Leadership Team Retreat

On June 3 and June 5, I had the privilege of presenting a Leadership Team Retreat. The JLM’s Leadership Team consists of the Board of Directors and the Chairmen of all standing committees. The first evening of the Leadership Team Retreat was held at JLM’s Headquarters and consisted of training our League leaders on how to run their committee meetings, make notebooks for each committee member, and effectively take minutes during each meeting. Every member of the Leadership Team signed a Code of Ethics form and had the opportunity to write down goals for themselves for the year.

The JLM operates under a Council System, which was also presented to the Leadership Team. Our councils are Finance, Community, Membership and Education. Learning about our Council System shows our leaders how to be involved in their council. This is important because this is the avenue where we develop our strategic plan for the year. We have a four-part strategic plan that is created by the Chairman of each council and its members. Each council discusses areas where members would like to see improvements in the League. Several strategies are formed using this information. Goals are listed as to how to implement the change desired. At the end of the League year, we will evaluate each strategic plan to see if the goals for the year were accomplished.

The second evening of the Leadership Retreat was held at Shared Spaces. Shared Spaces is a new building in town that houses several non-profits and has fabulous meeting spaces. The second evening focused on our new Social Media Campaign. SDB Creative Group presented a training session on how our League could make a greater impact by turning to social media to advertise for ourselves. Several Chairmen gave updates on what they hope to accomplish in the coming year and let everyone know event dates. Our Finance Vice President presented the budget. Each member was trained on how to read and understand the budget, as well as the best ways to utilize their funds.

I’d like to include a few of the goals listed by members of the Leadership Team:

HopeWorks Chairman, Ellen Wheeler:
I want to pass along my passion to my committee members. My goal is to continue my support of Rays of Hope after my placement is complete. I will remind each committee member of the impact they are making on the children in our program to better their lives.

Suits with Skills Buckner Family Place Chairman, Rebecca Patterson:
I will help women realize their potential to create a better life for themselves and for their families. I will inspire them to have confidence in themselves and realize that they are the masters of their own future.

Nominating Chairman, Monica Tucker:
My goal is to run an efficient, high-integrity, fair committee. I strive to be a leader: strong, positive, knowledgeable, and firm yet respectful and fair.I am so inspired by the drive and passion of the members of the Leadership Team.

I can’t wait to see what everyone will accomplish this year. I truly believe that all members of our League will “Find their Spark and Realize their Potential” when they have such amazing women leading the way!

-Michelle Dinger
President, 2014-2015

Don't forget to bring your fabulous wares to the League for the Rummage Sale!

 The Rummage Sale Committee will be accepting donations on the following dates: 

• Tuesday, July 22nd from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Saturday, August 16th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Saturday, September 6th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Tuesday, September 16th from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The Rummage Sale Committee is respectfully requesting that members hold all large furniture donations until the week of the sale. They have so many wonderful donations and are running out of room. Please feel free to continue to bring your other items.

The Anatomy of a Snack

Whether it’s for you or your family, all snacks need the same basic components, or macronutrients – protein, carbohydrate, and fat. I like to call it the “PCF Balance”. Each macronutrient has a special purpose and should be included at every meal and snack.

Protein is needed in the body for growth, tissue maintenance and repair, and immunity. Protein is responsible for keeping your muscles, hair, collagen, and skin healthy. Protein foods are dairy, meat, and legumes. Great protein snack foods are cheese, eggs, yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, jerky, deli meat, beans, and soy.

Carbohydrates provide fuel for the body and brain. For immediate energy, sugar is your best bet because it is digested quickly. For longer lasting energy try complex carbohydrates like whole grains. Carbohydrate foods are fruits, vegetables, and grains. Great carbohydrate snack foods are fresh fruits like berries and apples, fresh vegetables like celery and cucumbers, and grains like bread and crackers.

Fat stores energy, keeps you feeling satisfied between meals, protects your organs, and allows your body to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K. These vitamins are essential for the health of eyes, bones, immunity, skin, nails, and hair. Fat has had a bad reputation in the past, but it is essential for health. Don’t be afraid of it. It makes your body function better and food taste better. Win-win! Healthy fats include nuts and nut butters, salad dressings, and oils. Great snack foods in this category are peanut butter, ranch dressing, and avocado, just to name a few.

By making sure that each snack and meal for your family includes these components, you’re ensuring nutrition with balance and purpose.

Choose a protein + carbohydrate + fat for balanced snacks. Here are some examples to get you started:

string cheese + apple + peanut butter

yogurt + berries + almonds

deli turkey + baby carrots + ranch dressing

bean dip + tortilla chips + guacamole

hard-boiled egg + wheat bread + mayonnaise

frozen yogurt + strawberries + dark chocolate chips

milk + banana + nutella

whole milk (This nutritious food includes a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats – great for when you’re short on time!)

Don’t forget to include water! Water is needed for every process in your body, and it should be a part of each meal and snack.

Good nutrition is essential, but don’t let yourself get caught up in the hype. Super foods, fad diets, and trends aren’t always everything they’re cracked up to be. Follow basic nutrition guidelines, and you and your family are sure to stay on the right track. Remember, all food has a purpose, enjoy everything in moderation, and eat what you love!

Katy Taylor, MS, RDN, LD, JLM Active

"Finding our Spark, Realizing our Potential"

My name is Michelle Dinger and I am honored to serve as the 2014-2015 President of The Junior League of Midland, Inc. When I joined the League as a Provisional almost 8 years ago, I was a stay at home mom to a 10 month old and a 3 year old. I was new to Midland and looking for a way to make some friends and get out of the house. I would like to say that I had very noble intentions of getting out into the community and making a difference, but I was more selfish than that. What I really wanted was to make a connection! I wanted to make Midland a home and to feel like I belonged.

With the growth of our population in the past few years, I suspect that we have many Provisionals, new Actives, and Transfers that are joining for the same reasons that I did. They want to make friends, feel a connection, and integrate themselves into the Midland Community.  I was extremely successful finding the things that I just listed. I walked into my first Provisional meeting in August of 2006 knowing only 1 person in a room of over 40 women. In May of 2007, I walked out of my Provisional class with 4 friends that I consider my soul mates. These are women that I speak to on a weekly, if not daily basis. These women will be my forever friends. After being placed on various committees, I met even more wonderful women, who have become my best of friends. They are women whom I count on to advise me in the ways of the League and in the ways of life.

Somewhere along the way, I found something more than just a way to be connected.  The Junior League of Midland, Inc. gave me a spark! I began serving on committees and found that I was valuable and useful. I could be a stay at home mom and use my skills to make contributions that would benefit our community! I could be creative, solve problems, and step outside of my comfort zone.  We hear quite a bit about “getting out of your comfort zone” as  League members. I have been challenged in ways I never really imagined. I found myself out of my comfort zone while speaking to a room full of women. It started with reports given at general meetings, continued into my year as a Provisional Trainer and has become a huge part of my life as a League leader over the past few years. I have stepped out of my comfort zone doing radio and television interviews as the Spring Fling Chairman, learning conflict management as a Placement Advisor, learning the structure and importance of Bylaws after re-writing ours last year, and by learning the basics of Parliamentary procedure as a Board member. None of these things came easily to me, but I am so much better of a person for having experienced them. These are little gifts that have been given to me by our League. They are all valuable and important, but the most important gift I’ve been given is belief. The women of this League believed in me. They had faith in me. They took a chance on me. The first time I was asked to chair a committee I was honored and quite frankly, shocked. I accepted the position and found that I could lead. I found that I could be successful because of our wonderful organizational system and because of the support given by our leaders.  Not only have I seen my own spark grow, but I have also seen the spark grow in other women. Throughout the years I have seen so many women come into their own as League members. These women range from women with strong opinions to the "quiet" ones who stepped up and took on a role they never imagined. I've seen seen single professional women, working moms and stay at home moms alike all work together to better themselves and their community.

When I was a Placement Advisor a few years ago, a Chairman came in to review her job description in the placement manual. She said something that day that made a light bulb go off in my head. We asked her about potential leaders on her committee and she said, “They are a great group, but they are really young. I don’t know if they’ve figured out yet that they can lead. I’m not sure if they’ve realized their potential.” It hit me right then and there. This League realized my potential and brought out the spark in me before I even knew if was there. What an amazing blessing to be part of an organization that does that! So, with that being said, my theme this year is, “Finding our Spark, Realizing our Potential.” I would like to charge all of our members to look inside themselves and realize the potential that already exists within them. I ask all of us to realize our potential individually and in what we can achieve together. The mission statement of The Junior League of Midland, Inc. is “to develop the potential of women, improve communities, and promote voluntarism.” We will strive daily to develop the potential of our members through training and experiences.  I ask us to take it even further. Instead of merely developing our potential, lets add to it the realization of how much potential each of us already has within us. Let’s think big, dream big, take risks, and strive to make an impact in ways that we never thought possible. Let’s put a spark in everything that we do! I ask all of our members to go into their placements in the coming year full of excitement and with the realization that we have the potential to change lives. Not just our lives, but also the lives of everyone that we serve in our community.

Last fall, our League voted to adopt an Issue Based Community Impact Program. In layman’s terms, this means that the majority of our community projects will focus around one issue, which is “Keeping Kids in School-Every Age, Every Stage.” By adopting this system, we are empowering our members. If anyone in the community (including our husband’s!) asks, “What does the Junior League of Midland do?” We have a very specific answer for them now. We "Keep Kids in School" by encouraging student success at "Every Age and Every Stage" of development.

This year, we will focus on community needs by investing our time and resources into our NINE community projects. We have two brand new projects that are League-created that we will begin this year. The first is Reading Olympics. This is a program that partners with the Boys and Girls Club and will promote literacy. Children that participate in this program will be led through exciting literary adventures that will help to foster a love of reading. The second new project is called Volunteers in Midland. This project is a volunteer clearinghouse. Non-profits in Midland can submit an application for the League to supply volunteers to their organization. If the partnership is approved, our members will volunteer their time with this partner. This will help our members to realize their potential to give back to our community and it will help other non-profits in Midland be as successful as they can possibly be.

Our Provisional class will continue to educate the youth of Midland about nutrition and childhood obesity through our Kids in the Kitchen program. Our Suits with Skills program will touch the lives of women and children at both Safe Place and Buckner Family Place. Our two projects, HopeWorks and Journey Summer Camp, that partner with Rays of Hope will speak to the children in our community who have experienced a loss of some kind and will enable them to realize that they have the potential to do great things in their young lives. Our partnership with Centers for Children and Families will continue through the Kids First program. Kids First allows non-custodial parents a chance to visit their children in a supervised setting. This partnership will truly show the Junior League of Midland’s goal to put "Kids First."

Two of our projects will grow this year. Scholarship Clearinghouse will partner with Midland College to help put on their "See MC" event. Face the Race will expand to all four Midland Junior High Schools. Every 7^th and 8^th grade girl that is enrolled in MISD now has the opportunity to experience this wonderful program!

Our In-League programs will also be full of realized potential. We will have our 4th year of a combined fundraiser in Shotguns and Stilettos. In October, we will have a one-time fundraiser that will solely support our Endowment Fund. It will be called the Next to New Rummage Sale. I hope that you will all attend and show your support. Our Project Research and Development Committee will evaluate our projects this year to make sure we are living up to our potential and meeting needs in the community to the best of our ability. Our Provisional Training team will educate our new members in a new and improved program. Our Tumbleweed Staff, Advisory Planning Committee, Placement Committee, Nominating Committee, Arrangements Committee, Public Relations Team, Webmaster, Grantsman and Operations Committee will all strive to put a spark in everything that they do and realize what they are capable of! 

Anne Frank said, “ Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" My sincere hope is that we will all realize our potential to do great things in the coming year. If we work together, I know that we can put a spark in our lives and into the city that we live in and love.

A Message from the Past President

It is hard to believe that the year has come to an end. In retrospect, the last 12 months have flown by. Sitting down to write this, I reflected on how much we accomplished in twelve short months. I shouldn’t expect anything less of women who have a passion for this League, voluntarism and the community. The 2013-2014 League Year celebrated a legacy and continued to add building blocks to the foundation that was created 65 years ago.

This year, our League and our members worked hard, made big changes and provided unprecedented service to Midland. We lived out our Mission with excellence by developing the potential of women, improving the community and promoting voluntarism.

This year we developed the potential of women, as we successfully trained and welcomed 62 Provisionals into our Active membership. This group of women will continue to enrich our Legacy. Forty-two members of the Leadership Team developed their potential, some stepping out of their comfort zones to lead this League in our In-League and community Placements. Early this year, an ad-hoc committee was formed to change our focus area. By January our League adopted a new Community Based Issue Statement: Keeping Kids in School – Every Age, Every Stage. Project Research and Development evaluated our current projects and created two new original projects to begin next year: Reading Olympics and Volunteers in Midland. Our Grantsman secured over $35,000 in grants this year to help fund various community projects and we were recognized by the Non Profit Management Center with two Beacon Awards for our Suits with Skills program and Scholarship Clearinghouse Recipient .  In March, we held our first Placement Fair educating our members about future placement opportunities. After many years, this year brought back an Advisory Planning Committee who tackled a list of challenges for the year. Most notably, upon recommendation of the Advisory Planning committee and with approval of the Board, we split the Membership Placement committee in to Nominating and Placement committees that will go into effect beginning in June. As our League continues to grow we have accepted the challenge to accommodate our members’ needs.

We improved the community through effective action and leadership of our trained volunteers. Junior League volunteers mentored and impacted the lives of women of all ages as we increased the self-esteem and physical fitness of 76 junior high students. We helped promote healing in 55 children who had experienced death, divorce or loss in our Journey Summer Camp and HopeWorks programs through Rays of Hope. We helped reconnect children with their non-custodial parents through Centers for Children and Families’ Kids First Program. Our Suits with Skills mentors impacted the lives of women who have experienced domestic abuse by giving them the tools needed to secure employment. Scholarship Clearinghouse continued their quest in assisting college bound students in their hunt for financial aid.

In March, the Junior League of Midland blew out the candles on our celebration promoting voluntarism. Our League members stepped up as we hosted a week long Shotguns and Stilettos celebration! Members volunteered their time as the community contributed generously and the fundraiser was a huge success! The funds raised from our sole fundraiser go directly into our budget to fund our impactful community projects.

Thank you for the opportunity to continue this legacy. Serving as President of this League has been an honor and the opportunity of a lifetime. I am also thankful for the opportunities and friendships I have made and for the support of our League members, both Active and Sustainer. I look forward to seeing the League and this legacy continue to thrive under Michelle’s leadership as she begins this next year.  I will forever be grateful for the training and experience that the League has given me. Thank you, Junior League of Midland, for everything you do and everything you will continue to do as we celebrate another 65 years of service to Midland.