Our last forum we were focusing on an organization I've always heard about and never quite learned about -The American Junior League International - and that is thanks to Miss Lesley Tomlinson. First she let us know a little bit about herself, and then about the League of the Shoals. She explained that she had gone to college in search for a "hot shot" job, but then met her husband. That kind of sounds like a sad story, like she gave up her dream for a career to marry some guy, but she probably just realized that her dream was stupid compared to the life she would have with him. It happens.
The Junior League itself has very interesting history! I liked the story behind it, how it was originally formed to put to use the potential of women who were held back by society and growing restless. My favorite part about it was that, in 1901, it was founded by a nineteen year old girl named Mary Harriman. She was my age when she started a mission that outlived the century and bettered women beyond her generation! Her story is the perfect epitome of what our forum has been about, having dreams for ourselves and our community and working toward making them a reality.
The main tasks the AJLI has is to train their volunteers and maintain effective leadership. It must do this while being sure to address the most critical needs of the community, whatever they may be, as well as meeting the needs of the women volunteering. This has been the greatest hardship the organization has seen, because the expectations of the League are high, and the organization must meet the women where they are in order to keep them in. The facts are, the world is not what it used to be, and women can't afford to devote their entire lives to volunteer service the way they might have in 1901. Everyone needs an outlet to serve, but these days women are often either the sole or partial money-makers for their families, which takes up substantial time that simply was not demanded of the 1901 Junior League Member.
Very soon the organization became a quiet but national problem because it was SO exclusive. 12:00 meetings on Tuesdays? Sorry, working women! You have to be a stay-at-home caregiver to be one of us! They have also had to work through prejudicial issues with race, old age, premarital childbirth, even personal vendettas such as who you dated in high school! I can just imagine the drama that must go into keeping this thing going, all women with their catty leadership, and all local so everyone knows each other's dirty laundry.
I admire Miss Tomlinson's standpoint that when the Junior League denies someone because of their position in life, they are saying "You're not good enough to volunteer." It's good that she's working to include the older women who want to help and the others. Still, there were a couple of things that I need to point out: for all the prejudices they are trying to hammer out of the system, there are two clear inconsistencies in her regime. First, she said without apology that they will take no girls our age when the League is quartered in a college town, which we are. So 19-year olds in other towns are good enough to volunteer, but not us? I thought we were supposed to be hearing from organizations we can be a part of. Secondly, the foundation is by nature "girls only." Are men not good enough to serve? There is no remaining male counterpart to the Junior League, so why exclude them from the volunteerism that has been up and running for so long? Just a couple of thoughts.
I personally like the thought of a women-run foundation, but she did say they are trying to ditch the "grown-up sorority" reputation, and those are two pretty big people groups for a service foundation to turn up their noses to.
The Junior League itself has very interesting history! I liked the story behind it, how it was originally formed to put to use the potential of women who were held back by society and growing restless. My favorite part about it was that, in 1901, it was founded by a nineteen year old girl named Mary Harriman. She was my age when she started a mission that outlived the century and bettered women beyond her generation! Her story is the perfect epitome of what our forum has been about, having dreams for ourselves and our community and working toward making them a reality.
The main tasks the AJLI has is to train their volunteers and maintain effective leadership. It must do this while being sure to address the most critical needs of the community, whatever they may be, as well as meeting the needs of the women volunteering. This has been the greatest hardship the organization has seen, because the expectations of the League are high, and the organization must meet the women where they are in order to keep them in. The facts are, the world is not what it used to be, and women can't afford to devote their entire lives to volunteer service the way they might have in 1901. Everyone needs an outlet to serve, but these days women are often either the sole or partial money-makers for their families, which takes up substantial time that simply was not demanded of the 1901 Junior League Member.
Very soon the organization became a quiet but national problem because it was SO exclusive. 12:00 meetings on Tuesdays? Sorry, working women! You have to be a stay-at-home caregiver to be one of us! They have also had to work through prejudicial issues with race, old age, premarital childbirth, even personal vendettas such as who you dated in high school! I can just imagine the drama that must go into keeping this thing going, all women with their catty leadership, and all local so everyone knows each other's dirty laundry.
I admire Miss Tomlinson's standpoint that when the Junior League denies someone because of their position in life, they are saying "You're not good enough to volunteer." It's good that she's working to include the older women who want to help and the others. Still, there were a couple of things that I need to point out: for all the prejudices they are trying to hammer out of the system, there are two clear inconsistencies in her regime. First, she said without apology that they will take no girls our age when the League is quartered in a college town, which we are. So 19-year olds in other towns are good enough to volunteer, but not us? I thought we were supposed to be hearing from organizations we can be a part of. Secondly, the foundation is by nature "girls only." Are men not good enough to serve? There is no remaining male counterpart to the Junior League, so why exclude them from the volunteerism that has been up and running for so long? Just a couple of thoughts.
I personally like the thought of a women-run foundation, but she did say they are trying to ditch the "grown-up sorority" reputation, and those are two pretty big people groups for a service foundation to turn up their noses to.
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