From the President

Dear JLSA members and community partners,

 

When I transferred my Junior League membership from Abilene to San Angelo, I was amazed to find JLSA so deeply rooted in our community.  Nine years later, I am ecstatic and honored to serve as the 2020-2021 President.

This past year we were well on track to break many records with service projects, when COVID-19 redirected our path.  Our response to this detour was nothing short of extraordinary.

JLSA distributed Food 2 Kids sacks with the Concho Valley Regional Food Bank.  To help children cope with staying at home, 400 books about COVID were printed and distributed to elementary students.  We donated $2,000 to the Concho Valley Regional Food Bank to help replenish depleted resources for distribution.  We collected cleaning supplies and donated to the Family Shelter.  We also delivered bags of nonperishables for Meals for the Elderly.  We embraced technology to conduct our first virtual meetings, recruitment events, and Community Advisory Council meeting.

Other accomplishments this past year include giving school clothes, coats, and shoes to the boys at the Boys Ranch, purchasing coats for each child enrolled at the Boys and Girls Club, participating in the Special Needs Rodeo, giving out over 400 books through our Children’s Literacy Project, and delivering to 11 schools for the Food 2 Kids program each week.  Our Provisional class decorated a float for the Christmas Parade and taught over 600 kids about healthy eating and exercise through Kids in the Kitchen and Healthy Hearts, Early Starts.

In the Fall of 2019, we entered a partnership with the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) to create the Junior League Family Resource Center which will be housed in the new CAC headquarters. The Resource Center, scheduled to open in Fall of 2020, will provide a free “store” of clothes and other essentials for the families working with the CAC to utilize.  We completed 605 Student Closet requests prior to March.  During our Little Black Tee campaign for San Angelo Gives, JLSA members wore the same black tshirts for 5 consecutive days to raise community awareness of the impact of inadequate clothing on student’s focus and self esteem.  Through this campaign, we raised over $25,000 for the Student Closet program.

This organization of women has been growing a legacy in our community since 1946, adapting continuously to respond to needs in our community. “Find Your Roots” is a natural theme for our next League year.

Roots are symbolic of our past projects and the diverse group of women behind them.  Roots can keep trees upright through the biggest storms.  They can also refuel plant growth even after fire and drought.

As we approach the 75th anniversary as a community organization, we expect the current economic and health crisis to increase needs in the Concho Valley.  With our amazing group of skilled volunteers, I have no doubt that we will again rise to the occassion and continue to grow our legacy.

Amanda