3039M League Year 2020-2021 Annual Edition

the official magazine of the

3039M Junior League of Washington

3039 M STREET, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20007 | 202.337.2001 | WWW.JLW.ORG

Give, Gain, Grow: HOW JLW HAS RESPONDED TO A CHALLENGING YEAR

2020 – 2021 WHAT’S INSIDE

JLW Ushers in a New Era of Service JLW Responds to COVID-19 with Care, Financial Assistance, and Support Change the Date: The Stories of JLW’s COVID-19 Brides

LETTERS

Cheers to the end of the 108th year of the Junior League of Washington (JLW)!

Though this year was one of our most unexpected and difficult in recent history, our membership managed to serve our community, connect with one another, and grow as leaders.

This year’s edition of 3039M showcases the best of who JLW is by highlighting the good works of our membership, sharing news about exciting developments from the past year, and celebrating our much loved community.

The theme for the 2020-2021 League year was Give, Gain, Grow.

At the start of the year, I shared that we would set an intentional course to embrace our culture of philanthropy, service, and action. In spite of the uncertainty and fear that overshadowed the start of the year, JLW members were creative and inspired, coming up with ways to serve and nurture both our internal and external community, all from our homes. Our New Member and Membership Development Councils soared, delivering a myriad of trainings, orientations, and social and cultural events. Our Community Placement Councils discovered new ways to engage with those we serve by hosting virtual celebrations, tutoring sessions, 5Ks, pen pal programs, and so much more. In-person events are some of the most memorable for our membership, and this year, our Ways and Means volunteers created very special virtual events that were well attended and loved by all.

We also kicked off the inaugural Season of Giving that brought JLW holiday spirit directly to the homes of members.

An exciting development for the League is the outcome of this year’s Focus Area Task Force. After a thorough and transparent evaluation, and 20 years of making a lasting mark in the area of “Literacy,” members ratified on the Annual Ballot a shift of our focus area to the three-pronged system-level focus of “Supporting pathways to opportunity through improved access to education, professional and financial development, and capacity building in our community.” I hope you will enjoy reading about the process and the outcome.

The JLW work that I am most proud of this year is the creation and success of the Community Assistance Fund (CAF), which was created to provide emergency grant assistance to nonprofits with COVID-19 related needs. The League committed $75,000 to the CAF, and through the generous donations of JLW members and friends, and the inaugural Little Black Dress Initiative, the CAF raised an additional $40,000, bringing the total in grants distributed to pandemic relief this year to over $115,000. You can read more about it in this issue and I hope you will be uplifted by learning about the impact we’ve made this year.

On behalf of the 2020-2021 Board of Directors, thank you for giving, gaining, and growing with us. Your commitment to our mission and support of JLW is invaluable. Cheers to a meaningful year!

JESSICA TAYLOR WHITE 2020-2021 JLW President

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When it became clear that the entire 2020-2021 Junior League of Washington (JLW) year would be virtual, I worried about what sort of magazine would come out of it. It seemed like so many members and placements were grappling with how to respond to this unprecedented shift in the normal order of operations. Would anyone be interested in reading article after article about plans put on hold or individual and committee efforts to survive?

As you will read in this issue, I severely underestimated the determination and indomitable spirit of JLW and its members. You will see stories of members’ ingenuity, kindness, and initiative in response to the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In retrospect, the theme selected for the 2020-2021 year – Give, Gain, Grow—provides the perfect description for members’ efforts in the past year. Through the Community Assistance Fund alone, JLW has given away over $115,000 to organizations with urgent needs. JLW has also gained 292 extraordinary new members whose excitement for the League and its mission is palpable, even through the screen. You will also read multiple stories about members who have grown through personal and professional crises brought on by the pandemic. Rather than succumbing to those challenges, they have risen above them and become even more extraordinary in the process.

This issue of 3039M is an enormous testament to the hard work of all JLW members. Even when we can’t gather physically, we can work together to serve the DC metro area we know and love. While I can’t wait to get back to in-person events and a greater feeling of normalcy, I will always be grateful for the opportunity to have witnessed such incredible responses to a strange and difficult year.

Yours in service, MARY GRACE MCCORMICK 2020-2021 Publications Chair

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE Mary Grace McCormick, Chair Danielle Muenzfeld, Rising Chair Erika Burnett, Photography and Graphics Vice Chair

Camden Stuebe, Editing Vice Chair Sarah Valerio, Advertising Vice Chair Molly DiGiammarino Katelin Hatfield LeaAnn Kutz

Whitney LaRoche Abby Meister Bailey Oedewaldt Hannah Overton Julia Rosenthal Meredith Shields Rachel Wanke

IN THIS ISSUE

IN EVERY ISSUE

IN THIS ISSUE

IC Letters

with Care, Financial Assistance, and Support

12 JLW Responds to COVID-19

BC Shining Stars

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

COMMUNITY IMPACT

16 Creating a Culture of

24 Kids in the Kitchen Keep Cooking During COVID-19

26 The Little Black Dress Initiative: A Fundraising Superstar Arrives in Washington

04 JLW Volunteers Rise to the Occasion

Philanthropy with JLW’s Friends of the Junior League

05 Partnering in a Pandemic: Fostering

18 How the Junior League Handled

a Sense of Community When You Cannot Physically Be Together

06 DIAD’s Free Minds Book Club Events

the First Pandemic

07 Horton’s Kids Rises to Meet Pandemic Challenge

29 How the Pandemic Has Shaped

League of Washington’s Dues Scholarship?

JLW Members

20 D&T Goes Virtual and Thrives 21 JLW League-Wide Read of How to

FEATURES 08 JLW Ushers in a New Era of Service

Be An Antiracist: Conversations and Lessons Learned

22 Welcoming New Members

facebook.com/jlwdc

30 Committee Spotlight: Leadership Institute

31 Women’s Leadership Breakfast

Showcases How to “Lead Confidently”

32 Change the Date: The Stories of

During COVID-19

Members are encouraged to tag the League’s accounts when posting photos from JLW events. As with all social media sharing, please use #JLWvol as the main hashtag.

2021 and Beyond: How Membership Outreach is Inspiring Women to Lead

SPOTLIGHT ON OUR MEMBERS

19 Should I Apply for the Junior

Double Down on Impact in 2021

28 Women Advancing Change in

JLW’s COVID-19 Brides

Junior League of Washington

@JLWDC

@jlwdc

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD President Jessica Taylor White

Vice Treasurer Samantha Nagle

President-Elect Amanda Walke

Communications & PR Katherine Rodriguez

Secretary Mandy Asgeirsson

Youth & Family Community Placements Allegra Formento Bartscherer

Treasurer Marta Hernandez

Cultural Community Placements Lauren Dudley

Membership Development Chloe Taylor

Adult Community Placements Charlyn Stanberry

New Membership Christina Babcock

Community Affairs Deena Smith

Nominating Rita Lee

Strategic Planning Laisha Dougherty Sustainers Barbara Franklin Ways & Means Robin Jones Griffin

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COMMUNITY IMPACT

JLW VOLUNTEERS RISE TO THE OCCASION

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he Junior League of Washington (JLW) strives to be a vibrant presence in the lives of the women and children in the Greater Metropolitan Area of the District of Columbia. Like many of the community partners that JLW aligns itself with, Calvary Women’s Services works with women in the Washington, DC region to provide them with support that allows them to make strides toward independence.

JLW volunteers primarily support the facility with educational efforts and meal services. During a time when many nonprofits saw a noticeable decrease in fundraising dollars and volunteer attention, JLW volunteers stepped up to provide nutrition and much needed levity during a stressful time. As Committee Chair Valerie Hernandez Wells notes, “We have been serving two meals a month for Calvary both in and out of COVID times…Our goal with meal services is not only to deliver nutritious meals for the women of Calvary but also to delight them with fun and conversation. Furthermore, to support the educational programming, Calvary has received 85 books through JLW’s Resolution Read Program.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic created obstacles for the volunteers to plan activities that the women would enjoy in isolation, JLW volunteers were up to the task. Not only did they create individually portioned meals, but they hosted virtual events including pumpkin decorating and a bingo night to entertain and spark joy. However, it’s not just the community

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Erika Burnett

JLW volunteers bring creativity to every aspect of their work, even food prep!

JLW elves hard at work in late 2019. partners that enjoy the levity—volunteers also find their time at Calvary to be a rewarding experience. In fact, the Calvary Women’s Services placement boasts volunteers who have chosen it as a placement for the last six years.

One such volunteer is Anglee Agarwal, who transferred to JLW from the Junior League of Chicago in 2012. Since then, Agarwal connected with the mission of Calvary Women’s Services and “its ability to treat underserved women as individ-

uals and successfully transition members back to independent living.” Agarwal has returned to the placement year after year.

Most notable, Agarwal muses, “[is that] JLW has adapted to the needs of Calvary over the years. JLW takes in feedback from our points of contact at Calvary to meet the changing needs of the women over time.” The feedback volunteers have received has changed the social activities at the facility from book clubs to movie nights to resume workshops to computer classes. JLW volunteers have adapted to suit the needs of the community and done so in ways that educate, build skills for their independent life, and create heartwarming memories. As Agarwal observes, “The pandemic has made it clearer to me how crucial JLW is in our community.

The women at Calvary, through no fault of their own, have had their lives totally upended by this pandemic and if we can ease their burden even a little, our work is worth it.”

COMMUNITY IMPACT

PARTNERING IN A PANDEMIC:

FOSTERING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY WHEN YOU CANNOT PHYSICALLY BE TOGETHER LeaAnn Kutz

T

he Junior League of Washington (JLW) works to enrich the lives of women and children in the greater Washington metropolitan area, serving as resources throughout the community to effect positive change and inspire hope. What do you do if you cannot physically be out in the community engaging with those very people you seek to help? How can you inspire hope when so much of what is going on in the world feels overwhelming and hopeless?

Where there is a will, there is a way, and that is exactly what members of the N Street Village committee have been able to do over the last year.

N Street Village is a center that offers support services for homeless and low-income women in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Serving nearly 2,000 women each year, many of the N Street Village participants face challenges including homelessness, poverty, and mental illness, but with the organization’s support, these women receive resources for healing and recovery. Support programs include services related to housing and community, healthy meals, basic needs (laundry, clothing, showers, legal and crisis management services), health and wellness (physical and mental fitness and disease prevention), and employment and income (job seeking, job training, and peer mentorship).

JLW committee members plan two weekend meals each month, September through May, as well as post-meal games or crafts (often themed) that allow the women time to socialize with the volunteers and others receiving support. JLW volunteers strive to bring a dynamic and engaging presence by encouraging community, celebrating milestones,

and supporting N Street Village’s mission of empowerment. Additionally, committee members donate supplies, clothing, toiletries, and hygiene products throughout the year.

Committee Chair Danielle Sikes Nelson has been a member of the committee for three years, and has loved being able to give out flowers after each meal to celebrate everything from birthdays to sobriety anniversaries. “My favorite thing about volunteering is seeing the same ladies again and again. Being a friendly, familiar face to those who need it is such a great feeling,” says Sikes Nelson.

Over this last year, the traditional bi-monthly meals and social gatherings were not possible as N Street Village shifted to only being able to accept catered meals from commercial kitchens. Like many other committees within JLW, the N Street Village committee had to pivot and find ways to continue to provide support remotely while keeping member’s health, safety, and financial consideration at the forefront.

One big way committee members were able to provide support was for N Street Village’s 2020 SHERO Walk. The virtual event, held on October 17, 2020, was a big success and the committee was able to raise over $1,700 for N Street Village. The amount raised helped to provide an incredible 1300 meals.

Supporting from afar has still been rewarding, but many committee members are longing to be able to get back to in person engagement, especially because N Street Village has created such a strong community for the women it serves. “There is nothing more

rewarding than getting to know these women experiencing homelessness and low-income status. Preparing and serving meals for them is a highlight of my time in DC,” says committee member Shelby Lopez, who has volunteered with N Street Village for the last three years. “As the N Street women pass through the buffet line to receive their meals, they are so enthusiastic, appreciative, funny, and kind. I can’t wait until we can be back in-person spending time with them.”

I think we can all agree that partnering in a pandemic is unlike anything we ever planned for, yet the lessons we take away from this experience are almost immeasurable. Fostering a sense of community when you cannot physically be together is possible when caring, creative, and committed women come together and strive towards our higher purpose of inspiring hope. We are optimistic we will all be able to come together again in-person in the not too distant future, and when we do, we are certain that the impacts we can make in the community toward effecting positive change will be even greater than before.

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COMMUNITY IMPACT

DIAD’S FREE MINDS BOOK CLUB EVENTS DOUBLE DOWN ON IMPACT IN 2021

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he Junior League of Washington (JLW) programming has been universally impacted by the virtual environment demanded

by COVID-19. For some JLW committees, this meant scaling back programming. However, for others, like Done-In-A-Day’s (DIAD) partnership volunteering with the Free Minds Book Club, this environment offered an opportunity to engage at an even higher level for volunteers and those they serve.

Free Minds is a nonprofit that works with incarcerated youth and adults in Washington, DC to provide confidence building and inspiration through the medium of poetry. In pre-COVID-19 times, Free Minds and DIAD would run what they call “Write Nights,” whereby Free Minds would collect poetry written by incarcerated youth - generally up to 25 poems per event - and share them with JLW. Then, DIAD members would meet at Loughborough House to review the poems and provide words of encouragement and feedback in the margins.

During this League year, however, meeting at the Loughborough House was not possible, so DIAD Committee Chair, Aida Latorre, had to get creative. The Free Minds Book Club devised a way to use an online platform to share the poems and allow volunteer groups like DIAD to provide feedback to the poems. A lot of hard work and the online platform Miro enabled JLW DIAD volunteers to do just that. Miro is an online whiteboard program that enables teams to share and then synthesize comments in real time. The DIAD Committee has been using Miro for its Write Nights where volunteers can

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Meredith Tierney Shields

Compiled words of encouragement from DIAD volunteers for a young poet. read the poetry, write notes and comments about the same that are then synthesized and put into a readable and digestible format by the program coordinator to share with the youth authors.

