Missed a Meeting?

November GMM:

We missed you on Tuesday. As promised, it was a working meeting .  We wrapped a million presents (only  slight exaggeration) for foster kids, gorged on Trader Joe’s chocolate/peppermint candy (totally accurate, personally anyway) provided by Amy Dowell and grooved to Christmas tunes on Dina’s ipod. 

Notable celebrities in attendance included Spokane’s newest First Lady, Kristin Condon. We cheered her arrival and kept the paparazzi locked outside.   We were also joined by six – YES SIX – potential new members who wanted to join in on the wrapping party. They are ready to work already.  We like that.  A lot. 

We honored with a Bravo co-award, Members of the Month Sarah Jess and Michelle Grover, who are currently hip-deep in preparing to throw a huge party for foster families in two weeks.  You should see how organized and savvy they are.  They are even still smiling. We are smiling back at them.  Check out the JLS facebook page where you can see proof.   We also had Bravo nominations for Cynthia Gustafson for her successes with. membership, Julie McGann for helping all the transfers transition, and Heather Byrd for her tireless efforts as our Administrative Director.

WHY FOSTER SANTA BREAKFAST? 

We talked about why we do our Foster Santa Breakfast.  We remembered that our mission is to train women to be community and civic leaders who have a lasting impact in our community.  We talked about three areas: Need, Experience and Intangibles.  

(1) Need:  We discussed the need that exists in our community to support foster families, parents and kids, and that this is the only event of its kind.  (The fact we can pull it off on this size and scale with 36 active members speaks volumes for our active membership’s abilities.)  We talked about the real financial needs of foster parents, and that this event provides the means to ensure that every child in a foster family receives a Christmas gift and a chance to visit Santa.  We also talked about the need of the kids – without this event, the children would not have the ability to give a gift to his/her parent. 

(2) Experience:  We talked about the benefits to our active members, beyond the good feelings.  We discussed the fact that the definition of a trained volunteer includes the skills necessary to put together a Special Event.  Many, if not most, non-profits stage at least one Special Event during the year.  These can involve auctions, galas, craft shows, etc. We talked about the particular skills our members acquire from organizing this event – they learn about the foster system in Spokane and the needs of the parents, they learn how to collaborate with state agencies, how to ask for money or in-kind donations, and how to logistically organize scores of volunteers from a variety of backgrounds.   They learn persistence and patience and of course, people management skills.  Also, our members who attend and work the event receive the invaluable benefits (magic?) that always is present when we work together, side-by-side, for a common cause. 

(3) Intangibles:   This is the good part.  We talked about how our staging this event teaches the foster kids what it feels like to give.  By selecting and wrapping and presenting a gift for his/her parent, we give these kids the chance to experience how it feels to give to someone else.  It’s simple, but powerful.  And we also discussed that the fact that we do this event hopefully teaches the kids the people care about them, and they are important.  They may never meet us, see our faces, or know our names, but each one will know that he/she is cared for, is part of this community, is deserving, and he/she matters. 

 FLOW GROUP UPDATES:

We met within our flow groups for about 15 minutes of the meeting.  If you do not know who your flow group director is, please contact Julie Lattin (jlattin@comcast.net).   Everyone is impressively busy.  For example:

ADMINISTRATIVE:  organizing Holiday Luncheon;  working on changes to website, publishing directory, and circulating November LAAG.

FUNDING: planning TAT for next year, brainstorming small fund raising ideas (flamingo flocking, anyone?), cookbook sales, etc  for remainder of year.

COMMUNITY:  Foster Santa Breakfast in 2 weeks;  distilling issues existing in community for potential new project ideas;  working on clothing drive for foster family Perk Closet; other impact ideas.

MEMBERSHIP:  More (!) meet and greets; social lunch on 11/16 (today!); working on January retreat and training classes for new members.  Also working on retention ideas and working with 2011 transfers to ensure they receive the history of the JLS.

That's what you missed.  We missed you.  I hope to see you soon!  Julia

Plus these three announcements:

NOW HEAR THIS!  ANNOUNCEMENTS:

16^th Annual Foster Santa Breakfast

Saturday, December 3, 9:30am-noon

Northern Quest Casino

How you can help:

SIGN UP!  Get involved by volunteering to help set up the night before or morning of the breakfast.

HOLIDAY LUNCHEON:  DECEMBER 9th

The JLS Holiday Luncheon is scheduled for Friday, December 9 at the Spokane Club.  This event is where we announce the Outstanding Sustainer of the Year, but it is not just for sustainers.  It’s TWICE the fun  when active members attend and share experiences from the current league. Plan to attend if you can!    

SAVE THE DATE:  FEBRUARY 19-20

CAPITOL DAYS – The Junior Leagues of Washington State take the capitol by storm!  Join in the road trip to Olympia, where we teach our legislators about who we are, what we care about, and what the Junior League does in Washington State.  See Becky Clevenger for details. 

NORTHWEST EXCHANGE (“NWX”): PORTLAND MARCH 9-11

The Junior Leagues in this region have a long-standing tradition of convening members once per year in an event we call Northwest Exchange.  It is a rare chance to meet and swap ideas with other leagues in the area.  The Leagues that attend are usually all the Washington Leagues (Seattle, Tacoma, Yakima, Olympia, Spokane) in addition to Portland, Medford and Boise.  NWX will offer trainings and workshops, along with opportunities to collaborate and brain storm together.  AND next year, SPOKANE is hostess to the event!  So, let’s gather a group to go and get ideas for our event next year.