What’s in a name?

They call it No Name-Calling Week, and there’s an interesting story behind it. It starts with a book called The Misfits by popular kids author James Howe. Now in its…
View Post

The Volunteer Powerhouse, Chapter 2

Next up on our schedule of serialized reading is Chapter Two of The Volunteer Powerhouse, entitled “New Roles for Debutantes.” It explores the first decade of The Junior League and brings to light several traditions and core principles that remain vital threads in the Movement’s fabric even today.

We are given an in-depth portrait of the energetic and strong-willed Mary Harriman, who was intent on not living the life of the stereotypical sheltered rich girl by doing something meaningful with her life – and convincing her peers to do likewise. While commuting to Barnard one day in her horse-drawn carriage known as a sulky — or floating in a lake on her parents’ 20,000-acre estate in Orange County, N.Y. on another (reports conflict as to the timing of her idea)–she is said to have mused exuberantly that she and her fellow debutantes would go to work in the settlements on New York’s impoverished Lower East Side, work she had heard about in a lecture by Louise Lockwood.

View Post

What Can ‘Volunteers’ Achieve?

Members of the new California State Legislature can expect to hear from a formidable advocate with a 40-year history of fighting for women’s and children’s issues – the Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee (“SPAC”), which represents the more than 11,000 members of 16 Junior Leagues across California.

Founded in 1970, California SPAC is one of The Junior League’s oldest and largest state public affairs committees, whose goals are to serve as the voice of the women and children in the communities they serve by introducing and supporting state legislation that improves the lives of women and children in the communities we serve. Other Junior League SPACs are in New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington State, along with single-League advocacy groups in St. Louis and Denver. Some 95 individual Leagues with more than 52,000 members are involved these efforts across the country.

View Post
View Post

    Happy 129th Birthday, Mary!

    You know her as the founder of The Junior League. And it’s a remarkable story. At 19, a young New York debutante, daughter of one of the richest men in America, mobilizes a group of 80 other young women, hence the name “Junior” League, to work to improve child health, nutrition and literacy among poor immigrants living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
    View Post
    Categories
    Subscribe
    Follow Us