“The benefit of this virtual environment is that we’ve had a lot of volunteers return to several Write Nights, which was atypical in pre-COVID-19 times. We’ve also been able to expand the program because we don’t have a space limitation on the online system - we haven’t had to cap volunteers at all,” described Latorre.

The Free Minds organization has also been impressed with the DIAD Committee’s ability to nimbly change course in order to keep the program going and the impact high.

“Junior League has been our most responsive volunteer group during this pandemic. Done-In-A-Day has been so incredibly responsive to the needs of our

members,” remarked the Free Minds Book Club Coordinator.

Likewise, one of the Free Minds Poet Ambassadors, who is a formerly-incarcerated youth now serving in mentoring roles with Free Minds, described his experience with Free Minds Write Nights like this: “Writing is a form of therapy. It’s important to write down our goals and dreams.

Free Minds captivated me because I felt like someone cared to listen to what I had to say. Now that I’m out, I get to go to schools and speak to students. I never thought I would be in a position where people would listen to what I had to say. Free Minds does incredible things - they sowed the seeds to help people out but I don’t think they realized how big it would be.”

In addition, JLW members who have volunteered with Free Minds have commented that they’ve found the experience to be a bright spot in their weeks. Latorre shared that “in these times where things have been so negative, Free Minds has given [JLW] members a chance to find joy in bringing positivity into someone else’s life.”

Stephanie Driscoll, a current DIAD Committee member, explained, “I love the Free Minds Book Club events. I went to one last year, in-person, and tonight was my third Free Minds event this year.

Beyond the poetry, I have really enjoyed these events in the virtual space because of the opportunity to connect with the Free Minds team and ambassadors. I hope that after COVID-19 we still have that connection with the team and the opportunities to hear the stories of those from the program - it just makes this volunteer opportunity that much more rewarding.”

COMMUNITY IMPACT

HORTON’S KIDS RISES TO MEET PANDEMIC CHALLENGE

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he COVID-19 pandemic brought unique challenges to charitable organizations and those they serve. For the families living in the Stanton Oaks and Wellington Park areas of Washington, DC, the two Section 8 housing communities served by Horton’s Kids, the impact of COVID-19 has been severe.

Horton’s Kids is an organization that helps children in Washington, DC, by providing academic support and social-emotional development opportunities and by helping meet children’s health and basic needs. Caroline Malone, Development and Volunteer Coordinator with Horton’s Kids, elaborates on just how difficult the pandemic has been for these communities: “The vast majority of households earn less than $10,000 a year. These communities are also food deserts. It takes 30 to 40 minutes to get to the closest grocery store using public transportation. Due to these circumstances, all children enrolled in Horton’s Kids programs are eligible for free and reduced lunch at school. Therefore, when schools closed in March, our participants lost access to their most reliable source of meals. As a result of this, Horton’s Kids saw requests for food double and provided 18,388 meals in 2020.”

Sarah Valerio

For parents, the financial burden has been significant. Many of them saw their jobs vanish when service and hourly jobs shut down in March 2020. They did not have savings to fall back on while applying for unemployment benefits or waiting for a stimulus payment to arrive – if they qualified. According to Malone, “For the parents who have been fortunate to continue to work, their jobs put them on the front lines of the pandemic.

This makes social distancing a challenge.”

In May 2020, Horton’s Kids created a Family Resilience Fund to provide personalized support to assist with the evolving needs of families as they continue to be impacted by the pandemic.

The JLW Horton’s Kids Committee that works with Horton’s Kids has gone virtual to continue to meet the needs of the kids they serve. Throughout the pandemic, the committee has met virtually with students to provide literacy and reading support and continues to build relationships with the students to offer informal mentoring opportunities. The committee has also continued to support Horton’s Kids through winter clothing drives and virtual holiday parties for Halloween, Christmas, and Easter.

“While we’ve all had to adapt to a virtual environment, JLW has stayed committed to providing both vital resources and mentoring opportunities to the families that Horton’s

Kids serves,” says Malone. However, she adds that it has been “a challenge for families to get their children set up with adequate technology to manage online learning.”

Horton’s Kids provided tablets, computers, headphones, and WiFi-hotspots to each participant enrolled in its programs. At the beginning of the fall 2020 school year, Horton’s Kids’ academic staff offered training for parents on how to navigate the variety of distance learning platforms.

In October, Horton’s Kids launched a virtual learning academy, which offers daily tutoring, homework help, youth development, and literacy interventions for up to 200 participants in grades K-12.

Case management at Horton’s Kids has gone virtual as well. Staff members do weekly online check-ins with the families.

But all of the JLW Horton’s Kids Committee’s work hasn’t just been in the form of online assistance. When the Horton’s Kids families faced a pandemic-driven increased need for basic supplies and engaging activities for their kids, the committee responded by packing supply kits, meal kits, movie night kits, and other activity kits to distribute.

Though the pandemic hit hard, volunteers and organizations like Horton’s Kids and the JLW Horton’s Kids Committee fought back even harder and managed to find innovative ways to help the families they serve.

WHILE WE’VE ALL HAD TO ADAPT TO A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT, JLW HAS STAYED COMMITTED TO PROVIDING BOTH VITAL RESOURCES AND MENTORING OPPORTUNITIES TO THE FAMILIES THAT HORTON’S KIDS SERVES. 3039M

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SPRING FEATURE

JLW USHERS IN A NEW ERA OF SERVICE Katie Hatfield

T

he purpose of the Junior League of Washington (JLW) since its founding in 1912 has been to develop the potential of women through volunteerism and, in doing so, to make a difference within the community it served. Over the years, as the organization grew in membership and the needs of the community changed with the times, the focus of the League’s efforts evolved as well.

A BRIEF HISTORY To understand the League’s focus on literacy today, it’s important we first take a look back at the organization’s history.

Until the 1920s, as the fledgling JLW built membership, it focused efforts primarily on child welfare, but as the DC community faced the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s, League members changed their fundraising efforts towards bettering the local economy and caring for the destitute. Following the arrival of World War II in the 1940s and a shift in the economy, League women focused on raising money for war bonds, making clothing for European refugees, and volunteering for the Red Cross, among many others. Post-war, the 1950s and 1960s saw continued volunteer efforts by the League in several areas, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that there was a shift in tone to focus on three areas of interest: community arts, environmental quality, and youth community relations.

In 1987, the League turned to its membership base with a comprehensive “needs assessment” to better assess the most pressing issues of the community. The results of the assessment were refined to address the two important topics of “Women in Crisis” and “Youth at Risk” and thus focus on the prevention, education, and treatment of substance abuse (specifically alcohol and narcotics).

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The League evaluated the focus area once again in 1999 and pivoted to its current multi-faceted focus in order to address DC’s low literacy rates. Since then, literacy has been the lens through which JLW has made all programming decisions: how it evaluates projects in which to invest League resources, how relationships are formed with community partners, and what programs or policies JLW advocates for at the local and federal level.

“Literacy seemed to be the spot where everything converged,” said Maria Marks, former JLW president who served on the Board at the time literacy was chosen as the focus area. “We would still be able to work with children, we would still be able to meet a huge gap that was needed that was identified at that time.”

Historically, roughly every decade, the League shifted its focus to meet the changing needs of the community in order to remain relevant and provide the best-fitting solution to ever evolving issues. In fact, at the time literacy was chosen, it was only supposed to serve as the focus area for around five years before being reevaluated.

“We put a timeframe on it [...] and right before it ended, about a year out, we chose to renew it,” explained Marks.

“We were enjoying it and we did not see a need to change the focus area at that point, by extending a year out that would also grant the League time so that if there was a gap either in member needs and wants, or to the

community needs and wants, more importantly, we had a year to figure [it] out.”

In essence, this is seemingly the first time in the League’s history that the focus area remained the same for over 20 years.

However, when you stop to consider all the social, political, and economic upheaval that we’ve seen over the course of the past year, exacerbated by COVID-19 in the Washington, DC area (let alone nationwide), it seems like the perfect opportunity for the League to once again evaluate what the most pressing needs of the community are and how we can best help meet those needs.

“When I found out that we had selected literacy, never intending to keep it forever, I wanted to know more about why didn’t we change or consider another focus? In conversations with past presidents and other leaders, many shared that it seemed too big a project to undertake, how to change course with such a big ship,” explained Jessica Taylor White, current JLW President.

White continued, “[And] so, over time, to meet the evolving needs of the community and diverse interest of our membership, we tried to expand our definition of literacy to include cultural literacy, financial literacy, and other topics so that we could do more in the community while still under the umbrella of literacy.”

ENTER THE FOCUS AREA TASK FORCE In spring 2020, the JLW Board of Directors approved the creation of the Focus Area Task Force in order to assess literacy as the current focus area. In addition to Lauren Niles Whalen, as the Task Force’s chair, the members of the Task Force include both current and former JLW leaders with a diverse range of volunteer experiences and perspectives.

While the majority of the work was to be completed within the 2020-2021 League

SPRING FEATURE

The five phases of the Focus Area Task Force’s incremental evaluation approach that took place through the 2020-2021 League year. year, the goal of the Task Force was not simply to decide whether or not to change the focus area, but to provide a lasting framework that will help leaders far into the future.

“When thinking about the needs in our community, I knew that there were many issues that JLW could select as a focus area and be impactful. This work is more so about the process, getting to the right answer and what would be sustainable for us over time[...] It’s about making sure that we have a focus area that will be impactful, meaningful, and that we connect with, but it’s also about setting up future leaders to be nimble and able to guide JLW so that we’ll always be meaningful to the community. We want future JLW leaders to be able to think critically about our impact and be equipped to explore new directions when needed,” explained White of her vision for the Task Force.

As with any major potential policy change, before any decision can be made, the most important step in the process is the information gathering phase. How would the Task Force tackle this challenge so that both member interests and community needs were accurately reflected? How could the focus be modified without affecting the current rela-

tionships built over the past two decades, but rather enriching them? The short answer is through a multi-phased approach incorporating a mix of methods including a community needs assessment analysis, member survey data analysis, stakeholder interviews, a consensus panel activity, and as much feedback from members as possible.

“The most challenging aspect of this process has been bringing all JLW members along with us on this evaluation journey,” said Whalen, Focus Area Task Force Chair.

“It matters so much to me that everyone who wants to be included feels like they are and we lift and amplify all voices who wish to contribute to this conversation. To that end, we have dedicated so much time this year into member outreach, engagement, and education. [...] We have truly tried to cover all of our bases, and I really hope we were successful,” Whalen continued.

THE APPROACH During the first stage of the evaluation process, Information Gathering, the Task Force identified and reviewed 23 published community needs assessments which outlined nearly 150 distinct community needs.

Through a process of elimination, the Task Force was able to whittle these needs down to six main categories, or in their words “domains,” and 20 subcategories. These top six domains were: Education & Literacy, Economic Security, Food Security, Health, Recreation & Well-being, and Safety.

The Task Force then identified and interviewed both key stakeholders working in each of the six domains as well as elected officials within the Washington, DC area.

These interviews yielded critical information regarding the needs of our community members and organizations as well as how JLW is perceived within the community.

One of the biggest takeaways the Task Force got from its conversations with the stakeholders was that the complexity of community needs makes it difficult to disentangle and address each independently. Therefore, it is important to identify root causes versus symptoms of the issues. For example, multigenerational poverty and blocked access to opportunity can be considered a root cause of other issues like economic insecurity and safety, not just a symptom.

Unsurprisingly, according to nearly all of the stakeholders, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened underlying disparities, exacerbated community challenges, and increased the number of individuals in need of help. As for the organizations themselves, the Task Force uncovered that most saw challenges with funding and grants, receiving assistance with internal capacity building, and coordination of services for the populations they serve.

As for how the League could best benefit and be relevant to these organizations, the stakeholders expressed that one of the ways JLW could better serve the members of its community is by leveraging the internal expertise of its members.

“So many of the skills our members have and maybe don’t give a lot of thought to are things that our neighbors in the community may find valuable as they, like us, look for meaningful opportunities. These skills include using LinkedIn and other social networks for career development, interviewing skills, and grant proposal writing among others. So many of the organizations we

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SPRING FEATURE

able to persevere, how they are working to meet their communities’ needs, what issues were brought about or exacerbated by the pandemic that could have long-term impact on their communities, and how might JLW best devote its efforts to make an impact.

WHAT HAVE WE FOUND?

Over 200 League members attended the Fireside Chats which included panel discussions with key stakeholders from such organizations as Washington School for Girls, Horton’s Kids, and So Others Might Eat. spoke with during our evaluation brought up the internal capacity of JLW members and ideas they had about mentorship or soft skills development,” expressed Whalen.

With over 2,000 members, each with their own connections, skills, and experience, there’s a lot of room to explore how each member’s expertise can better impact the community at large.

“I think we have the ability to be a convener. We work across so many different areas in the region both in our League service, but then in our outside of the League lives where we actually live and work and play. We are a group of women that is connected so deeply to the fabric of this place that we could very likely marshall an awful lot of resources (both human capital and hard capital) towards anything we want,” agreed White.

NARROWING THINGS DOWN In order to begin the task of narrowing down the list of six domains, the Task Force created a “consensus panel,” or a group of randomly selected League members representing important groups across member status, transfer status, years in the League, age, location, League experience, and race/ethnicity. This diverse group of 18 women completed multiple surveys and group discussions with the Task Force and an external facilitator in order

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to parse through and rank each domain using 30 different criteria. The results of this work concluded that the three areas that resonated the most with members were: Education and Literacy, Food Security, and Economic Security.

While the consensus panel was selected in order to encompass as wide of an array of League demographics as possible, the Task Force was adamant about engaging with as many member voices as it could. To do so, the Task Force held four League-wide listening sessions and monthly “Office Hours” to both present its findings as well as solicit feedback from members on what issue areas the League would be best positioned to tackle. Members in these sessions agreed with the findings of the consensus panel that Education and Literacy, Food Security, and Economic Security were worthwhile topics as a potential focus area, but also, like the community stakeholders, agreed with the overlapping and interconnected nature of these issues.

