Jim Young’s annual, year-end party to thank lemonade volunteers takes place in November as lemonade duty volunteers spread out over Jim and Phyllis Young’s rehabbed, three story Victorian on the near south side of the City of St. Louis, in the historic Soulard neighborhood. But we all know Jim is the chief lemonade volunteer. Averaging $30,000 net sales per year over 25 years, Jim and his team of lemon squeezers have made a major contribution to the work of the Eastern Missouri Group (EMG) and the Missouri Chapter.
Bevo Day had the first Sierra Club St. Louis lemonade stand in 1979. From there the effort spread to the Festival of the Little Hills, Strassenfest, Earth Day, the St. Louis County Fair, Fair St. Louis, and other venues. Besides lemonade, the Sierra Club booth has over time sold several other items, including veggie burgers, apple fritters, salsa and corn chips, quesadillas, pretzels, and citrus coolers, orange or grapefruit. In fact, the initial idea to sell apple fritters at Bevo Day was quashed by the Bevo Day festival organizers and lemonade came in serendipitously as a substitute sales item. However, the apple fritter was still gold and the Sierra Club booth had people lined up from across the street for three days at Strassenfest. In recent years, Jim has added Hurricanes and Margueritas for sale at Mardi Gras.
Jim grew up in Maplewood Heights, a suburb of St. Louis, and developed an interest in nature by exploring undeveloped areas of the neighborhood and by participating in Explorer Scouts. He spent most of his career in St. Louis working as a pharmacist, but frequently backpacking in Missouri and in western states.
Jim and Phyllis, his wife of 35 years, joined the Sierra Club in 1975, being drawn to the club campaigns against the Meramec Dam and for Missouri Wilderness. Jim chaired EMG’s wilderness committee and helped bring about wilderness designation for several natural areas, including Piney Creek, Paddy Creek, Bell Mountain, and Rock Pile Mountain. As an outings leader, he led outings to enjoy and learn. The wilderness campaign linked up with fundraising when EMG created the 1978 Wilderness Calendar, raising $9,000. However, no further calendars followed this successful enterprise after the national Sierra Club calendar publisher, Scribners, threatened an injunction to prohibit further publication of calendars.
Jim is best known for his leadership on fundraising, but he is also an activist on energy issues. As a tour guide and volunteer at the St. Louis Earth Ways Center, he introduces many people to home energy conservation. An active member of the energy committee, he has been extending his reach on energy issues, developing materials on home energy conservation and was active this summer in collecting signatures for the Renewable Energy Standard ballot initiative.
Many Sierrans remember when Jim traveled to the Cuivre River Chapter Reunion by bicycle. Recently Jim took the Amtrak to Joplin, MO and rode his bicycle back to St. Louis. Jim has also been active on population issues and is formerly a chair of EMG Excom. Being active runs in the family. Phyllis Young has been an alderwoman in the city of St. Louis since 1985.