When I tell people I volunteer with the Junior League, they either think the Junior League is a kids baseball team or have this impression of a snobby group of society women who wear pearls and drink tea. Books like The Devil in the Junior League haven’t done much to help (although quite funny!)
Earlier today, my friend Larry Bettag was giving me a little flack about being a JL member (his wife has The Devil in the Junior League book). So, Larry inspired me to explain what the JL really is.
In a nutshell, the Junior League is a group of women devoted to improving their community through a variety of different methods including hands on community involvement, grant making and public advocacy. I am a member of The Junior League of San Francisco (JLSF). The JLSF has been at the forefront of emerging issues, many of which are low profile, misunderstood, and poorly addressed. Some projects and issues in which the JLSF has taken a lead role over the years include:
- Red Cross Motor Corps: In 1917 the Motor Delivery Service was formed with JLSF drivers. This was turned over to the Red Cross and served as a prototype for the nationwide Red Cross Motor Corps.
- Volunteer Bureau of San Francisco: Organized in 1946 by the League and jointly financed with the Community Chest, the Volunteer Bureau continues today as San Francisco’s central volunteer referral agency. Founding the Volunteer Center was part of a national Junior League movement to promote volunteerism.
- Domestic Violence: In the 1980s, Junior League chapters helped to gain passage of the first federal legislation to address domestic violence.
- The Homeless: The JLSF was the first League in the U.S. to recognize and address the problem. The League began its involvement with Central City Hospitality House and has provided funding for almost every homeless family shelter in San Francisco. In addition, the League was instrumental in establishing the Episcopal Sanctuary in 1984, which houses and feeds about 230 homeless men and women every night.
- AIDS: The JLSF, which recognized quickly that AIDS was a critical community health issue, has been one of the earliest and most consistent supporters of AIDS projects in the Bay Area. Since 1987, when the Shanti Project and AIDS Home Care & Hospice became new League Projects, the JLSF has provided volunteer and financial support to more than ten agencies with AIDS programs.
- Childhood Obesity: In 2007, 225 Junior League chapters in four countries participated in Kids in the Kitchen, an initiative to address the problems associated with childhood obesity and poor nutrition.
Think I am wearing pearls all the time? I promise you I wasn’t wearing them when I was painting Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, nor when I was providing respite care (aka babysitting) for children whose mothers were getting counseling to overcome abuse. I might have been wearing them when I climbed into a garbage dumpster during cleanup at a fundraising event a few years ago, but who cares- it isn’t about pearls, it is about helping improve the community we live in.
Two years ago I took on a very glamorous and high profile role as chair of huge fundraiser for the league. Yes, my name and photo made it into lots of magazine and society columns. What wasn’t shown was the amount of blood, sweat and tears required to make that event a success, as well as the years of training the Junior League provided me before hand. Junior League members are some of the most committed, kind and generous people I know.
Famous Junior Leaguer members:
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
- Katharine Hepburn
- Barbara Bush
- Laura Bush
- and many more…
To sum it up, the Junior League is:
- A organization of approximately 170,000 women in 293 chapters in four countries who are dedicated to improving their community
- A superior training ground for community leaders
- A group that reaches out to all women regardless of age, race, religion, color, national origin, handicapped status or sexual orientation
If you catch me sipping tea (or caught wearing pearls like in this pic), it is a reward for dumpster diving, so cut me some slack!