While these listening sessions and office hours provided input from JLW at large, the Task Force hosted a series of fireside chats in order to provide League members with the opportunity to hear from organizations working in Education and Literacy, Food Security, and Economic Security. The purpose of which was to find out what are the most pressing issues facing the organizations in our current climate, how they have been

In order to make a final decision on a focus area, it is important to evaluate all of the data bearing in mind what issues are byproducts of larger root problems in the community.

For example, early on the initial research showed Food Security as a topic that repeatedly arose. However, what all of the stakeholder interviews pointed out was that Food Security cannot be addressed without considering the underlying problem: Economic Security.

“It’s also the same problem with literacy if we settled on a single issue. Down the road are we going to want to make that single issue a bigger tent and our membership has made it clear that their interests are pretty diverse so settling on a single issue was the opposite of what the membership told us they wanted,” said White.

Furthermore, it’s important to consider where JLW can serve as a marketplace leader and provide the most value to the community. Using Food Security as an example once again, what could the League as an organization provide that’s different or more impactful than the Capital Area Food Bank, Martha’s Table, Miriam’s Kitchen, or other organizations who already operate within the space and maintain food pantries?

So, where does that leave us? It leaves us with a final proposed focus area that not only targets a root issue but encompasses other byproducts of said issue and is also a space in which the League can be a leader.

Think of the focus area not as Economic Security, but rather, supporting pathways to opportunity through improved access to education, professional and financial development, and capacity building resources in our community.

“What it really boils down to is the belief in human capability and the belief that all people should have the essential tools to be successful. The belief in the possibility for all

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to be meaningful and valuable members of society,” elaborated White.

Interestingly enough, to find a focus area that would allow the League to better serve out in the community, it took looking inward at our own mission. “Our mission is developing the potential of women through volunteer work and improving our community, but it’s developing our potential and that’s what this focus area says and does. Developing pathways to opportunity is developing the potential of others and investing in people so that they can be successful and have the things that they need,” White continued.

By supporting pathways to opportunity, it allows for both consistency in areas members care about and facilitates changes to meet community needs. First, members who love literacy can continue to work in that space as education is a pathway to opportunity. Second, JLW leadership will have the ability to be more adaptable. If a new issue bubbles up in the community in any given year, this wider focus area umbrella allows them to allocate resources or grant dollars where it matters. Third, and it’s important to be made clear, there are no relationships between organizations with which JLW works that are in any danger of being dissolved.

“We’re not going to walk away from these long-standing community partners and placements where we are doing wonderful work that is meaningful and that our members are finding value in year after year. This new focus area opens the door to bring new partners where we haven’t been able to work in the past because they haven’t fit into our narrow focus of literacy,” assured White.

In fact, given what was learned from the Task Force’s work this year, organizations that work with the League likely have significantly different, if not, expanded needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This evaluation of community need equips us to be able to have conversations with our current and future partners from a place of being educated on community need and therefore, a more informed and fruitful relationship.

MEANINGFUL AND MEASURABLE METRICS The goal with evaluating the focus area this year was not just a one time fix, but rather a framework for the future. With literacy and previous focus areas, while there is no question that the League’s work benefited the community, it was historically very difficult to measure just how much of an impact they had. For example, while we can quantify the number of books the League donates from a book drive, it is impossible to determine how much we’ve improved literacy. Why does this matter? Because today’s donors and supporters of nonprofits want to know hard data about an organization’s impact.

“Donors want to be deeply engaged with the organizations they’re supporting and they want to know that you’re going to be a good steward of their resources and that you’re doing something meaningful with them,” clarified White.

Therefore, according to White, one of the “unsung heroes’’ of this evaluation process is the Research & Evaluation Committee that worked hand in hand with the Focus Area Task Force to adapt and develop different tools that can help measure the impact of fundraisers, community placements, and signature projects.

Including data scientists and consultants with expertise in measuring performance among their ranks, the Research & Evaluation Committee has been instrumental in putting together the criteria and necessary spreadsheets to make tracking the effectiveness of JLW’s work a reality.

One important area that JLW also plans to explore to create meaningful and measurable impact is through changing the way the organization thinks about its grant giving. A key component of the new focus area, supporting pathways to opportunity, is capacity building. In the grant world, capacity building grants differ from programmatic grants in that they allow the organization itself to have more flexibility in fund allocation. As opposed to specific programs or initiatives set forth by the funders, capacity building grants allow an

organization to bring themselves to a more sustainable place. For example, an organization could use a capacity building grant to hire a fund development consultant to help them develop a new fundraising strategy.

Quite simply, White likened it to the concept of teaching a person to fish as opposed to giving a person a fish.

Despite often being smaller sums than targeted grants, capacity building grants can have a big impact on organizations in the long-term. Yet, in a 2020 study conducted

by The Center for Effective Philanthropy funded by the Ford Foundation, despite most foundation leaders’ attitudes towards capacity building or unrestricted grants being positive, many foundations do not offer this type of grant and those that do typically offer it to less than 25% of their grantees. Therefore, this is an area where JLW can truly serve as a leader and provide unique value to the community.

WHAT’S NEXT In the first week of March, the Task Force finalized its evaluation report (which has been made available to all members). The final recommendation was shared with the Board of Directors at its March 8, 2021 meeting. After receiving the Board’s approval, the Focus Area was placed on the annual ballot on which all members would vote.

As of presstime, it is 3039M’s pleasure to be among the first to announce that the new focus area supporting pathways to opportunity has received the necessary two thirds majority to move forward. There is no doubt that the results produced by the Focus Area Task Force were built from strong data, presented with the members’ interests in mind, inclusive of our current relationships, and befitting of JLW mission and values.

“This process wasn’t about the ‘it,’ what the new focus area would be, this process sought to set the League up to better serve the community in a way that’s meaningful to our community and members, as well as identifying and setting up the steps we need to take when we need to look inward when its time to move forward again,” concluded White.

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JLW RESPONDS TO COVID-19 WITH CARE, FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, AND SUPPORT

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Danielle Muenzfeld and Mary Grace McCormick

n spring 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, the leaders of the 2019-2020 Junior League of Washington (JLW) Board of Directors initiated their pandemic response plan, the Community Assistance Task Force (CATF). The plan consisted of three components: JLW Member Care, the Community Assistance Fund, and the Community Support Project. The JLW Board of Directors selected each component so that the League’s overall response plan reflected its commitment to its members, community, and mission during the pandemic crisis. According to Amanda Walke, 2020-2021 President-Elect, “JLW worked within its process to be really responsive and to do something different.” By acting nimbly, Walke explained, JLW has been able to responsively and responsibly address the needs of the community and its members.

JLW MEMBER CARE JLW leadership recognizes that many of its members have been impacted in various ways by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a member-based organization, JLW leadership included Member Care as a focus area of its COVID-19 response. One significant aspect of the Member Care efforts was providing intentional programming to help JLW members during these challenging and often isolating times.

Chloe Taylor, Membership Development Council Director, explained that JLW has “pivoted our programming and doubled down on making sure there are several connection points for members virtually.”

Taylor emphasized the need for JLW pro-

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gramming to continue to meet members where they are.

JLW has been thinking through membership programming to ensure that it is of interest to members and is substantive, and that some events incorporate wellness aspects. JLW has hosted a panoply of virtual events for its members, from Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion events to “Zip Code parties,” where JLW members who live nearby connect virtually; fitness classes to book club meet-ups; and 28 day challenges focused on baking, burpees, creative expression, and meditation. One surprise hit was a marathon viewing of the popular television show Schitt’s Creek, which had a 50+ member waiting list.

The virtual format has made it much easier to reach more members because attendees do not have to commute to a specific location and because the size of events are not constrained to the capacity of a physical location. For example, for General Membership Meetings (GMM), JLW typically seeks donated spaces that can fit between 200 and 300 people.

This League year, GMM attendance has averaged between 300 and 400 members.

Overall, the Development & Training (D&T) Committee saw an increase in event attendance of 246% through early February 2021.

Prior to the onset of COVID-19 shutdowns, JLW events often included social time prior to events. D&T, however, has shifted the allotted social time to after the conclusion of the event. Taylor explained that this “gives members fodder to start the conversation [with JLW members] and have that social time.” Through thoughtful planning, JLW has provided many ways for its members to connect with each other,

learn new skills, and expand their horizons safely from home.

Additionally, JLW has sought to ensure that League members are able to sustain active membership. One way JLW has done this is through creating a new, flexible dues payment plan and encouraging League members to apply for dues scholarships if needed. JLW continues to look for ways to support its members so they can succeed within and outside of the League.

COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE FUND (CAF) JLW leaders knew that they wanted to give back to the DC community. The loss of income streams overnight placed many DC-area nonprofits in an incredibly vulnerable position. For many of these nonprofits, it was not simply a matter of needing financial aid, but needing it quickly in order to stay fiscally sound.

With that in mind, the outgoing 20192020 Board of Directors created the Community Assistance Fund which would allow the incoming 2020-2021 Board to mobilize funds for nonprofits experiencing need. On June 1, 2020, JLW published a grant application. In less than a month, 62 nonprofits had applied for approximately $1.2 million in requested aid.

Working over a number of weeks, President-Elect Amanda Walke and a small, nimble committee of presidentially appointed members evaluated applications on a rolling basis. Speed of support and need were determining factors in the selection of recipients. As Task Force member Amy Shuart Gingrich remarked, “The Board gave us specific criteria to focus on COVID related needs. We were looking for places where we felt the dollars would do the most good and

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could provide assistance to the community quickly, versus long-term programs.” After a thorough review of all applications, seven applicants were recommended to the Board and ultimately selected as grant recipients.

Six recipients received $5,000 each in grants, with the seventh receiving $50,000.

The six $5,000 grant winners included Shepherd’s Table, The Greater DC Diaper Bank, Restoration Immigration Legal Aid, Georgetown Ministry Center, Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters, and Common Good City Farm.

• Among other services, Shepherd’s Table provides hot meals twice a day to those experiencing homelessness or poverty, and those who are home-bound. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Shepherd’s Table has utilized its newly-formed mobile meal service to deliver food to areas in the

•

DC metro area where food insecurity and COVID-19 rates are the highest.

In addition to caring for for those experiencing homelessness, Shepherd’s Table has also worked to support local restaurants. Through its $5,000 grant, Shepherd’s Table was able to expand its Neighbors Helping Neighbors program and place catering orders to local restaurants. These orders helped support local restaurants in addition to feeding Shepherd’s Table’s clientele.

The Greater DC Diaper Bank provides diapers and other hygiene products to those in the DMV area who are struggling financially. Prior to the pandemic, DC Diaper Bank served 10,500 families and 11,800 babies each year on average. Almost 80% of these families earn less than $20,000 each year. Thanks to its $5,000 grant,

•

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the DC Diaper Bank was able to stock diapers and pay related expenses for one month.

Restoration Immigration Legal Aid (RILA) provides pro bono legal services to those going through the immigration process. The Restoration Anglican Church in Arlington hosts evening clinics twice a month where immigrant families can meet with lawyers to discuss their cases. During these clinics, volunteers make dinner for the families and provide support.

RILA’s $5,000 grant enabled it to purchase food boxes for 90 families in July and August 2020.

The Georgetown Ministry Center (GMC) provides a variety of services to people experiencing homelessness.

The pandemic caused GMC to shut down the services normally provided

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SPRING FEATURE

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Finally, Nourish Now, a Montgomery County food bank, used its $50,000 grant to expand its Multi-Cultural Mobile Food Assistance Program to 7,000 more people through the delivery of hunger relief kits.

While great strides are being made, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging and local nonprofits need our help. If you would like to contribute to the CAF and assist a local nonprofit, you can make a donation through the League’s website.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROJECT (CSP)

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in its Drop-in Day Center, but after the $5,000 grant was received, the nonprofit was able to re-open the Day Center to its pre-COVID-19 capacity. $2,000 were used to purchase face masks and gift cards, while $3,000 were used to renovate the facility and purchase PPE to facilitate the reopening of the Day Center.

Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters (BRAWS) works with shelters, food pantries, schools, and other entities to provide menstrual products and undergarments to women and girls experiencing home-

Spring 2021

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lessness, poverty, domestic violence, and other crises. After the $5,000 grant, BRAWS was able to purchase two pallets of tampons and pads to be distributed to approximately 2,000 women and girls.

Common Good City Farm works to combat food insecurity in Ward 1’s LeDroit Park. Through the $5,000 grant, Common Good City Farm was able to increase and pay for the additional staff working hours lost as a result of decreased volunteer efforts.

Additionally, staff was able to purchase additional produce.

The Community Support Project provided opportunities for JLW members to support the community through projects that addressed urgent needs related to COVID-19. CSP, through Task Force Leads, Lindsay Wilson and Kelly DeLoach, developed and managed a Board-approved mask donation project, curated a list of individual volunteer projects, and developed group virtual volunteer projects to benefit community organizations.

CSP chose masks as a focus area because, as Wilson explained, “Masks seemed to be the most pressing and greatest need. At the beginning, masks were difficult to come by.” DeLoach added that “We were really thinking about the populations that were most affected by the pandemic and that didn’t have access to personal protective equipment.” JLW engaged its volunteers by tapping the time, talents, and resources of its members to sew or purchase masks for vulnerable members of the community, such as those experiencing homelessness, the elderly, and others.

From April through November 2020, JLW volunteers and friends of JLW answered the call to make or purchase masks for donation to local community organizations. Over 60 JLW members dropped off masks for donation. For JLW member Natasha John, “Making homemade masks was an opportunity to bring character into the mask wearing experience. This project merged filling a community need with my

SPRING FEATURE

talents and hobbies and it was such a joy to participate!”

JLW new member Hailey Lernihan found that “it was therapeutic to cut and sew fabric, knowing it would be helpful to a child or teen when they got back to school.” She used the opportunity not only to give back, but to grow. Lernihan explains that she “had never used a sewing machine before but I set goals for myself during 2020 to find new hobbies — so I bought a sewing machine the day I saw the JLW email and recruited a friend who had been sewing masks to fundraise for an orphanage to teach me how to sew!”

