2014-2015 | Spark and Impact!

What an incredible year! Under the leadership of President Michelle Dinger, our 2014-2015 theme, “Finding our Spark, Realizing our Potential” inspired us all to embrace our inner light and not be afraid to let ourselves shine and live up to our potential.

This year we produced nine community projects, had two fundraisers, and successfully ran over 30 League placements. Our hours of service grew from 14,000 hours last year to 22,000 hours this year with our 2 new projects. The newly created Rummage Sale raised $11,000 to donate to the Endowment Fund Campaign. Shotguns and Stilettos raised about $310,000 to support our community projects for this coming year. Over 30 women graduated from our Suits with Skills programs at Safe Place and Buckner. Face the Race expanded to all four junior high schools this year What an incredible year! Under the leadership of President Michelle Dinger, our 2014-2015 theme, “Finding our Spark, Realizing our Potential” inspired us all to embrace our inner light and not be afraid to let ourselves shine and live up to our potential. 

This year we produced nine community projects, had two fundraisers, and successfully ran over 30 In-League placements. Our hours of service grew from 14,000 hours last year to 22,000 hours this year with our 2 new projects. The newly created Rummage Sale raised $11,000 to donate to the Endowment Fund Campaign. Shotguns and Stilettos raised about $310,000 to support our community projects for this coming year. Over 30 women graduated from our Suits with Skills programs at Safe Place and Buckner. Face the Race expanded to all four junior high schools this year with a record 105 participants. We expected around 40 children to take place in our Reading Olymwith a record 105 participants. We expected around 40 children to take place in our Reading Olympics program but we were pleasantly surprised to see 80 plus children attend at least one of the sessions at the Boys and Girls Club. Before JLM involvement in the Kids First Program at Centers for Children and Families, the wait time to enter the program and begin visitations was three months. With our help, there is no wait time. The children in this program are now able to see their non-custodial parents as soon as they are approved for the program instead of having to spend months with no contact at all. Journey Summer Camp and HopeWorks, our two programs at Rays of Hope, allowed our partner organization to service more clients through our involvement. Scholarship Clearinghouse continues to see students each month to help in the search for scholarships so these students can continue their education beyond high school. Our Provisional class taught hundreds of children in Midland about nutrition and well being through our Kids in the Kitchen program. Volunteers in Midland allowed our Active members to give back over 600 hours of service to our community by assisting other nonprofits in town. It is undeniable the League was able to improve the community in the 2014-2015 League year.

We have so many people to thank.

The ladies on the Endowment Fund Campaign Committee made a goal to reach $1,000,000 in our Endowment Fund in three years time. They blew that goal out of the water. It is a shining example of what League members can do when they set their minds to be successful!

Another thank you goes to the League as a whole for the support of our first full year employing an Issue Based Community Impact paradigm. Our issue of “Keeping Kids in School-Every Age, Every Stage” which focuses on literacy, self-esteem, and college and career preparedness, has allowed us to make more of an impact in our community.

Finally, we would like to thank our partners: The Boys and Girls Club of Midland, Rays of Hope Grief Centre, Centers for Children and Families, MISD, Buckner Family Place, Safe Place of Midland and all of the organizations we sent our members to volunteer with through our Volunteers in Midland program. Thank you for supporting us and helping us to fulfill our mission of developing the potential of women, promoting voluntarism, and improving communities.

This post is taken largely from Michelle Dinger’s outgoing president speech, as shared at the May Annual Meeting. Thank you Michelle – for all your leadership and service!

From our New President, Leaf Faller

Michelle Dinger, Junior League of Midland, Inc. 2014-2015 President, passes the gavel to 
Leaf Faller, Junior League of Midland, Inc. 2015-2016 President 

For many years our focus area had been Family Education and our Community Projects fell within this area. Three years ago an Ad Hoc committee was formed to research and develop a more defined focus area. During this process it became apparent our focus area would remain Education, but would become defined as Keeping Kids in School. This was presented to the 2013-2014 Board in August 2013 and to the General Membership in September 2013. 

