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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.
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Girl…How Things Have Changed!

Eleven decades ago, when Mary Harriman and her fellow Junior Leaguers wanted to communicate, they likely sent a telegram or picked up a telephone receiver and asked an operator to dial an alpha-numeric code — “Murray Hill 2977” was the code at the New York City office in 1914 — over a crackly line. That is, if they weren’t dispatching a manservant to hand-deliver a handwritten note on parchment sealed with wax.
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Who Was Mary Harriman?

What makes 160,000 women in 4 countries join a women’s volunteer organization dedicated to fostering civic leadership? The enduring legacy of Junior League founder, Mary Harriman. But who was Mary…
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How One Woman Made a Difference

At The Junior League, we spend a lot of time thinking about the power of volunteer groups. But sometimes, it’s awe-inspiring to look at what one a single determined woman can do.

Take Lorri Unumb, a member of the Junior League of Columbia, SC. In 2005, as the mother of a 4-year-old boy in South Carolina recently diagnosed with severe autism, she took up the challenge to get her medical insurance company to cover the cost of treatments for her son, Ryan…

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