JLW sustainer Bridget Shea Westfall joined the mask donation effort because she saw the need in the community, and “liked how our community members could support our JLW community partners and participate in community assistance,” and “thought this would also be a way to tell my neighbors more about Junior League.”

Westfall purchased masks from local small businesses to donate and recruited members of her neighborhood Buy Nothing Project Groups to make masks for the JLW project.

To Westfall, “It was very cool as members asked for donated materials to make the masks and some people even taught others how to sew or make a simple pattern.” She was amazed that suddenly masks would appear at her doorstep or in her “Buy Nothing Bin.” Through the project she connected (with little social interaction) with kind and generous neighbors, met a JLW new member in her Buy Nothing Project, and connected with sustainers and actives that she would have not otherwise met.

In addition to the efforts of individual JLW members and JLW friends, some committees and councils collected funds and purchased masks together. For example, the JLW Community Affairs Council collected over $1,500 in funds, and was able to purchase 500 masks to donate, which was the largest single donation of any person or group. The A Wider Circle Committee also contributed $100 to this effort.

The CSP initially set a goal of donating 500 masks to our community. In total,

JLW donated 1,763 masks (1,553 adultsized masks, 210 child-sized masks) to 21 organizations. Of the 21 organizations, nine are official JLW community partners.

As DeLoach explained, “the project was a great opportunity to connect with other organizations that work with JLW through Done in a Day or that we haven’t worked with before.”

The CSP Project Leads sought to work with as many demographics and groups in the community as they could. The masks made an immediate, tangible impact on community members. Tania Gembala Sechriest, Volunteer Program Manager/ Food Pantry Plus Manager for Iona Senior Services, which received masks from JLW, shared that, “The cloth masks were distributed to our older adult clients, which allowed this vulnerable population to get to doctors’ appointments, to interact with their aides, and to feel somewhat less anxious during these difficult times.”

DeLoach explained that community partners, such as Horton’s Kids were grateful to receive the masks because it filled a specific need: “Parents needed to bring their kids to the grocery store because they didn’t have anyone to watch them and, to do so, needed kids size masks.” JLW volunteers also sewed 150 custom masks for the Washington School for Girls in its school colors.

As Westfall shared, “During the pandemic, it is easy to feel isolated and depressed, but seeing neighbors donate their time and talents to help JLW really lifted my spirits.”

For Wilson and DeLoach, “Working with the 21 organizations that we donated masks to, it was clear that the masks made an immediate and positive impact in the lives of their clients. We were inspired by the response from JLW members which led to us more than tripling our initial goal of 500 masks.”

Additionally, in response to JLW member interest to do more to support the community, the CSP compiled a list of individual volunteer and in-kind donation opportunities that members could do on their own. CSP shared information from various community organizations in a master list,

which was shared with the JLW membership over the summer of 2020. Opportunities included donating blood, working shifts at the Capital Area Food Bank, and purchasing urgently needed items from an organization’s Amazon wish list.

CSP also offered four virtual group events that gave JLW members the opportunity to volunteer in the community while at home. One event was a Free Minds Virtual Write Night where JLW volunteers, through the Miro platform, wrote and drew words of hope and encouragement directly onto the poems penned by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults. Each poet received his or her poem in the mail adorned with JLW members’ colorful, positive responses.

Another volunteer event supported the Everybody Wins! DC Virtual Shared Reading Library. JLW members created videos of themselves reading children’s books aloud, which were then posted to the virtual library of Everybody Wins DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving lives through shared reading.

Finally, CSP hosted two evenings where JLW members wrote letters to the children who participate in Horton’s Kids programs, the staff at Iona Senior Services, and the clients at Community Family Life Services.

Gembala Sechriest of Iona recalls the “special notecards from members of the project [that] were mailed to each one of our staff members, providing words of encouragement and thanks. One colleague had this to say: I just got a lovely handwritten note from a Junior League volunteer calling me an Iona hero and thanking me for all the work I’ve done during the pandemic! I’m surprised at how moved I am by this anonymous note.

It’s just lovely and heartwarming to receive. It actually means a lot.”

According to JLW President Jessica Taylor White, “The CAF’s work has been a bright spot in a challenging year. At a time when our membership was unable to serve in familiar ways, the JLW showed how much our members and friends are committed to making a positive impact in our beloved community.

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

CREATING A CULTURE OF PHILANTHROPY WITH JLW’S FRIENDS OF THE JUNIOR LEAGUE Molly DiGiammarino

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he Friends of the Junior League of Washington (FoJLW) has recently made a strategic shift in how it views, communicates with, and recruits donors. With a renewed focus on creating a culture of philanthropy in the organization that reaches beyond large annual donations, FoJLW is working to create a community with the common goal of upholding the Junior League of Washington’s (JLW) mission, vision, and values.

Donations to FoJLW are unrestricted in that they support all aspects of JLW’s operations. Dues only cover about 40% of the League’s operating budget, therefore the nearly 60% of funds raised through FoJLW efforts unrestricted giving and support of fundraisers is essential for JLW to serve our members and the community.

Prior to the 2020-2021 League year, complimentary tickets to a fundraiser or event were used to incentivize donations, which could be thought of as transactional in nature. While the donor rewards and perks were appealing, they were expenses that reduced the gross revenue totals of FoJLW and other JLW fundraisers. Donors were also unable to deduct the full amount of their gift if they accepted tickets or some other benefit.

For these reasons, and with the implementation of the JLW Fund Development Strategy in 2020, there was a desire by JLW leadership, Ways & Means Council leadership, and the FoJLW Chair and Rising

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Spring 2021

WITH A RENEWED FOCUS ON CREATING A CULTURE OF PHILANTHROPY IN THE ORGANIZATION THAT REACHES BEYOND LARGE ANNUAL DONATIONS, FOJLW IS WORKING TO CREATE A COMMUNITY WITH THE COMMON GOAL OF UPHOLDING THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF WASHINGTON’S MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES. Chair to ensure more donors’ gifts directly support JLW’s mission.

In this new era of FoJLW, it’s not just about one donor making a sizable gift, but rather the entire JLW community coming together to support JLW through avenues like engagement with community partners and monetary donations, no matter the size.

However, donations aren’t required to be monetary in nature, they can come in many forms including time, talent, or treasure.

Instead of only focusing on large, annual donations, FoJLW now prioritizes

other metrics such as number of gifts/ total raised from new donors, re-engaging with lapsed donors, donor retention, and repeat donors.

FoJLW also partners with other committees to increase buy-in and participation across the League. From November 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021, FoJLW partnered with the Season of Giving Committee for its Season of Giving (SoG) Donation Challenge.

The call to action was not only for financial gifts, but support for community partners in their respective donation drives.

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

DID YOU KNOW? FRIENDS OF THE JLW EDITION

Participation in the fundraiser, no matter the size of the donation, was even more important to the two committees than the dollar amount raised. Nearly 21% of active members and 16% of the entire JLW (active members and sustainers) participated in the SoG Donation Challenge.

FoJLW is also working to help educate JLW members about the committee’s role in fund development. Committee members engaged in a League-wide committee blitz from November 2020 to January 2021 to speak directly to members about the importance of donating to JLW beyond annual dues. In November 2020, FoJLW hosted a Development & Training with Fund Development Project Management managers and sustainers Sara McGanity and past president Carly Mitchell to discuss JLW’s Fund Development Strategy and how FoJLW supports the organization’s operations.

In addition to changing the way donations are solicited, FoJLW is also changing how donors are recognized for their contributions. To create a better donor experience, donor thank you messages are now personalized and sent more frequently. Each month, FoJLW sends out handwritten cards to donors and a virtual donor appreciation event in May 2021 thanked donors for their ongoing support.

Donors are also acknowledged in League Lines, Sustainer Spin, the JLW Annual Report, 3039M magazine, and on social media. FoJLW is always brainstorming new, creative ways to thank and engage donors and will be implementing new ideas throughout 2021.

It is still imperative for FoJLW to meet its annual revenue goals with financial and planned gifts, as nearly 60% of the League’s operating budget is supported by unrestricted giving via donations to FoJLW and support of fundraisers. However, there is now a greater focus on ensuring participation by all members including new, active, and sustainer, at any giving amount.

FoJLW likes to think of this transition to establishing a “culture of philanthropy” as a process, not necessarily an endpoint. The committee will continue to educate members on the importance of donating beyond dues dollars, provide transparency about what FoJLW donations support, and collaborate with other committees in support of the JLW mission.

What Your Donation Supports Donations to the Friends of the JLW are unrestricted donations to support all aspects of the League's operations.

Fostering a Culture of Philanthropy In 2018-2019, the average donation to Friends of the JLW was $79.94.

Supporters are encouraged to give no matter the size of their donation.

Your Donation's Impact to the League Nearly 60% of the League's operating budget is supported by unrestricted giving via donations to Friends of the JLW and support of fundraisers.

New Ways to Give Members can set up recurring donations for smaller amounts instead of making one large donation or spread their donations out throughout the League year or calendar year.

We Are in This Together There are many way to donate including time, talent, or treasure. All donors and contributions are valuable and important to the success and future of JLW.

Become a Friend by Donating Today www.jlw.org/donate

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

HOW THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF WASHINGTON HANDLED THE FIRST PANDEMIC

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ne hundred years from now, when members of the Junior League of Washington (JLW) look back on our history to see how we handled the COVID-19 pandemic, they will have the good fortune of having most of our efforts well-documented whether it is on our website and blog, social media, or the 3039M magazine. We are fortunate that for all of the disruption to our daily lives, programming, and volunteer efforts, we as an organization are still active in helping to improve the lives of others within the Washington, DC community.

This is not the first worldwide pandemic we as a League have lived through. How did the women of JLW handle the Spanish Influenza (Flu) epidemic of 1918?

According to the CDC, the Spanish Flu was first identified in the United States (U.S.) in spring 1918 after being brought back by soldiers returning from World War I (WWI).

For a pandemic that caused 675,000 deaths in the U.S., very little is written about how JLW handled the outbreak.

Excerpts from the 1918-1919 Annual Report indicate there were a great many volunteers needed to bolster some of the League’s normal activities. However, most of those needs did not appear to be due to Spanish Flu fatalities. Rather, many women were pulled into “war jobs” that kept them from many of their Junior League duties, which included sewing clothing for

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Katie Hatfield

“poverty-stricken families” and volunteer work at local settlement houses (homes for lower-income families where women of means would often assist with education, childcare, and healthcare).

Despite the difficulties presented by WWI, what was clear from reports of several of the committees within the Annual Report was that the focus for JLW at this time was on the destitute, specifically children.

According to the Hospital Committee, “At the Children’s Hospital this year there are seven workers and each girl goes to the hospital one afternoon a week and amuses the convalescing children in the wards. The committee did not start until late in the fall on account of the epidemic of influenza, but at present they are doing regular and excellent work.”

Mostly unhindered by the pandemic climate and despite also needing more volunteers, the committee was still able to donate nearly 300 Christmas gifts to children across various hospitals, orphanages, and institutions.

Perhaps this is an indicator that JLW was mostly unaffected by the pandemic of 1918.

Or, perhaps a lack of mention was because the ravages of war affected their efforts more than pestilence. At any rate, what is clear from the Annual Report of 1918-1919 is that the women of JLW continued to motivate each other to give more of themselves and remind each other of the importance of their good work – a theme that continues today.

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

SHOULD I APPLY FOR THE JUNIOR LEAGUE OF WASHINGTON’S DUES SCHOLARSHIP?

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he Junior League of Washington (JLW) created its dues scholarship in the spring of 2018 with the intention of supporting JLW members in their times of financial need, as well as broadening the socioeconomic diversity of the organization. Since its creation, 70 dues scholarships (a combination of full and partial scholarships) have been awarded to JLW members. For the 2019-2020 year, $6,286 was awarded through 13 partial scholarships and 15 full scholarships to assist members. For the 2020-2021 year, JLW increased the amount of awarded scholarships — in total awarding 19 full scholarships and 28 partial scholarships amounting to approximately $9,952. The scholarship has been funded through a combination of generous donations as well as surplus League funds transferred at the end of the previous three League years.

Since the start of the JLW dues scholarship during the 2017-2018 fiscal year, JLW has seen the true necessity of having a scholarship accessible for its members. In recent years, JLW members have experienced the longest government shutdown in United States’ history, causing many members who were federal employees to be furloughed, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to have lasting repercussions on the JLW community.

During these tough times, JLW has encouraged members to apply and utilize this resource available to them.

Whitney LaRoche

For members struggling with the decision to apply, know that this scholarship was created to help our members, and applications are kept confidential. Hardship and struggle are part of life. This scholarship was meant for members to support one another during times of uncertainty for whatever that reason may be. If you are in need of assistance to continue your membership, please apply as scholarships are awarded on a case-by-case basis. It is important to note that a vast majority of applicants are awarded either a partial or full scholarship. Payment plans are also available for partial scholarship recipients.

If you are interested in applying for the JLW dues scholarship, please contact Katy

Longworth, JLW’s Membership and Communications Manager, at katy@jlw.org or via phone at 202.337.8135. Katy will send you a brief, confidential form to complete. This form asks for a little more information about your needs. You can apply for a scholarship that covers all of your dues or just part of your dues. If you are on a payment plan, you may request a scholarship at any point(s) in your plan. This scholarship applies to members belonging to any membership status (active, sustainer, or provisional) with demonstrated financial need.

A special thank you to all members who have supported the JLW dues scholarship as it continues to assist members in their times of need.

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

D&T GOES VIRTUAL AND THRIVES

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ith the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting many of the Junior League of Washington (JLW) committees’ plans for the 2020-2021 League year, the Development and Training (D&T) committee was quick to adjust and devise new action plans which led to an increase in both development and training opportunities for members and event attendance.

Pivoting to virtual development and training was no easy task but proved to be beneficial to the JLW community in a multitude of ways.

Utilizing Zoom’s platform to connect virtually, the D&T committee was able to expand and offer a variety of trainings.

Since speakers were able to host events from the comfort of their own homes, the D&T committee was able to engage speakers from various locations on many different topics.

