July 2, 2014, by Hannah Steward
On Saturday, June 28th, members of JLSA worked with the Food Bank Mobile Pantry, and The Fountain Christian Church, to sort and distribute food baskets to over 200 needy families. The JLSA Board of Directors, "Let's Go San Antonio" Leadership Team, and JLSA Staff sent home baskets filled with fresh meat and vegetables, in addition to non-perishable goods, with the grateful families. JLSA Members enjoyed the opportunity to give back to the community and work alongside the church congregation. It was a terrific start to the 2014-2015 League year and put our Mission to action.
Cluster meetings.
What are they? They’re an opportunity for new members to get to know other JLSA members, AND to get to know the organization as a whole. Dana Cleveland has taken the cluster meeting to a whole new level with recent challenges issued to her new member group.
Read Dana’s account (below) to learn more about what Dana does to keep cluster meetings interesting, innovative and inspiring. Then, challenge yourself to complete the same activities, or to come up with new ways to more fully comprehend the mission, vision and objectives of JLSA.
Each cluster meeting I decided I wanted to challenge my ladies to learn more about themselves AND the league they have joined. I do research on my own and bring to each meeting a sort of history lesson and copies of documents from past leagues and the true history of the junior league. Their first assignment was as follows: I asked each of my new members, for our Cluster Meeting #2 was to reflect on themselves and why they are becoming part of an elite group of women. I told them that all great women in history had a purpose and mission for doing what they do. I told them the "God Mother" of the Junior League, Mary Harriman Rumsey, once said, "Our League, as I see it, was organized as a means of expressing the feeling of social responsibility for the conditions which surrounded us. We have the responsibility to act, and we have the responsibility to conscientiously act to affect the environment around us."
I then asked them their "Mission Statement" or their purpose in the Junior League. Here are a few of their responses:
· Celeste Oliver wrote, "To partner with socially conscientious women to promote health, education, and well-being of families and individuals to create the clean, compassionate and viable community that will enhance our lives, the lives of our peers and leave a better place for our children."
· Janet Pedrotti wrote, "I come from a background of fundraising where I learned the biggest reason people don't donate to charities is because they have never been asked and I realized the reason I never volunteered, even though I wanted to, was because I was never asked. I joined the league as my way of throwing myself into volunteering. And I am a huge fan of the "pay it forward" theory and I truly believe it you show compassion towards someone and do something nice there will be a chain reaction of kindness."
· Alejandra Baptista wrote, "My purpose to make a difference with the league is to help people in need within my community driven by my belief that it can only lead to more positivity and I am grateful that I have two arms and two legs and the time to volunteer and fulfill my purpose."
I told them that during my provisional year I was voted as Spotlight New Member and was asked the very same question. I told them that as we do our duties as leaguers, we should see our “new member requirements” as more than requirements; we should think of them as opportunities.
The next Cluster Homework (due in October) revolves around some information I provided my group at Cluster meeting #2 regarding a Junior League article in the Junior League Magazine from October 1952. It describes the “average” League member of that time from a certain demographic. As we read it in our cluster meeting we laughed and saw how different we think the league is now. I plan to have each lady describe their idea of the “average” League member now. I’m curious to see how this has changed and what each of them see as the same or different from the 1952 article.
I feel very fortunate to work alongside such incredible women doing great things!
The fictional star of TV’s Emmy Awarding-winning Mad Men is a stay-at-home mother, an active member of the Junior League of Tarrytown (now called the Junior League of Westchester-on-Hudson) and a key mover in the League’s local environmental efforts.
But how typical is Betty of real Junior League members (all 160,000 of them)?
While many Junior League members take time off from work to raise families, 71% of members work full or part time outside of the home. Many members do some combination of both: work, stay at home, and go back to work again. And all, like Betty, are actively involved in civic leadership in their own communities.
Here are just a few of The Junior League’s change agents.
•Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), member of the Junior League of New York and the proud sponsor of a House bill to establish a National Women's History Museum on the Mall in Washington.
•Jan Langbein, The Senior Policy Advisor at the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice and a 27 year member of the Junior League of Dallas.
•Betty Simms, U.S. Senate, Missouri, has made significant contributions to improving the health, economic, and social well-being of women and children.
•Rose Hudson, President and CEO of the Louisiana Lottery Corporation.
•Kay Hagan, U.S. Senate, North Carolina, “one of the smartest, hardest working, most effective senators in North Carolina” according to Governor Mike Easley, credits her experience with The Junior League.
•Gena Lovett, COO Alexandra Investment Management, a New York hedge fund.
•Glenda E. Hood, former Florida Secretary of State and Mayor of Orlando.
•Pat Evans, former three-term Mayor of Plano and was Plano’s “Citizen of the Year” in 2004.
•Dee Dickinson, one of the world’s foremost experts on learning and human development.
•The Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Justice on the US Supreme Court.
Which Junior League women have positively impacted your community?
Article provided by The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. Founded in 1901 by New Yorker, Mary Harriman, the Junior Leagues are charitable nonprofit organizations of women, developed as civic leaders, creating demonstrable community impact.
Today, The Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. (AJLI) is comprised of more than 160,000 women in 292 Junior Leagues throughout Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, they constitute one of the largest, most effective volunteer organizations in the world.
