April/May 2009 - Junior League of Minneapolis

Community
THANK YOU FOR MAKING AN IMPACT
ON OUR COMMUNITY!
By Annie Gorman, Helping Hands Chair
As the JLM year comes to an end, I wanted to take a few minutes to thank each and
every one of you who decided to make an impact on our community through
volunteering at one or more of our Helping Hands events. We couldn’t have done it
without you!
Our goal this year was to organize impactful events and drives by connecting with past
projects and new organizations throughout the JLM year. Some of the past projects we
engaged were Cook for Kids events at the Crisis Nursery, an art supply drive for Free
Arts MN and events supporting CARE Partners and the Jeremiah Program. New
organizations ranged from painting porches at an Aeon Housing apartment complex,
childcare at YouthLink and the Tubman Alliance, and a Spring Fling at Passage
Community, a family housing division of Simpson Housing.
We also expanded Impact Day into two separate events this year as a way to celebrate our 85 th anniversary
through highlighting our presence and current impact on our community. We continued the success of last year
by bringing together nearly 100 JLMers at Bridging for furniture assembly and sorting household items. A
second event at Second Harvest Heartland was added, where 50 JLM members sorted over 12,000 pounds of
food for distribution to various shelters around the metro area.
Thanks again for your support and commitment to our community!
THE YEAR OF FIRST – KIDS IN THE KITCHEN
MAKES A DIFFERENCE
By Debbie McDowell, Kids in the Kitchen
Our New Member Event on March 17 was a huge success this year! For this year’s event, we partnered with Bolder Options, an
activity-based one-on-one youth mentoring program that focuses on running and biking, academic goal setting, and volunteerism
to build self-esteem and encourage healthy eating habits among 10-14 year olds.
We began the evening with a discussion on overall nutrition, focusing on each of the different food groups, followed by four
interactive ‘stations’ — make-your-own pizza, trail mix, and fruit kabobs and vegetable tasting — to illustrate how eating healthy can
taste good and be fun. While the pizzas were baking, the kids were able to paint their own recipe boxes (a few were quite the artists!).
Finally, we wrapped up the night with dinner (hot, steaming pizzas that they had made earlier), and surprised them with goodie bags
that they were very excited to take home with them.
The event was a success on many levels. Bolder Options was very impressed with the Junior League of Minneapolis and loved the
event. More importantly, though, was the positive response we received from the kids with some saying, “I didn’t know vegetables
could taste so good!” and “I really enjoyed the teamwork tonight!”. All of the New Members can agree that the best two words we
heard were “Thank You”. We wanted to represent the Junior League in a way that made a difference to these kids – even if for just
a few hours out of their day – and we did.
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