Some of these included: • “Invest Like a Woman: Everything You Need to Know About Investing Beyond Your 401K,” • “Leading Effective Teams Remotely,” • “How to be an Ally: Tools for Leaders to Actively Support Underrepresented Communities in the Workplace and Beyond,” • “Food Security Challenges in the Global Pandemic,” and • “The Virtual Classroom: How to Keep Students (and Adults!) Engaged While Learning from Home.”

Previously, D&T events were limited to the maximum capacity allowed in the Loughborough Room at Headquarters and in-person attendance was required. Since pivoting to virtual training, JLW has been able to host Zoom trainings with a maximum capacity of 500 people, which resulted in a huge increase in attendance. Natalie

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Whitney LaRoche

Hales, Chair of the D&T Committee, shared “We had 1,661 women join D&T events during our first five months when we held 21 trainings! That’s 503 more women than had previously joined us during the entirety The D&T Committee leadership team consists of (from order of top left of last year when we to bottom right): Ann Rodgers (Vice Chair, Community Engagement), held 34 trainings.

Natalie Hales (Chair), Sarah Beccio (Vice Chair, League Essentials), Two years ago, we Randi Williams (Rising Chair), Angeline Schreiber (Vice Chair, Logishad seven trainings tics and Data), and Alex Washington (Vice Chair, Leadership) with 60 or more women in attendance.

We had two trainings that surpassed that tracking and monitoring participants via threshold last year. In the first half of this Zoom (i.e. using different usernames, JLW year, we had already held 11 trainings joining and leaving Zoom at differing that surpassed that threshold! Last year our times, etc.), recording attendance has truly highest attended training had 86 women, two become a daunting assignment. years ago it was 92 women, and this year thus D&T Chair Hales has also had to send far it was 260 women.” out Zoom information in advance of each It is truly remarkable how quickly the training and solicit feedback following D&T Committee has been able to adapt and each training, meaning many more emails tackle a new plan during these challenging to be sent than in previous years. These times. Ultimately, many have appreciated women have truly thought through the and benefited from their tremendous efforts logistics to sustain successful virtual trainto continuously seek out content and plan ings (even if they choose to continue to out each month’s trainings in advance. offer virtual options after the pandemic), Although these trainings were executed but no one is perfect, so please remember with minimal issues, the efforts to achieve the hard work and devotion to bringing these seemingly polished presentations interesting and relevant content when you have not gone without obstacles for those attend these trainings. tasked with carrying them out behind the If you have not had an opportunity to scenes. Before pivoting to virtual training attend a virtual D&T training, you are missopportunities, recording attendance was a ing out on the great information the D&T much easier task. Members would checkCommittee has cultivated and shared since in with committee volunteers as they pivoting to the virtual format. Many have arrived. Since pivoting, members from the found it easy to listen in and multitask with D&T committee have been tasked with their busy schedules. So next time you see an recording members’ attendance via Zoom. interesting topic, sign up, tune in, and enjoy As one can imagine, with an increase in great content and speakers brought to you by participants, as well as the difficulty of our very own D&T Committee.

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

JLW LEAGUE-WIDE READ OF HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST:

CONVERSATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED Mary Grace McCormick

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n summer 2020, Junior League of Washington (JLW) leaders were grappling with how to engage members. After a few months of pandemic-driven lockdown, two overarching desires were evident.

There was the obvious desire to connect; after months without in-person gatherings, members wanted to talk and laugh with one another. Then there was the pressing desire to meet the moment and bring the League into the nationwide conversation about issues surrounding race, sources of racism, and how to overcome them. With this in mind, the JLW Board organized a League-wide read of Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Antiracist.

The organization of this League-wide read was carefully considered. According to Board member and event organizer Deena Smith, “We came up with this idea to have an event series because I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t a ‘one-and-done’ and that it wasn’t too much information for members to absorb at once. If we broke it into manageable chunks, people could have discussions and we could build from there.”

As a result, three discussion events were organized to allow members to share and learn from one another. In each event, members met to discuss five chapters, guided by discussion questions created by the event organizers. Breakout rooms allowed members to share stories and lessons learned in a small group setting. For Board member and event organizer Laisha Dougherty, this setting was critical to healthy discussion: “It was great to provide a platform where people could feel comfortable having those discussions.”

All three events were very well-received and as Smith commented, “every session, people said they wished it could have gone on a little longer.” Despite this success, our work as a League and as League members is far from over. According to Dougherty, the best way to build on and continue our progress is to be open to different perspectives and to learn as much as possible. As she said, “Education is the most important thing. Programs like this League-wide read that give people an opportunity to learn - that’s the best thing we can do. No one should feel slighted because of their race, especially in the League - we’re all there to complete a common mission. We just have to be respectful of everyone’s differences.”

When asked about next steps, Smith echoed a similar sentiment: “As I think about ground-level things we can do, we can remember that our Junior League members are just people and that people are going to make mistakes. We should be able to say what we need to say to each other.”

While the work ahead may be daunting, Smith continues to be encouraged by JLW’s membership: “I am hopeful that JLW will continue to be a place where women learn about the community they’re serving.”

Ultimately, the League’s path to becoming a more inclusive, antiracist organization starts with you. In addition to Kendi’s book, please check out the Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit on the JLW website and lookout for future League discussions.

DID YOU KNOW?

JLW's Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit has tips on the following:

USING INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE

DEMONSTRATING EQUITY

DEVELOPING CORE COMPETENCIES

EXAMINING VOLUNTEER TRAININGS

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

WELCOMING NEW MEMBERS DURING COVID-19

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he COVID-19 pandemic did not stop the Junior League of Washington (JLW) from bringing new members on board. While many of the events for new members looked different, onboarding new JLW members did not slow down.

Despite the unique challenges this year, JLW welcomed 292 new members for the 2020-2021 League year. The New Member Committee (NMC) continued to foster a sense of community for these women through virtual events to ensure the newest JLW members experienced a fantastic, albeit unique, new member year.

The NMC worked hard to replicate the traditional new member year online and was able to retain the same sequencing and scope of events for the class year in a virtual format. The NMC kicked off the League year for new members with an online orientation that utilized new tools to engage members, such as Zoom and Mentimeter.

By using features of these applications, including break-out rooms, word clouds, and live polling, the new members were able to connect with other women and express their feelings about joining JLW. New Member Advisor Danielle Ruckert shared that “While things started off rocky in terms of getting to know each other over Zoom and finding opportunities to engage and relate, my advisor group was very open and receptive. We found that sharing personal stories and letting each other into our lives made it easier to relate and understand each other; we also found that having your video on during calls and being fully engaged made our meetings more successful.”

The participation rate of new members in advisor groups and events throughout the

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Bailey Oedewaldt and Danielle Muenzfeld

Spring Course session helps further integrate new members into JLW League year has been very strong. The advisor groups play a key role in welcoming and integrating women to JLW. As explained by New Member Advisor Victoria Tropiano, “I think flexibility and empathy are things I try to focus on as a new member advisor this year. With everything going on right now, I want to make sure the new members I advise have the information they need to succeed while also ensuring they have options that work with their schedules. I always try to have a phone call or Zoom chat if a new member has additional questions about JLW.” New members were placed in small advisor groups based on neighborhoods.

NMC leadership organized the groups by neighborhood to allow the new members to foster networks in their local communities. Some new members have found safe ways to get together in person outside. As explained by Rising NMC Co-Chairs, Rachel Layher and Mary Lunde, there were a lot more opportunities for new members

to engage this year because advisors were active in posting events and meetings they were hosting in the New Member Facebook group. The dedication and creativity of the advisors is recognized and appreciated by the new member class. New Member Julie Beltz highlighted the efforts of her new member advisor, Desiree Carey, “who has gone out of her way to organize pandemic-friendly small outdoor social activities for new members to get to know each other. Whether it was brunch at picnic tables, or a trip out to a VA winery, she went above and beyond to try to do the best she could for everyone who said they wanted to join JLW for the community and relationships, which is nearly everyone I’ve connected with. And has done so in a COVID-19 conscientious way to ensure everyone feels safe and comfortable.”

Additionally, the NMC Facebook group took on a new level of importance as a way for new members to engage with each other.

According to Layher, “There really is a higher rate of new members posting in the NMC

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

National Rehabilitation Hospital COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT

Natalie Lui Duncan and Amanda Wyant enjoy a socially-distant catch-up.

Facebook group and trying to get other new members or advisors to do something whether virtual or ‘COVID- safe’ in person. Lunde shared she “would love for that type of engagement to continue.”

New members were also able to engage with the League and the Washington, DC, area community through mini-placements on League committees and community experience (CE) opportunities.

Layher and Lunde were grateful that there were enough opportunities for new members to participate in both mini-placements and community experiences despite the impact of the ongoing health crisis. According to Nora Blalock, NMC Vice Chair, Community Experiences, “We have had to switch to a lot of virtual CEs this year, many of which were done with the excellent partnership of the Done-in-a-Day Committee.” These opportunities supported a number of community organizations. One community experience was in support of People Animals Love, where volunteers and their pets (or any animal–including stuffed!) sit in a reading session with individual children who practice reading aloud to the volunteers.

Through another opportunity, new members partnered with the Free Minds Book Club and listened to the creative writing and poems of teenagers charged and incarcerated as adults and provided feedback/ words of encouragement. Additional opportunities supported the Red Cross Missing Maps Project, the Library of Congress Transcribea-Thon, and Everybody Wins DC Story Time.

The 2020-2021 new member class has demonstrated their resilience and enthusiasm for creating community through the League.

Ruckert is “proud of the women I got to know for keeping such positive attitudes and being flexible as we all figured out how to work best together during the pandemic” and is “really looking forward to meeting them all in person one day at a future JLW event!” As summarized by New Member Advisor Surayyah Colbert, “I am so thankful for the flexibility, positive attitude, and kind spirit of the new members that I advise. Though we have not been able to participate in activities in-person, we have been able to connect, smile, and learn about each other and the Junior League of Washington. The future looks bright!”

National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) is dedicated to the treatment and education of patients who have suffered strokes and traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries

Junior League of Washington (JLW) volunteers have volunteered with NRH for over 20 years, providing support and assistance to NRH patients and hospital staff

The JLW NRH Committee typically volunteers weekly and plays interactive games, such as bingo, with the patients and their families to support motor skills and provide an enjoyable escape from the normal hospital routine

Though this year looks different due to COVID-19 impacts, JLW members helped write 110 notes of encouragement to NRH patients this fall

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN KEEP COOKING DURING COVID-19

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he Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen (KITK) annual kids’ health and nutrition fair is a beloved staple of the Junior League of Washington (JLW) calendar, and has been well attended by JLW members with their children, community partners, and DC-area families year after year. The KITK Committee typically partners with the YMCA to produce this popular and celebrated spring event that aims to educate children ages three to 13 about the benefits of nutrition and fitness.

On the big event day, which is typically held at the Anthony Bowen Branch YMCA, attendees would usually enjoy age-appropriate creative and physical activities, as well as cooking demonstrations, and receive gift bags filled with goodies from sponsors and expertly put together by committee members. Some of the past activities included encouraging children to drink more water by dressing it up with fruit, and mixing up personalized healthy trail mix. Past donations for the event included the Colgate toothpaste company van providing free dental check-ups for participating children, food from &pizza, and snacks and produce from Giant supermarket. KITK Committee Chair Theresa Abellon Bauman notes that committee members look forward to seeing the familiar faces of regular attendees at the spring events, such as one mother of three children who had thanked her at the last event and said she makes a point to attend every year.

In addition to the annual spring event, the committee’s regular mini events provide JLW members with opportunities to

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Julia Rosenthal

fulfill that same mission of youth-oriented wellness education on a smaller scale, while collaborating with JLW community partners. All members of the KITK Committee are expected to participate in two mini events each year. Shelley Keller, Secretary of the KITK Committee, explains what inspires her commitment to KITK as follows, “Healthy eating and nutrition are very important to me and I believe it is KITK Committee Members create stimulating activities to a learned behavior. engage participants.

Showing children how to choose healthy food choices is as important months of virtual professional and personas foundational literacy and math skills. al interaction experience.

As a Pre-K teacher I see firsthand the The challenges of the virtual format are significant impact a healthy diet can have many, but committee members, like the rest on a child’s growth and development both of us, are learning to adapt. According to mentally and physically.”

KITK Committee member, Rashee Raj, “I have a kindergartener at home doing virtual PIVOT TO VIRTUAL ‘school.’ I feel like that helps me understand In the spring of 2020, the growing the limitations of virtual events for young COVID-19 crisis forced the committee, people.” Keller explains that the KITK like most people and entities around the Committee had “several large and small world, to halt all in-person events and group discussions about how we can trancompletely rethink how they operate. The sition in-person events to a virtual setting. fully planned KITK 2020 spring event It’s been really rewarding to see how other was cancelled. When the 2020-2021 members are sharing their ideas as well as League year started, KITK Commitexpertise in technology that they graciously tee members were ready to face a new offer to support.” Since holding its first world with ideas learned and tested from virtual meeting in October 2020, the KITK

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

Committee has worked to reinvent committee operations and translate its mission to the virtual format, and by and large were able to succeed.

Due to all of the events this year being exclusively virtual, the committee put more emphasis on its mini events and collaboration with other committees. Keller notes, “It’s been incredible to see how quickly families have adapted to this new platform.

Most of the children are familiar with online learning so transitioning those learned skills on the computer to JLW events has been seamless. Families are comfortable using Zoom and navigate through our events like pros.”

On November 30, 2020, KITK hosted a Development & Training Zoom session focused on local food insecurity challenges in a global pandemic. Bauman spoke about the background of KITK and how it has adapted to the pandemic before introducing guest speakers — Mollie Van Lieu, who is the Senior Director at Nutrition Policy at United Fresh Produce Association, and Jillian Griffith, who is a Registered Dietitian on the In-Store Nutrition team at Giant Foods. They explained the government programs that are established and implemented to help those in need, as well as other ways local grocers are helping during the pandemic.

On December 15, 2020, KITK hosted its second virtual mini event in conjunction with the Langley Residential Services Committee, where committee members played Holiday bingo with the residents. Anston Kovalcik, KITK Committee member explains, “They (virtual events) are difficult to plan and host, but they are fun. There needs to be a lot of thought and time put into making virtual happen successfully. We did a Christmas Bingo with Langley and had to buy Hersey’s kisses, bingo cards, goodie bags, etc. and then distribute these to Langley. The Bingo game was fun and everyone dressed up in Christmas attire.”

KITK typically collaborates with community partners and this year that effort has been expanded. The first such collaboration

KITK Committee Members preparing for the annual fair. of the year happened on October 22, 2020, during a virtual Community Family Life Services (CLFS) event for which KITK provided a kids’ breakout room in Zoom, staffed with volunteers to entertain participants’ children. KITK collaborated with CLFS again for a similar event on March 11, 2021. On March 27, 2021, KITK participated in a Zoom event with the Washington School for Girls Committee and provided health and nutrition related activities for the girls in attendance.

PLANNING AND EXECUTING THE SPRING EVENT At its November meeting last fall, the KITK Committee got to work planning this year’s virtual spring event by setting up the usual subcommittees who plan and execute the event, and brainstorming about ways to interpret the KITK experience into a virtual setting. KITK Committee members have used their creativity and donated some of their time by pre-taping a range of short videos that relate to health and nutrition. The videos are varied and include segments demonstrating food preparation techniques and different exercise routines such as yoga, stretching,

Zumba, and breathing. The videos have been posted to the JLW YouTube channel and are accessible to anyone interested.

CONCLUSION All League members have their reasons for giving so much of themselves to their committees. For Raj, who has been with KITK for four years, what drives her remains as it’s always been, the mission. “KITK is always involved in AJLI’s greater mission of food security, and that’s a big part of why I have stayed during the pandemic. Making sure that everyone, especially younger ones with growing brains, have access to fresh food is near and dear to my heart.”

Bauman summed up her concerns about this unusual League year, “I want our committee members to feel like they are contributing something to the greater good, to promote the League and to volunteer in the community. I know it has been a rough year, our committee is very hands on, and for us to lose that aspect of being out in the community, it has definitely been difficult for us.”

The past year has been uniquely challenging for all of us, but every JLW member who continued to serve can be proud of her dedication and perseverance.

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS INITIATIVE:

A FUNDRAISING SUPERSTAR ARRIVES IN WASHINGTON Julia Rosenthal

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his year, the Junior League of Washington (JLW) piloted a popular fundraising campaign called the Little Black Dress Initiative (LBDI).

The Junior League of London launched the first LBDI in 2014 as a week-long awareness and online fundraising campaign focused on promoting conversation about the experience of poverty.

LBDI volunteers are called advocates, and they participate by wearing the same black outfit for five consecutive days to illustrate the limitations poverty forces on women’s access to resources, their confidence, and advancement opportunities. Each advocate is able to internalize the experience to gain a personal understanding of this aspect of poverty and share her realizations, along with statistics about poverty in the region, to raise awareness on social media.

In addition to spreading the message, advocates also leverage their networks to raise funds for a designated cause. JLW’s cause for support this year during LBDI was the Community Assistance Fund (CAF). The CAF was formed in May 2020 as part of JLW’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and had already distributed over $80,000 in grants. Any 501(c)(3) registered organization serving the DMV region and providing community support was eligible to receive funding through CAF. Christina Tunison, Committee Chair for Innovation & Incubation, took charge of LBDI’s inaugural year in Washington, DC, and tapped Michele Webster to be the LBDI Project Lead. Webster had transferred

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Spring 2021

JLW President Jessica Taylor White sports her little black mask.

ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

from San Diego, a Junior League that previously implemented LBDI to great success, and had friends who participated as advocates. Prior to accepting the Project Lead position, Webster did her due diligence by meeting with the LBDI Committee Chair from San Diego to gain a deeper understanding of how the initiative is designed to work in a non-pandemic year, in order to better adapt it to COVID-19 times. Once fully on board, she continued coordinating with LBDI Committee Chairs from other Leagues, utilizing the Junior League Exchange for LBDI on Facebook.

Last summer, the team held a Zoom meeting with other Junior Leagues across the country who were also planning to host LDBI this year. After acknowledging this year’s participation would need to be entirely virtual, the cohort discussed how to translate the visual impact of the black dress, essential to the LBDI concept, to a socially distanced pandemic environment.

The cohort decided that advocates would be provided with LBDI little black facemasks, to assist their effort in inviting dialogue about the initiative’s message.

The Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) supports LBDI implementation by providing interested Leagues with a range of training materials and tools, such as templates and other resources, that can be modified according to the needs of the particular league. Throughout the planning process, Webster collaborated heavily with the Junior League of Atlanta, which started LBDI in the U.S. and was instrumental in forming what LBDI looks like now, as well as the Junior League of Philadelphia, which

Michele’s Webster’s smile is infectious, even behind her mask!

Laisha Dougherty shows off her little black dress!

made its own tool kit available on the Facebook Exchange.

Starting in late November 2020 through January 2021, Tunison and Webster went to work promoting LBDI around JLW with the purpose of recruiting advocates. They attended JLW committee events to bring attention to the initiative, and on January 19, 2021, organized a Zoom training for 80 members, who were curious enough to register, indicating early on the broad appeal of this event format. Tunison and the team led the attendees in a detailed review of the toolkit, including communication templates and instructions for setting up their fundraising pages on Givebutter, an online fundraising platform.

LBDI was held between Monday, February 1 and Friday, February 5. Both JLW and member advocates posted on their social media accounts facts and images, as well as a selfie of themselves in their outfit or mask under the hashtag #LDBI to raise awareness.

JLW’s LBDI efforts were launched with the goal to expand and encourage a culture of philanthropy among JLW members by raising money for the CAF. According to

Tunison, “CAF was integral to how well the event did this year. Our community and its people are in need. The generous support for nonprofits who are working directly with the people in need spoke to the giving hearts of Junior League members.”

The JLW LBDI organizers worked hard to ensure participating as an advocate would be easy and not impose on members’ busy schedules. It is their hope that even more JLW members will join the effort next year.

Junior Leagues are always interested in new and innovative approaches to fundraising, and programs that prove effective are embraced and become popular. In LBDI’s first year in DC, 55 advocates raised 615 donations from 495 unique donors, which amounted to $29,251.19 in total. The LBDI event has been a resounding, unequivocal success for JLW that significantly surpassed its fundraising goals. Everyone involved did a wonderful job and truly exceeded all expectations. We all hope this year’s event is the beginning of a wonderful tradition for JLW that fundraises for community organizations and fosters critical dialogue about poverty.

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ABOUT OUR LEAGUE

WOMEN ADVANCING CHANGE IN 2021 AND BEYOND:

HOW MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH IS INSPIRING WOMEN TO LEAD

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he Junior League of Washington (JLW) Membership Outreach Committee, whose mission is to help JLW members feel connected to the League as well as educate members on the events of the League throughout the year, selected “Women Advancing Change” this year as its annual campaign theme.

The theme, which follows a volatile year of national and global crises in 2020, was driven by the League’s 2020-2021 President, Jessica Taylor White, and served as a blueprint for the General Membership Meetings (GMMs) as well as other League initiatives this year.

Amelia Whitman Weisbuch, Membership Outreach Committee Chair, described the year’s theme as “frameworks that can help members feel empowered to make change in themselves and in their communities.” She continued that she hopes this year’s theme and GMMs demonstrated for JLW members “not only the immense and critical impact that they can have on their communities through leading change but also how leading and driving change can inspire them personally. There is a difference between simply giving and giving that inspires.”

The driving force behind this year’s theme is a belief that women are positioned, perhaps uniquely, in our communities to advance change across many dimensions. Weisbuch noted that women are often the connectors in their communities, and those who can forge connections and relationships are critical in driving lasting, impactful change. The committee recognized and wanted to

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Meredith Tierney Shields

THERE IS A DIFFER­ENCE BETWEEN SIMPLY GIVING AND GIVING THAT INSPIRES. leverage an important fact: inherently by wanting to join the Junior League, our members are likely to be even more focused on being community connectors.

JLW members often join because they are leaders who want to make an impact on their communities and create connections across organizations, companies, communities, and even regions. Ultimately, the Membership Outreach Committee’s theme selection, Women Advancing Change, was meant to be a springboard for considering how JLW can better meet community needs, leveraging the many talents and passions of the women in our membership.

The committee’s theme was meant to play into JLW’s larger theme of “Give, Gain, Grow,” and was highly visible through the three GMMs this year.

This year’s first GMM focused on Women Advancing Change through giving and providing members with an overview of ways they can give back to their communities. Similarly, the second GMM was focused on the skills that women in the League need to gain as leaders in order to create change in the community. The third and final GMM of the year centered on the theme of growing and how the women in the League can grow themselves, personally and profes-

sionally, through change as well as how we can grow as a League.

The theme of Women Advancing Change has also inspired, in part, the development of two new programs launched by the Membership Outreach Committee.

First, this year the committee launched the Delving Deeper Series, which comprised small group conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I).

These conversations were held monthly through the year, and were created to offer members a forum for personal growth and discussion. The series was inspired by the Association of Junior Leagues International’s 21-day Racial Equity Challenge, which involves daily group conversations and a robust amount of pre- and postwork. The committee recognized that not all members could attend such a rigorous program given the time commitment required, so it created a more flexible option for members who couldn’t participate in the whole 21-day challenge.

Weisbuch noted that “there are pros and cons to the virtual environment this year - a pro is that we can connect people who may have otherwise not crossed paths and a con is that we are all missing being together in person; so the Delving Deeper Series and other programming is meant to bridge those two situations.”

SPOTLIGHT

HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS SHAPED JLW MEMBERS

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hile the news has been filled with story after story about how COVID-19 has impacted everything from the global economy to local small businesses over the past year, it can be easy to forget that this pandemic impacts people right in our backyard and in our very own Junior League of Washington (JLW).

Between weddings being delayed, virtual school, parents working from home, worries about sick family members, and difficulty with the changing global environment, the impacts of this virus have been widespread and hard to manage alone. To share some of the impacts, a few of our fellow JLW members have agreed to speak about their experience through this unprecedented year.

Kate Shadlock, who is in her first active year, has felt the impacts of COVID-19 in a number of ways. Just after COVID-19 hit the U.S. in late March of 2020, she was accepted to business school at UVA Darden to pursue her MBA. Like many other students, her classes moved online for the fall semester and disrupted her plans to move to Charlottesville, Virginia. Adjusting to the online semester presented its own unique set of challenges for her as she worked to figure out where she wanted to live, how to find the privacy and quiet space to attend classes, and how to navigate forming relationships with her new classmates in a virtual environment. One way that she forged relationships with her classmates and helped form study groups was through Instagram; after a few months of school, she began using the Instagram Stories feature to reach out to classmates, explain difficult subjects, and share study tips.

Business school was not the only thing that became more difficult for Shadlock in

Bailey Oedewaldt the virtual environment. Looking for internships to supplement her business school experience became competitive. She found herself spending more than a month going through multi-round, multi-hour interviews for low-paying internships that offered hardly enough to pay rent but had become highly coveted, despite her years of experience.

After a number of interviews, she landed an internship with a major investment firm and is excited for the opportunity to spend the 2021 summer working in her new role.

Another active member, who asked to speak anonymously for this article, experienced a major staff shortage at the beginning of 2021 as COVID-19 spread through part of her team. Her team took rotating days in the office, but when a COVID-19 outbreak impacted the floor she worked on, she found herself with only three members of the team – including herself – who could go into the office. In response, she doubled down on her hours in the office, spending more time at work to ensure that they had enough coverage to finish their daily and weekly tasks.

This left her feeling burnt out after almost a year of working in the pandemic and over a month of working extra hours in the office – all without being vaccinated. She said she has now received the vaccine through her job, but still has concerns about going into the office so often.

“It’s scary,” she said. “To know that this happened even when we were doing everything right – limiting our hours in office, wearing masks, social distancing, rotating who was in on what day. I feel very grateful to be vaccinated now, but I have to wonder what else we could have done to keep people from getting sick. For my team, it felt like too little, too late.”

Another concern that has impacted League members is worry about the disease

impacting the community, friends, and family members. Even in my own family, there is a growing concern for my grandparents – all of whom are elderly and two of whom have major health issues – including one with a recent lung cancer diagnosis and another with ongoing heart issues. While my family is lucky enough to have the privilege to work from home to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission, that is not the case for many members of JLW who are still out working in critical roles. Concern for family and friends, for small businesses, for coworkers and colleagues, has become a widespread issue throughout the pandemic and has added an additional level of stress to these trying times. However, one look at the Junior League Facebook pages show that the JLW community cares deeply about one another. From supporting posts about local small businesses and alerting members to job opportunities, to creating fitness groups to foster a sense of togetherness to sharing information about how the League is still able to serve our DMV area communities, JLW members have come together to lift one another up during these difficult times.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, vaccinations are slowly making their way to the population and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Until then, the JLW community will continue to support one another and the local community.

As the League year draws to a close – and the now passed one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic causing a major shift in everyone’s lives – it is important to remember how this virus has impacted not only global operations, but also individuals, and to remember that, despite everything, JLW remains a resilient and compassionate community.

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SPOTLIGHT

COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT:

LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE Hannah Overton

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urious to know how Junior League of Washington (JLW) committee chairs and council directors stay updated on the latest techniques and best practices for being a successful leader?

Look no further than JLW’s own Leadership Institute Committee!

The Leadership Institute plans and facilitates many of JLW’s training events and offerings to ensure members have the resources they need to be successful in their placements and beyond.

The committee achieves its mission of fostering development of leadership skills among JLW members through its Get On

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Board program, brief training sessions known as Training 10s, specialty trainings, and more. Examples of these specialty trainings include fund leader transition training, fund development training, and parliamentary procedures training. In addition to these standard trainings the committee organizes each year, the Leadership Institute also works closely with the Membership Development Council and the JLW Board to identify and plan ad hoc trainings on new topics throughout the year.

Leadership Institute worked with committees across the League to ensure JLW leadership had access to the resources and

trainings they needed to be successful and support JLW members in an unprecedented year. For example, Leadership Institute collaborated and worked with the Membership Development Council leadership to ensure information on virtual capabilities to host meetings and trainings were easily available to JLW leadership. With the impact of COVID-19 and the inability to host trainings in-person, the Leadership Institute has had to transition to fully virtual sessions. According to Leadership Institute Chair Betsy Bennett, because of the virtual delivery format, the “Leadership Institute has more than doubled the trainings we provided last year.”

SPOTLIGHT

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP BREAKFAST SHOWCASES HOW TO “LEAD CONFIDENTLY”

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n April 30, Junior League of Washington (JLW) members, community members, colleagues, and friends gathered virtually to attend the 2021 Women’s Leadership Breakfast (WLB). Unlike in previous years, WLB attendees did not gather for breakfast at The Hamilton in downtown Washington, DC, but rather huddled in their home offices, kitchens, and spare bedrooms. Despite the separate locations, participants were drawn together to learn from a dynamic fireside chat, complete training exercises, and hear from a celebrated keynote speaker.

WLB is one of the largest annual JLW events that serves as a fundraiser and educational opportunity for members and the broader Washington, DC community.

“We are able to raise funds to continue the League’s philanthropic work in the community through an event that promotes women and the great work they are doing,” says Catherine “Cady” Clapp, WLB Co-Chair, on the importance of the event. According to Clapp, “In addition to hearing from speakers in leadership roles, we provide a specific training opportunity during the breakfast for participants to hone a key leadership skill.”

This year’s WLB programming included several components, with participants first listening in to a Fireside Chat with Gina Shaefer, owner and operator of 13 ACE Hardware stores, and Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, moderated by award-winning journalist and WUSA9 weeknight anchor Lesli Foster.

Afterward, Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts, a Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business,

Hannah Overton conducted a training exercise on leading diverse teams.

This year’s virtual WLB concluded with keynote speaker Susan Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic. Under her leadership, National Geographic has been Susan Goldberg credits her success to one key attribute: resiliency. honored with nine National Magazine Awards, including four awards in 2020 and the top prize for General Excellence in 2019. Goldberg spoke to the importance of determination: “Being resilient means we keep trying. We say yes to things that scare us.

The WLB panel highlighted the importance of confidence and individuality.

We don’t give up — we show up.”

In previous years, WLB has been limited to 350 people due Many people also enjoyed the Speaker Series to physical space constraints, and focused taking place in the evening because their solely on its flagship event. However, the job does not allow them to attend daytime transition to a virtual event came with events without having to take off work,” some exciting opportunities, including Clapp said. Further, Clapp explained that farther geographic reach and the three “The tickets were less expensive than our part Speaker Series. The series, which normal in-person event, but each person still occurred in the months leading up to received a giftcard to purchase breakfast that WLB, featured local business women and they can use either the morning of the event how they had to pivot in response to the or at another time. The benefit of the event COVID-19 pandemic. being virtual is that we are now able to have “We were able to expand our audience to people from all over the country attend and anywhere across the U.S. and even outside benefit from hearing our speakers advice on of the U.S. for non-resident members. how to lead confidently.”

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CHANGE THE DATE:

THE STORIES OF JLW’S COVID-19 BRIDES Sarah Valerio

“C

hange the Dates,” “micro-weddings,” and “bridal masks” didn’t used to be common parlance among brides-to-be.

COVID-19 changed that by having a profound impact on the lives of many. The pandemic has disrupted cherished milestone events, including the weddings of many JLW members. The postponement of a wedding is more than just a celebration delayed. It means putting life – including many times the hopes of starting a family or taking adventures – on hold.

During a time that should be full of joy and excitement planning one of the happiest days of their lives, the Junior League of Washington’s (JLW) affianced found their plans turned upside down and their excitement turned to stress and agony.

They faced the decision of whether to go forward and potentially risk the health and safety of their family, friends, and loved ones, to have a drastically different or smaller celebration, or to put their futures on hold and lose deposits, vendors, and venues.

SARAH VALERIO I write this as a COVID-19 bride myself.

My fiance, Ford O’Connell, and I were engaged on January 1, 2020. At this time, still blissfully ignorant of the COVID-19 disease then largely relegated to China,

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we planned our destination wedding for November 14, 2020 in Nassau, Bahamas.

When the COVID-19 outbreak struck the U.S. and lockdowns began to occur in March 2020, I began to panic, but with news outlets discussing reopenings in a matter of weeks or by Easter or Memorial Day, we were relieved that our wedding wasn’t until late fall.

As things worsened and the Bahamas closed their borders, we made the decision in July 2020 to postpone our wedding to March 13, 2021. This, we figured, would give the vaccine time to roll out.

We ordered and mailed out “Change the Dates,” which I had only recently learned were a thing, contacted our wedding vendors to reschedule, and amended all of our contracts with the new date.

We canceled any future plans for a bridal shower or bachelor or bachelorette parties.

To us, they were simply not worth the risk. At that point, we were just hoping for a wedding.

As we got into winter and our new date approached, several hotels near our venue remained shuttered and our venue informed us dancing on their property

SPOTLIGHT

SCARY TIMES ARE A GUT CHECK ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS...YOU JUST WANT THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE TO BE OKAY. was banned through at least the end of the year. We weighed what our new wedding would look like. We would only have a handful of guests. Everyone would have to wear masks except when eating or drinking. Dancing might still be prohibited.

Tables would be restricted to fewer seats, meaning more tables, more centerpieces, and more expenses. Buffets were disallowed, changing our welcome rehearsal dinner plans.

By January, the vaccine rollout still had not progressed widely enough to guarantee the safety of all of our guests. I spent days crying about a second postponement. I ordered another round of Change the Dates.

Our new (and current as of this publication) date will be December 11, 2021.

As trying as it has been, I count my blessings. I’m grateful to still have a job when so many are not so lucky, and to have my friends and family alive and well.

My fiance and one of my uncles were hospitalized with COVID-19, but they made it home safely in the end. Scary times are a gut check on what really matters and during times like that, a wedding postponement seems very small and insignificant. You just want the people you love to be okay.

I also have my fiance by my side loving and supporting me. Adversity can bring people together or tear them apart, and for us, the experience has brought us closer and we hope will make the celebration all the more joyful when we finally get to have it.

I knew there had to be other brides in JLW in the same boat and when I reached out, I was inundated with responses. Here

are their stories about love persevering during a very trying time.

GABRIELLE KAUFMAN: Wedding Date(s): May 23, 2020 > April 24, 2021 > April 23, 2022 Wedding Location: Woodlawn House, Alexandria, VA Gabrielle Kaufman lost not only her wedding date, but her job as a result of the pandemic. Her first COVID-19 wedding disruption came as she was planning her March 14, 2020 bachelorette party in Paris, a place where she had spent most of her 20s and where she had gone to college.

According to Kaufman, “I was trying on little white dresses to pack while simultaneously setting a google alert for ‘France Coronavirus.’ My colleague’s husband worked in federal aviation and by Monday, March 9 she relayed information that made me seriously doubt I’d be flying on Thursday. When I told my colleagues that I was canceling my trip and was concerned about my bridal shower in April and my wedding in May, I distinctly recall them accusing me of being too dramatic. By the next afternoon, HR circulated our offices asking anyone who had been on a plane in the previous two weeks to start telework.

We didn’t know then that we’d never return to our office.”

That Thursday evening, the very same night Kaufman was to fly out for her now-canceled bachelorette party, all travel from Europe was halted due to the surge in cases on the continent.

She and her fiance quickly rescheduled their May 23, 2020 wedding, postponing for nearly an entire year to April 24, 2021.

She says people again thought she was overreacting by pushing so far out, “but we were certain 6 months wouldn’t be enough time to ensure large gatherings were safe and figured an entire year would be largely enough time. You have no idea how naive I feel now! Our wedding planner was wonderful in postponing all of our vendors swiftly and although many were resistant, wanting us to push our wedding to fall, she managed to convince them all. I don’t think people realized yet the scope of what we were about to experience.”

Weeks after postponing her wedding, Kaufman, who worked in an industry with a lot of international travel, was laid off, along with over 50% of her colleagues. According to Kaufman, it was done “with very little warning.” Having spent her entire career working in events, she says she saw her industry vanish overnight. “I grieved the loss of my job and of my career far more than I expected, perhaps because the early days of the pandemic offered so little distraction other than Tiger King and baking bread.”

Still, Kaufman tried to stay optimistic.

“There were upsides – I learned to cook, I finally had time to spend with my fiance after years of us both traveling for work, but I missed my family and I missed my friends. Even as restrictions lifted, the numbers were high and it didn’t feel safe to gather with people. It was also painful to see large weddings being celebrated in the press all summer long. I thought of my mother and of my in-laws, of all the people we wanted to gather together for our wedding, and how risky it would be should anyone get sick.”

As fall stretched into winter, it became increasingly clear to Kaufman that her April 2021 wedding wouldn’t happen either. “I had a health scare that made me even more cautious about the dangers of COVID. I knew I had to start thinking about wedding dress alterations and new Save the Dates, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it – in my heart, I knew that we’d have to postpone again. As someone who worked in events, it felt horrible to imagine the precarious situations the vendors

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found themselves in and I was truly torn between forging ahead with a small wedding or waiting to have something closer to what we had originally planned. When my fiance mentioned that we wouldn’t need a band or a DJ because we wouldn’t be able to have any dancing, the decision was clear for me.”

She postponed another year. “Although we’ll have to pay price increases and many of our guests will no longer be able to attend, it feels worth it to have a wedding that feels closer to ‘normal’. What is heartbreaking, however, is that by the third postponement it feels like the joy of being a bride has been taken. There is no more looking forward to events, only crossing fingers and praying that no variants prove vaccine-resistant. It feels like all of the wonderful things that a bride gets to experience – the shower, the bachelorette, the bridal luncheon, the fittings – are all out of reach now.” One of the most challenging aspects for me has been finding the emotional capacity to grieve this situation. As a Junior Leaguer, I’m involved in my community which means I see the real devastation this pandemic has caused – death, sickness, economic suffering. It feels flippant to grieve the loss of a wedding with so much hardship around us. The first time we postponed, it felt like we were doing something noble and good for our community. But I’ve taken our second postponement much more personally, in large part because our parents, who are in their 70s, are all at risk for getting seriously ill from COVID, and I pray that they’ll make it to our wedding.

I lost my dad as a teenager and I have genuinely spent months petrified that my mother would get COVID and not make it to my wedding.”

“Something that did help me put things in perspective, however, was the teenagers in my life,” Kaufman reflects. “My fiance’s daughter graduated high school in 2020 and started college this past September.

While we were able to postpone our wedding, she has entirely missed out on prom, graduation, and a normal freshman year of college – she recently rushed a sorority

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entirely via Zoom. These are things that can’t be postponed, although I do reassure her that the class of 2020 will at least be written into the history books!”

“The pandemic has been so strange – the entire world is grieving the loss of our lives as we knew them. We’ve all had a terrible year. But something that has heartened me has been to see how people are really talking about mental health and how missing out on a wedding or graduation really can be devastating. I hope that my experience will let other brides know that it’s okay to be sad about your wedding and care about what’s happening in the world – there is space for both. And that together, we will all get through this.”

ALLIE WILLIAMS: Wedding Date(s): September 5, 2020 > September 4, 2021 Wedding Location: Roanoke, VA Allie Williams, a recent transfer from the Junior League of Seattle, knew early that COVID-19 wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. She decided in April 2020 to push her September 5, 2020 wedding back one full year. “We felt like there was so much uncertainty even then when COVID had barely started in the US that we didn’t want to take on the stress of trying to fully revamp our wedding with so much unknown,” Williams explains.

While she would wait to celebrate her wedding, she and her then-fiance didn’t want to wait to get married. “We bounced around a ton of ideas as to what we could do in 2020 in lieu of our full wedding.

We considered a small ceremony with just family but finding an appropriate and safe location for such a thing was proving difficult as both families would have needed to travel. Many of our immediate family members also fell into the essential worker category so we felt uneasy about gathering. After discovering that DC is one of only three or four places where you can legally marry yourselves without an ordained individual to do the ceremony, my now husband and I chose to do a private elopement with just the two of us and

a photographer here in Rock Creek Park.

I didn’t wear my wedding gown, I didn’t even wear white. I went with a floral, summery dress and a bouquet of tulips from Whole Foods. We scrambled to get our hands on rings and I ended up slipping a $2 silicon band on my husband’s hand after his got lost in the mail,” says Williams, adding, “But that was fine because for this ceremony, we didn’t need fancy things; we just needed each other.”

Williams feels confident that come September, their outdoor, rooftop venue will be a comfortable and safe place to host their original guest list. “We’ll be revising our plans a bit to turn our ceremony into more of a vows renewal and I’ll finally get to wear my wedding gown that’s been hiding in the closet for a year!”

NICOLE BLUM: Wedding Date(s): April 10, 2020 > October 16, 2021 Wedding Location: The Roosevelt, New Orleans, Louisiana Nicole Blum is in her second year with JLW and is a member of the Digital Media Committee. She and her fiance, Jeff Huberman, got engaged on February 29, 2020, on the precipice of COVID-19 shutdowns in the U.S., after three and a half years of dating.

“Jeff decided to take me on a surprise “day-date,” which required a flight out of DCA. We flew into the city where we met, New Orleans, and he proposed to me that day! Little did we know just a few very short weeks after celebrating our engagement, our engagement period would offer us more time to plan the wedding than we expected.”

“In April 2020,” Blum explains, “we certainly thought we’d be in the COVIDclear by April 2021.”

So, she started planning. She booked her venues, bands, florists, photographers and all the rest for a 220-person affair at The Roosevelt in New Orleans, all with the hope that things would be back to normal.

