 

* indicates previous board position

The Franklin Young Professionals are looking forward to another great year.  We are already working on some big plans for the year and some great opportunities to get involved with and help support our community.  We plan to continue to help out with and be a major supporter of the CareNet Weekend Backpack Program throughout the year.  Our "Adopt a Highway" stretch will also continue to maintained by the group quarterly, so keep your eyes peeled for us along US 441/Porter Street downtown.  Our group is also planning to participate in at least one more career fair this year, but eventually we hope to have more opportunities for involvement with the young people of Franklin.  

Special thanks to Cat Creek Lodge for hosting another great event for us.