The Boca Raton Community Garden Box Build

By Christina Hanna

Teenagers and power tools? It seems like a chaotic combination to me! In fact, the partnering of Boca Raton High School students, the Police Athletic League, and Junior League volunteers proved to be a cooperative success that led to the construction of over 50 wooden planting boxes for our Community Garden! 

Not being a power tool pro myself, I knew I would need to recruit some help from my handy fiancé. Armed with two drills (his contribution), and an cooler full of Gatorade (my way of participating), we surveyed our surroundings: a seemingly insurmountable pile of plywood planks and a scattering of neon-clad high schoolers sauntering around listening to their iPods. 

Issue Based Community Impact: Domestic Violence and Disabilities

As you know, the Junior League of Boca Raton is an organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Our purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.

In order to provide the best level of help to our community, we must be knowledgeable about the issues. As such, we are always educating ourselves on issues that are affecting our community. This month, we took a closer look at domestic violence and disabilities.

Did you know...

• One in every three women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
• An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
• People with disabilities constitute the nation's largest minority group, and the only group any of us can become a member of at any time.
• Of the 69.6 million families in the United States, more than 20 million have at least one family member with a disability.

The Junior League of Boca Raton has a long history of helping organizations that address needs of domestic violence and disabilities in our community, such Horses for the Handicapped, Twin Palms Rehabilitation Center, AVDA, and more. For more information on how to get involved with the Junior League of Boca Raton, visit our website at www.jlbr.org.

Tip Your Hat to the Woman Volunteer of the Year Luncheon!

The JLBR Woman Volunteer of the Year of the Year Committee in some hats in Saks!
(Click picture to enlarge.)

I have a confession.

Ever since April 29th, when I got up even earlier than usual on a workday to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, I've been slightly obsessed with funky hats. The problem being, where and when would I wear one?! Somehow my office or even the beach just doesn't seem to be the place.

But wait -- once again, the Junior League of Boca Raton (JLBR) is responding to a community need...the need to wear fun hats! AND pay tribute to some amazing women while doing so.

How, you ask??

During the 24th Annual Woman Volunteer of the Year (WVOY) Luncheon, which will take place on Thursday, October 6th at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. This event celebrates women from various non-profits throughout Palm Beach County who have been nominated for making significant and noteworthy contributions to children, families, individuals and seniors. Last year, the JLBR raised more than $162,000 to support our mission of improving the community. The luncheon is phenomenal every year, but this year there will be a few extra special touches.

"This year, with the the Junior League of Boca Raton celebrating it's 40 year anniversary, it's a little different," explains JLBR member and WVOY committee member Jennifer Barner. "We want everyone to wear hats and tip their hats to the nominees."

"As the Junior League of Boca Raton celebrates 40 years of service to our community this year, it's women such as these nominees who inspire us to continue our mission of women building better communities," adds JLBR president Nancy Dockerty.

Hat or no hat, we'd love to see you there. For more information -- or just to see some more great hats -- visit the Facebook page: facebook.com/WomanVolunteerOfTheYear.

The JLBR Addresses Diaper Need in the Community

Marjorie Hollman, Harlee Samuels, Dee Lewis, Sarah Flynn

The Junior League of Boca Raton Diaper Bank is a new initiative this year that will address the issue of "diaper need" in this community.  Once a month the Diaper Bank Committee will hold a Diaper Distribution Day, as well as various diaper drives in order to restock our inventory so that families in need can continue to receive this important service.

This past week has been very busy for the Junior League of Boca Raton's Diaper Bank Committee.  On Tuesday, August 16th the Committee held its monthly meeting at Cabana El Ray on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.  Led by Chair Gina Griffin, the Committee enjoyed dinner and planned for our first Diaper Distribution Day on Saturday, August 20th.  

When Saturday arrived, several Committee members assisted by Done in a Day (DIAD) volunteers met at the storage facility to transport diapers to Florence Fuller's east campus.  There representatives from the selected organizations who will receive diapers this year -- Caridad Center, Family Promise, Florence Fuller Child Development Center and Milagro Center -- picked up 2,800 diapers that they will then pass on to the families they serve.  

Make sure you Like us on Facebook in order to see what we are up to and to learn how you can be involved!

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:

One JLBR Member's ODI Experience

by Sara Ritzler

In March, the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) held their first Organizational Development Institute (ODI) conference of 2011 in Tampa. Junior League of Boca Raton members Marya Gill, Jackie Schatz, Allison Lane, Shannon Moriarity, and I were honored to represent our League at the 3 day event which brings together representatives from Leagues all over the United States, Canada, Mexico and even London. ODI is a powerful experience designed to help develop our potential as League members through workshops, discussions on thought provoking topics and networking opportunities. The goal is to then bring those skills and ideas back to our own Leagues.

The opportunity to interact with other League members is both inspiring and enlightening. It was a fantastic and humbling experience to witness the power of nearly 160,000 women from 292 Leagues making a crucial difference in their communities. Over the course of the conference I was fascinated to learn about the various projects and issues other Leagues have undertaken.

• The Junior League of Atlanta is working on a Pilot Project to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
• The Junior League of Alexandria, La. partnered with Pregnancy Care Closet to help teenage mothers shop in the closet if they completed parenting classes.
• The Junior League Long Beach teamed up with their local metal health department to raise awareness for perinatal depression.
• Several leagues including those in Memphis, Baton Rouge and Kalamazoo have a “Cinderella Project” where gently used dressed are donated to junior and senior girls in need of a prom dresses.
• The Junior League of London is working on a project to foster an interest in reading and a love of books to young children from low-income families. The League is working with Dolly Parton’s Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library and Penguin UK to mail one book per month to each enrolled child.

The list goes on and on but I think you get the point. ODI is an incredible League conference that every Leaguer should participate in at some point during their League experience. It reaffirmed my love of the League and a desire to make a important difference in our community.