Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Looking ahead with 2011-2012 JLBR President Nancy Dockerty

I recently attended the AJLI Conference for President-Elects and President-Elect-Elects with Jackie Reeves in New Orleans.  True to our mission statement of “ ..improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers,” this conference had some amazing sessions on leadership. One in particular that stood out to me was on Servant Leadership, facilitated by Vicki Clark. Robert Greenleaf coined the term servant leadership in his 1970 essay, titled “The Servant as Leader,” where he describes the servant leader as one who leads by serving others. I thought, “YES that’s it, that’s exactly what a Junior League President does and it’s exactly why I’m thrilled to be the incoming President.  I can do that; I can serve our membership by empowering them to use their talents to accomplish the League’s goals.” People often ask why I want to be a League President and it always seems hard to explain. I’m not a coach, or a cheerleader, or a motivator, but when I learned more about servant leadership, I realized, yep that’s my personality, encouraging others to bring out their best, and when we do that together as volunteers in the League it has a tremendous impact on our community.

Looking back with 2010-2011 JLBR President Samantha Vasallo

Wow! It’s so hard to believe that we are almost through the League year!  I continue to be amazed by the passion and dedication of our members, both to our League and our Community.  I have seen such enthusiasm at our General Membership Meetings, commitment and hard work from each of our councils and fundraisers, amazing creativity and eagerness in committee activities, and countless other examples of positive energy among our membership.

Every member has a role to play in the continued success of the JLBR.  The League is sustained by the collective efforts of each member.  Edith Wharton once said there are two ways of spreading light – to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.  I love the idea that each person can have a role to play in the great works that we as a League all accomplish together.  There are simply different roles to play, and all are important as we work to achieve our mission and live our legacy.


Based on our League’s achievements over the past several months, you have all clearly demonstrated that you do believe that tomorrow can be better than today.  You actions, and not merely your words, have consistently show optimism that not only can tomorrow be better, but that we can be a part of making it better.


As a result of our efforts and collaborations more than 4,000 children were reached through the Spirit of Giving Network with the annual Back to School Bash and Holiday Gift Drive.  We also: