� Nonprofit Spotlight�

By Megan Montemarano

Above images: Festival of Trees 2019

There is nothing quite like a group of motivated women determined to make a difference in this world. And what better way to do so than by giving back to your very own community, serving as a beacon of light in the darkest times? Since 1928, the Junior League of Bergen County (JLBC) has been providing an outlet for local women interested in dedicating their time to serving others. Originally known as the Englewood Junior Service League, this all-female volunteer organization, which comprises one of the 291 Junior League chapters in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the UK, aims to develop the potential of women and improve the local community by training volunteers and providing hands-on assistance to at-risk women, children and men through various projects and initiatives.

Despite its numerous iterations as an organization, the JLBC, like all Junior Leagues around the world, traces its roots to the original Junior League founded in New York City in 1901 by Mary Harriman and her debutante friends. Harriman believed that women of means should do more than just donate money at church. Striving to bring her efforts to the next level, she organized a group of women to roll up their sleeves and help her truly leave an impact.

“At that time, New York City immigrants were living in horrendous conditions,” explains Britt Tunick, president of the Junior League of Bergen County. “Harriman and her friends were among the first group of volunteers to go into the tenements where immigrants were living to try and help them.”

With strong roots like this, it’s no surprise to see all that the JLBC has achieved over the years.

“We have various committees that are devoted to different aspects of the organization – from our community impact committee, to training and fundraising,” adds Tunick. “Several years ago, our League did an extensive

review of the needs within our community and met with many other local nonprofit and service organizations to determine where we could make the greatest difference. Our membership chose to focus on resilience and, therefore, search for projects or partnerships that fall under that umbrella.”

The JLBC has partnered with a wide number of Bergen County organizations, most recently CUMAC: Feeding People and Changing Lives, a food pantry in Paterson; West Bergen Mental Healthcare; Ridgecrest Senior Housing; Woodlea Group Home, a refuge for teenage girls from dysfunctional or abusive families; the Lodi Boys & Girls Club; and the Paramus Veterans Memorial Home.

JLBC initiatives are funded through a combination of membership dues and various fundraisers held each year. The largest fundraiser is typically the League’s Festival of Trees Gala, where individually themed Christmas trees and wreaths are auctioned off, along with a wide variety of gift baskets and other offerings, all funded by donations from businesses and individuals within the community.

“This year in particular, a Christmas tree from the auction was donated to Valley Hospital as a token of gratitude for their EMS workers and all that they’ve done during the pandemic,” says Tunick. “The tree was red, white and blue with an EMS theme. Everyone was very excited.”

Another favorite is the JLBC Touch-a-Truck event, which has been held in the parking lot of the Westfield Garden State Plaza for the past decade or so. For this event, group volunteers gather a wide variety of trucks and vehicles – from police cars and ambulances to SWAT vehicles, garbage trucks, tractor trailers and more. Children and their parents can explore the vehicles and learn all the ins and outs straight from those who use them on the job.

Needless to say, many traditions did not look completely the same this year. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the day-to-day routines of most, it has also changed the way the JLBC operates within our community.

“In a normal world, League projects and events are extremely hands-on,” comments Tunick. “But, like everyone, we had to shift our activities largely to online initiatives and interactions, changing the way we think about how we can best serve the community.” And so, new efforts were coordinated. At the start of COVID-19, the JLBC donated $2,500 worth of diapers to the Children’s Aid & Family Services’ Baby Basics program and $2,500 worth of food to CUMAC to help replenish its supplies. Over the summer, the group collected baby monitors and phone chargers, which were donated to local hospitals and used by nurses to continuously monitor infected COVID-19 patients. The phone chargers were given to COVID-19 patients who were brought in by ambulance and unable to recharge their phones, helping families stay connected during some of the most difficult times.

This past fall, the JLBC hosted an online fundraiser, matching all donations received to donate $2,000 worth of food and staple products to Ridgecrest Senior Housing. The group also held a pre-Thanksgiving food drive, where volunteers collected food, diapers and gift cards for the Center for Food Action. Other efforts in- “Other efforts cluded a coat drive organized included a coat in conjunction with a local drive organized Girl Scout troop on behalf of Vietnam veterans and their families, as well as a drive for in conjunction with a local various items (toiletries, large Girl Scout print puzzle books, etc.) for troop on behalf the residents of the Christian of Vietnam Health Care Center, which were used for gift bags to deliver on Christmas Day. In veterans and their families.” addition to the activities mentioned above, the JLCB also held multiple online trainings and webinars throughout the year that were open to the general public to access at their leisure.

Tunick initially joined the New York Junior League in 2004, during which time she spent several years volunteering on various committees. After moving to Ridgewood in 2010 and becoming pregnant with her son, it

became more difficult to volunteer in the city. However, she did not want her philanthropic efforts to end there. Tunick soon transferred to the JLBC, where she has remained actively involved over the years, eventually taking over as president.

“What I am most proud of as president of the JLBC is that I believe we have been able to make a real difference in the lives of so many people, whether it is a woman who has landed a job with assistance from a League member in their job search, residents of a facility or low-income home that we have fixed up or just serving a meal at the homeless shelter. Being able to directly interact with fellow community members is a truly rewarding experience and I think it is one of the things that keeps our volunteers involved long-term.”

Also worthy of note is the way League members were able to pivot in the wake of the pandemic and still positively impact the community through virtual initiatives. Nonetheless, the group is hopeful that the spring will bring more of a return to normalcy, allowing participation in hands-on initiatives that were temporarily pushed aside.

A major project that the JLBC will be embarking on this spring is its inaugural Playground Improvement Project. The League will be creating a greenspace/playground area for Camp YDP, a Head Start

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(welfare) community and after school program in Paterson. There is currently a vacant lot next to the Camp YDP building that used to house a church. The goal is to clean up this lot and convert it to a usable green space in which kids may play. They will also include a few benches for elderly residents in the community, as well as one or two small garden areas to teach children about gardening and growing vegetables.

In addition to this project, the JLBC is also in the process of revamping its Set Sail project, a program designed to help people struggling with unemployment or underemployment put together resumes, develop or better identify skills they have and provide them with some basic job search assistance. And lastly, the League will be repeating its Little Black Dress fundraiser this winter, which may be reimagined as a Little Black Leggings fundraiser given the remote work situations for most of their members. The idea behind this project is that JLBC members wear the same black dress (or leggings) for one week to highlight just one of the difficulties that people struggling with poverty experience, such as not having sufficient funds to buy an adequate wardrobe for work. The goal is to get friends, acquaintances and community members at large to sponsor them for wearing the same thing for a week. This money is then used to buy needed

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While there is a lot of wealth in Bergen County, there are also many communities where people struggle, only to be compounded by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When I first joined the Junior League, I quickly discovered that many people still had an image of us in their heads as a group of over-privileged, pearl wearing ladies who lunch. But nothing could be further from the truth,” explains Tunick. “Today’s Junior League members are extremely diverse. The JLBC is a group of roughly 200 women from varied ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are single women, working moms, stay-at-home moms, volunteers, professionals and leaders within the community – all brought together by our collective desire to empower women and better the community in which we live.”

Becoming involved in an organization like the JLBC helps put things into perspective. It helps unveil how truly lucky many of us are, and how sometimes the smallest of gestures make the largest difference. Whether sitting with a group of female inmates in a medium security prison in New York City or cooking and serving dinner for the homeless at the Family Promise of Bergen County shelter, the numerous volunteer opportunities offered through the JLBC wake its members up to the reality of how fine the line can be between living a life of privilege or one of poverty.

For anyone interested in learning more about the JLBC, how to get involved or even become a member, visit www.thejlbc.org. The membership process entails a year of training and education, as well as access to hands-on experiences, where the newest members can participate in community projects and events. ■

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