“By the time late-fall of 2020 hit, we knew we had a decision to make. Questions

SPOTLIGHT

I THINK WHAT KEPT US GOING AND WHAT KEPT US GROUNDED AGAINST OUR EMOTIONS WAS THINKING ABOUT THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION. PEOPLE WERE AND STILL ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES, FIGHTING FOR THE LIVES OF OTHERS, AND TO US THAT ALWAYS REMAINED TOP-OF-MIND. from our friends weren’t so much ‘Are you excited? Just six more months!’ but ‘So what are you going to do? Will you just get married and have a party later?’,” says Blum.

“We realized that rather than celebrating and enjoying our engagement, we were fielding questions, weighing options, and creating contingency plans to ensure we were prepared to move the event.”

By the end of 2020, Blum and her fiance officially made the call and postponed their wedding in hopes of a safer celebration down the road.

“Luckily, we were able to shift all of our plans, lock in most of our previouslyconfirmed vendors, and let our friends and family know that love is not cancelled, we’re just giving them more time to practice their dance moves,” Blum adds.

“We learned along the way that we really weren’t married to the date of this life milestone, but that we just wanted to take this journey through life together and this experience was all just a part of that. I think what kept us going and what kept us grounded against our emotions was thinking about the reality of the situation. People were and still are fighting for their lives, fighting for the lives of others, and to us that always remained top-of-mind,” she says.

“While at times there were feelings of frustration and asking, ‘Why is it this way for me? My other friends and family got to have the most exciting engagements and

have everything they ever wanted for their wedding’, ultimately we knew that the love we have for one another and the idea of building our lives together was so much stronger than the temporary nuances of rescheduling our wedding plans.”

COURTNEY PAUL: Wedding Date(s): April 17, 2021 > September 18, 2021 Wedding Location: The Willard, Washington, DC Courtney Paul, a JLW member since 2017, got engaged on a cruise in the Caribbean with her now-fiance, Sam McAuliffe, and her family. “Our 2019-2020 cruise departed December 29 – and Sam proposed that night in the middle of the ocean! Sam and I had been shopping for an engagement ring back in October, but, still, I was totally surprised.

I didn’t think he would propose without his family being present / easily reachable. Fortunately, we were able to use the cruise wifi to call them and celebrate virtually.”

Paul had no idea that the online celebration she and her new fiance had that night would be a precursor for a world of celebrations about to go virtual in the months to come.

“While we were on this cruise, Sam and I booked another cruise for just the two of us a few months away as a kind of engagement-moon. Little did we know, the world was about to change big time,” Paul says.

As soon as Paul got home from her vacation, still blissfully unaware of the disaster on the horizon, she and her fiance started looking at venues in downtown Washington, DC to accommodate their 300-person guest list – an event-size that would become virtually unheard of mere months later.

They landed on The Willard.

“We signed the contract for April 17, 2021 toward the end of January – At that point, COVID felt like a distant problem. It was still just a cluster of cases in Wuhan, and experts were still studying to understand the risk of transmission and outbreak,” says Paul. “We thought the country would bounce back to normal relatively soon. We weren’t worried about the wedding – it was so far away! Everyone was saying spring would be safe. So, we pressed forward and booked several vendors. Vaccines were on track to be delivered by the new year, meaning people could be vaccinated and protected by the time my wedding rolled around.”

As Paul moved forward planning her still far-off wedding, she began to feel the impact on her plans. “I moved forward with floral and linens contracts – the impact of social distancing measures became abundantly clear. More space meant more tables – so, more linens and flower arrangements.

Costs ballooned. I had to pick two different linens to mix and match, because there weren’t enough stock of any individual

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option. We also began talking about ‘where we would draw the line.’ Would we still want to have our wedding if people had to wear masks? If they couldn’t congregate on a dance floor? We thought those were the biggest problems,” she reflects.

“Summer showed us just how dangerous gathering could be. Every party became a super spreader. I heard multiple horror stories about guests – family members – contracting COVID at weddings and becoming severely ill. Couples had to end their honeymoons early to come say goodbyes at the bedside. And experts were emphasizing: This is just the beginning.

It’s going to get worse. I stopped sleeping, and even when I did sleep, I had nightmares. I knew at the end of the summer, I wanted to move my date. April didn’t seem feasible. Even if everyone was miraculously vaccinated by then, event restrictions wouldn’t magically open up overnight,” says Paul, adding “I simply couldn’t bear the thought of hosting a party that cost someone their life.”

In the early fall, she made the decision to push her wedding to September 18, 2021.

“All of this – the new date and the new contract – was a big weight off my shoulders.

Plus, we were able to get all of our chosen vendors to move to that date, too – and we only had to pay one small rebooking fee for one vendor. I feel so grateful.”

Now, she says, she is worried even September may not be far enough out. Paul says that if things aren’t safe by then, she will have a small, intimate wedding instead of waiting to get married again, and have a bigger celebration down the road. “We’ll still look forward to holding our big party at the Willard down the road, whenever that might be. 2023? Who knows?”

BETSY BENNETT: Wedding Date(s): May 23, 2020 > May 29, 2021 Wedding Location: The Sagamore Hotel, Lake George, NY Betsy Bennett, a JLW member since 2016, counts herself lucky to have had a bridal shower before COVID entered the

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scene. She had no idea it would be the only bit of normalcy she and her fiance, John Goerlich, would experience in her wedding journey.

“My bachelorette was planned for the first weekend in April 2020. I canceled it in early March when cases first started coming to the U.S.” Shortly thereafter, the rest of Bennett’s plans changed rapidly as well. Mere months out from her wedding, “we had nearly every detail planned and contract signed, it was very difficult to watch COVID hit the US so quickly,” she says.

From there, things went from bad to worse as the true scale of COVID-19 came into focus for Bennett and things quickly grew out of her hands.

“My dress was being hand made in Milan, Italy at a small atelier. It was scheduled to be shipped to the US in early April. It was the first week of March and I saw on Instagram the atelier shut down all dressmaking operations and converted all of their available materials to mask making.”

By mid-March, Bennett says her venue furloughed all of its employees and sent an email to guests canceling their events.

She says she is thankful, however, that she was able to book a new date a year in the future, and that all of her contracts were able to be rolled over to the new date.

“My dress is now in the US, safe and sound,” Bennett says. This time around, they will have fewer in attendance to meet New York state regulations, but, she adds, “if this year has taught me anything it is the value of being with loved ones over being with everyone.”

BAILEY ARAGON: Wedding Date(s): July 4, 2020 > Summer 2022 Wedding Location: New Mexico Fifth year JLW member Bailey Aragon and her husband, Andrew, had always planned on a relatively small backyard wedding with family and just a few close friends.

But as COVID-19 hit, she realized even that may not be possible.

The domino effect that would eventually cancel her wedding began with the cancelation of her May 2020 bridal shower and bachelorette party. “As our date drew closer, we realized we weren’t going to be comfortable holding an event and risk getting any of our family members sick”, says Aragon.

Still, she and her then-fiance did not want to wait to be married any longer.

“We decided we’d get married in DC on our original date and planned to postpone our original celebration to summer 2021.

It was a really difficult decision – truly one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made.

To have your family and wedding party all watch you get married 1,600 miles away on a Zoom call is less than ideal, but for us, it was better to do that, knowing they were safe than to have the day we wanted and risk losing anyone.”

When she started the process of planning wedding round two and started reaching out to venues in January and February, Aragon discovered many venues in New Mexico still weren’t holding gatherings.

“At this point,” says Aragon, “we’ve opted to postpone an additional summer rather than put ourselves through the ‘will we or won’t we’ stress for another go around.

By the time we’re able to have any of the celebrations we originally wanted, we’ll be coming up on two years of marriage. I hope people will still be excited and want to celebrate, but it is very strange to wait your whole life for something that you’ve imagined and wanted, for it to happen with very little fanfare. I do get sad about that part, but at the end of the day I’m really glad we didn’t let the pandemic stop us and got married on the timeline we wanted to. In the long run, it was probably a good lesson for myself to stop waiting for life to happen and to just make it happen when I want it!”

SARAH STEINBERG: Wedding Date(s): May 24, 2020 > October 18, 2020 Wedding Location: Hendry House, Arlington, VA When COVID-19 entered the scene in March 2020, fourth year JLW member

SPOTLIGHT

Sarah Steinberg, co-chair of the JLW Holiday Cocktail Party, was having her engagement photos taken with her thenfiance, Shane Steinberg, and doing her hair and makeup trials.

“We obviously were concerned about what was happening, but figured we had two months and at that point, no one thought it would still be an issue,” says Steinberg.

She sent out her invitations, paid her final deposits, and RSVPs started rolling in. She was 44 days out from her May 24, 2020 wedding date when Virginia, the location of her wedding, announced its stay-at-home order that would, at that time, run through the beginning of June.

“At that point, we didn’t have a choice, but to postpone,” says Steinberg. “We couldn’t even get a marriage license, as there wasn’t a process in place that early on to get one issued remotely and the offices were closed.”

She reached out to her vendors with a new date of October 18, 2020. “We hoped that things would be better in 6 months - and our tent company at that time gave us a credit that had to be used in 6 months - so we set the new date for October. I sent an email to all the guests and ordered new save the dates, and just moved forward. Obviously,” Steinberg says

Sarah Steinberg with friends and family on her wedding day

looking back, “as we got a few months down the road, we realized it would be a long time before things got to normal, but we were determined to get married. I’m in my mid-30s and we want kids, so I didn’t feel like postponing again.”

In the early fall of 2020, Steinberg and her fiance started having conversations with her family and wedding party as to what they were comfortable with.

I’M REALLY GLAD WE DIDN’T LET THE PANDEMIC STOP US AND GOT MARRIED ON THE TIMELINE WE WANTED TO. IN THE LONG RUN, IT WAS PROBABLY A GOOD LESSON FOR MYSELF TO STOP WAITING FOR LIFE TO HAPPEN AND TO JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN WHEN I WANT IT!

“Being a COVID bride has not been easy,” Steinberg reflects. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I missed out on a lot. I didn’t have a wedding shower or a bachelorette party. Both of those got cancelled less than a month before they were scheduled to happen [last] April. I missed out on getting to celebrate with my girlfriends in person,” though she adds that she did eventually have a virtual bachelorette party. But she says she feels, “like I missed out on most of the experiences where you actually get to feel like a bride and just get to enjoy the fact that you are getting married. All of that was replaced with doing a lot of stuff alone, planning and replanning, being filled with anxiety about whether or not we would actually be able to get married or if we would have to postpone again.”

“After discussions with our family and taking into consideration that my father-in-law is high-risk, we decided to move forward with just immediate family and the wedding party, which would be a maximum of 25 people. Not everyone was comfortable coming or traveling to get here, so in the end there were 17 of us at the wedding. It may have been smaller than we originally planned, but it wound up being the perfect day,” she says.

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WE RECOGNIZE AND THANK THE GENEROUS SPONSORS OF THE 2021 TOSSED & FOUND

Thank You

WE RECOGNIZE AND THANK THE GENEROUS SPONSORS OF THE 2021 TOSSED & FOUND GOLD Alex and Cody Shaw Bill, Christina, Isaac & Rylee Babcock Jenny Fitzpatrick Julka Grodel Kayla Connor & Jerry Tsao Carole Hauke Kelly Hunter Madeline Shepherd & Sandy Keith Meghan Britt Nate & Amanda Gallen Penelope Shapiro Rachel & Matthew Volkmann Stephanie Fischer

SILVER Anonymous Amber Stein Barbara Franklin Carrie Wosicki Charlyn Stanberry Diane Groomes Elizabeth Keys Erin Wieczorek Hannah Alleman Jacqueline Frederick-Maturo Jamie Lockhart Jennifer Valentine Joy Shepard Kimberly Toumey Lisa Gadsden Marian Xanders Mary Hutchinson Pam Traxel Peter Keith Sara Hatfield Sara Kibler Sara McGanity Tycely Williams

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WE RECOGNIZE AND THANK THE GENEROUS SPONSORS OF THE BLACK GREEN 2021 TOSSED & FOUND Ann Shepherd Abby Walsh Anonymous Ashley Andren Beth Breeding Beth Gross Dorothy Jackman Doug Dooley Elissa Mosman Elizabeth Duff Gabi Porter Heidi Reed Julie Nolan Karen Barnes Karen & Stephen Wilhoit Katherine Thompson Kathy & Ron Ford Katrina Washington Lauren Miller Lee & Jane Volkmann Linda & Alan Cohen Megan & Aaron Heft Melissa Greenstein Michael Howard Prianka Sharma RADM & Mrs. C.B. Jewett Ramona Al-Jaber Robin Griffin Samantha Nagle Sonja Duric Susan & Arvin Miller Tiffani Moore

Abby Ware Abigail Kang Alaina Pitt Alexis Kahn Amanda Asgeirsson Amber Kirby Amelia Brown Amelia Whitman Weisbuch Aminah Al-Jaber Andrea Fox Andreas Elterich Ann & Jay Cherlow Ann Scoggins Anne Hunter Annelise Pitt Anonymous Bekah Wilhoit Benjamin Goodman Bernard & Elizabeth Barrett Bethany Coulter Brittany SmithShimer Caitlin Wilson Carolyn Wilson Chloe Taylor Christa Lanning Claire Buechel Claire Miziolek Coby Glasserow Dajonna Richardson Danielle Hershey Darlene Wermers Dayneisha Davis Denise Lisman Ellen Johnston Ellen Locke Ellen Ng Emily Bowman Emily Jordan Ilina Andonova Jackie Malkes

Jackson Piper Jennifer Hing Jenny Sewell Jessica Mosley Julia Watts & Patrick Hale Katherine Kazim Katherine Rodriguez Kayla Dreyer Kim Wilhoit Krista McElray Krysta Jones Laura Caruso Laura Waayers Lauren Dudley Linda Schultz Lorraine Hawley Luisa Nguyen Mara D’Amico Marta Hernandez Naci Powell Nancy Fishman Nicole Blum Paige Roy Rena Myers Ricky Miley & Allie Ditzel Rita Truex Samantha Cantrell Sarah Bowers Sarah Bryant Burns Sarah Jorgenson Sarah Wen Sarah Wilhoit Shana Gainey Skyler Doerwaldt Summer Bravo Surayyah Colbert Teresa Rusin The Boys Therese Oertel Wyatt Roberts

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