Many questions arose at the September, 2013 General Meeting, and the committee went back and redefined the focus area as “Keeping Kids in School, Every Age-Every Stage”. In October 2013, this focus statement was presented to the General Membership and approved.

The 2013-2014 Project Research and Development Committee worked hard to develop new Placements within this focus area. Two new Placements were developed for the 2014-2015 year. Reading Olympics partnering with the Boys and Girls Club and Volunteers in Midland providing volunteers for local non-profits.

These placements join our current Placements.

One question you may have is how these varying placements fall under the “Keeping Kids in School, Every Age-Every Stage” umbrella.  Education is a multifaceted key. Most think Education means being in the classroom and learning what the teacher is teaching you in each subject.

This leads me to our theme for 2015-2016: Education is the Key to the Future.

Recently, I saw an article in our local paper about the top five graduates of our local high schools. Each student mentioned one teacher they considered a mentor. What the students had to say about their teachers included what they learned in the classroom and the encouragement they received from their teacher to succeed in other ways. Teachers do more than share subject knowledge.  They encourage, provide support and help improve self-esteem to mention a few.

Each and every woman in our League is a teacher, in some way. We mentor, teach by example, share memories and knowledge with our families, friends, and co-workers. 

We do this in the League by providing Suits with Skills sessions. The women participating gain knowledge, self-esteem and encouragement to follow their dreams for themselves and their children.  Hopeworks and Journey Summer Camp provide sessions to help the children work through the different stages of grief and healing.  Kids First helps non-custodial parents begin the process of learning how to be better parents by providing supervised visits. Scholarship Clearinghouse helps students fulfill their dream of higher education by guiding them in their selection of scholarship applications. Face the Race helps build self-esteem in young teen girls. 

Reading Olympics is a fun filled placement designed to foster a love of reading for grade school children. Volunteers in Midland helps several non-profits by providing volunteers. One non-profit is the Reading Library. Our volunteers read textbooks for students unable to read the books themselves. 

These placements fulfill our focus statement “Keeping Kids in School, Every Age-Every Stage”.

I have talked mostly about our Community Placements, but they would not be a success without the support of our In-League Placements.

Our Finance Council is necessary to provide a budget for each community placement.  Our Shotguns and Stilettos fundraiser helps provide the funding for our Community Placements. Project Research and Development provides evaluations from our community partners, the community chairmen and the committee members on our current community projects. We learn from each of these evaluations and strive to improve for the future. There are many more In-League placements and each one is part of Education is the Key to the Future.

I am humbled by the opportunity to serve the Junior League of Midland. I am excited to serve with the capable, competent and creative group I see before me.

We are an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. To do this we educate the Provisionals in our League’s history and in what makes our League run successfully. We have so much knowledge to tap into from all former and present members. It takes all of us to make this League successful. 

 - Leaf Faller, 2015-2016 President, Junior League of Midland, Inc.

Behind the Scenes: Grantsman

The Grantsman placement is an In-League position which seeks funding for League projects and various needs through the submission of grant applications.  Drafting and compiling a grant application can be a challenging and rewarding experience.  All applications require an explanation of the organization which you represent and how that organization benefits a specific need.  Writing about how The Junior League of Midland, Inc. serves the Midland community constantly brings joy and pride to my heart. 

This year has been a busy one for the Grantsman and Assistant Grantsman placements. Since May 2014 we have applied for over $170,000 in grant funding.  Together we have submitted ten grant applications for projects including Suits with Skills, Face the Race, Reading Olympics, Scholarship Clearing House, and Second Tuesday Club. 

Our largest grant request was for funding to make improvements and upgrades to our Headquarters Building.  An application was submitted to the Beal Foundation of Midland requesting a large amount of money in order to purchase new technology for Mabee Hall, the community board room, and the computers used by the Scholarship Clearing House committee.  A focus has been brought on the need to update and upgrade our technology at Headquarters in order to better serve The League and those non-profit organizations who utilize our building.   Additional future grants will be submitted seeking to complete the funding for our proposed projects. 

Another focus of the Grantsman placement has been continued funding of the Face the Race program.  In 2014, we were awarded a generous grant from the United Way in the amount of $8,000 in order to expand the program to all four Midland junior high schools.  This one time award of money allowed The League to double our exposure and impact on young girls in the community.  However, in order for The League to maintain these additional schools we must raise and collect money for the program supplies required. This year four different applications requesting over $20,000 have been submitted on behalf of Face the Race.  Three of our applications included requests from sporting good suppliers directly including Academy Sports and Outdoors, Adidas, and Finish Line.  Our largest request, however, was made to The King Foundation, a foundation serving central and West Texas communities. 

It has been the belief and strategy of the current Grantsman placements that it is in The League’s best interest and is the best use of our time and effort to target foundations and grant sponsors located in, and tied to, the Midland area.  We believe that our applications will be given their best shot and have a higher probability of being funded when we make our plea to those who understand the climate of the Permian Basin and can directly see the impact of The Junior League of Midland, Inc.  For example, our recent grant application on behalf of our newest program, Reading Olympics, was made to the Abell-Hanger Foundation, a foundation founded in Midland whose mission is to serve non-profit organizations making a difference in a select group of fifty-seven West Texas counties.    

As the League year closed, we will finalize and submit an application to the Dollie Ruth Neal Foundation through the Permian Basin Area Foundation requesting funding for our Suits with Skills Program.  In 2014, The League was blessed with an increase in funding of an additional $5,000 from the foundation.  This additional funding allowed for growth in the Suits with Skills program.  It is our goal to seek and receive that same funding amount in order to maintain the progress and success of the Suits with Skills program.

Drafting, reviewing, compiling, and submitting grant applications can be a tedious job in which the results are outside of your control.  We would like to thank those League members who have responded to our numerous emails and answered our detailed questions over and over again in an attempt to help us gather information about your programs for the grant application.  Your help, information, and heartwarming stories about the work The League is performing in our community are what make our job possible and our applications endearing.  Thank you for your time and your work in making our job that much easier to help fund the League. 

Elizabeth Rainey, 2014-2015 Grantsman

This article first appeared in The Junior League of Midland, Inc.'s monthly publication, "Tumbleweed." Read the entire issue here->

What amazing knowledge I gained!

Here is what our League members had to say about attending the Association of Junior Leagues International's Organizational Development Insititute (ODI) Conferences this year:

Laura Nodolf

I attended the Governing for Excellence track wherein AJLI laid out their plan to create and maintain more sustainable Leagues. This included learning about a new form of governance wherein the League would have two Boards. One board would focus on strategic planning and one board would focus on the daily management of the League. This plan is already implemented by many other Leagues across the nation.

Tonya Hancock

ODI was a wonderful opportunity to work with and learn from our organizations' leading experts.  The membership track focused on member recruitment, retention and the importance of our sustaining members. I had the opportunity to collaborate with leagues from all over about Provisional programs and look forward to strengthening our program this next year. Thank you for this great experience. 

Charity Rohlfs

Hearing Florence Shapiro, the daughter of Holocaust survivors and former mayor of Plano, challenge all of the ODI attendees to action was one of the highlights for me. I appreciated all of the relevant topics presented that advisory planning will research this coming year.  Additionally, I enjoyed meeting so many women from across North America all working toward bettering their communities. If you are ever asked to go to ODI, go!

Monica Tucker

At the ODI conference in Kansas City, MO I attended the governance track.  What amazing knowledge I gained!  My main focus was learning how the Nominating Committee should run.  During the four sessions, I was taught as to how to gain candidates for each of the Board position, the application and questions that each candidate should be required to answer, the importance of confidentiality, how to professionally inform those who were slated and those who were not, and the importance of retaining some members of the committee to the next year for background knowledge usage.  I am very thankful to have been chosen to attend ODI.

Pictured in ODI 3: L to R: Charity Rohlfs, Ellen Wheeler, Laura Nodolf and Tonya Hancock

This article first appeared in The Junior League of Midland, Inc.'s monthly publication, "Tumbleweed." Read the entire issue here->