ISSUE 3 | SPRING 2021
IN THIS ISSUE ¥ Valentine’s Day Raffle ¥ Council Updates ¥ Sustainer Update
VALENTINE’S DAY RAFFLE
¥ Book Club ¥ Diversity, Equity & Inclusion ¥ Congrats & Condolences ¥ Winter Leadership ¥ Thank You Notes
Little Libraries Building Event ¥ 3/20/21 ¥ 9 AM - 12 PM • CNY Philanthropy Center Food Bank of CNY ¥ 3/22/21 ¥ 5 PM - 7 PM March Bookclub • 3/25/21 • 6 PM - 8 PM • Zoom Meeting April GMM • 4/13/21 • 6 PM - 8:30 PM • Zoom Meeting Check the member’s website for full registration and event details.
We want to start off by saying a resounding “THANK YOU” to the League for your generous support of our new fundraiser! It was extremely successful! Over 48 % of actives and sustainers participated and approximately 2,100 raffle tickets were sold! In all, $8,620 was collected with a profit of $6,363.85 after the costs of the 1 st and 2 nd prizes ($1,500 total) as well as the printing, shipping and postage costs ($756.15). I want to take a moment to let everyone know the timeline of this wonderful fundraiser. It was wildly successful in a short period of time because the women of the league came together and conquered. We began discussing the idea of a raffle fundraiser in October and November of 2020 within Fund Development. During the Board Meeting on December 1 , 2020, the Board approved the event. Between December 1st and December 11th , the raffle was planned, Communications designed the needed materials/tickets to get everything drafted, approved and printed for pickup the evening of the 11 th . The next day , a group of women met in the CNY Philanthropy Center ballroom to stuff all of the envelopes. The mailing was taken to the post office on Monday, December 14 th for mailing. Ticket sales took place for the next two months and on February 14, 2021, the winners were chosen. The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Winter 2020 | 1
Since league members sold the tickets, we wanted to get a member of the community to serve as our guest ticketpicker. We contacted Farah Jadran of CNY Central and she happily agreed to pull tickets for the winners for us. The raffle selections were streamed live at noon on Facebook and the following were the winners:
1ST PRIZE - $1,000 Jennifer Baker
2ND PRIZE - $500 Michele Spina
3RD PRIZE – BASKET #1 Kristy Edmonston
4th Prize – Basket #2 Jeanne Jackson 5th Prize – Basket #3 Sam Beadel 6th Prize – Basket #4 T. Wondrack Dean 7th Prize – Basket #5 Jane Praetorius 8th Prize – Basket #6 Derrick Ryder 9th Prize – Basket #7 Judy Winslow Top ticket seller Kate Zwecker Let the success of this fundraiser be proof that the JLS is a strong organization of women who were willing to pivot given COVID, worked well together, and completed a successful fundraiser! To everyone who met to planned, stuffed envelopes, helped design the tickets/pamphlets, collected and packaged raffle prizes, sold tickets, and spread the word on social media, Thank you for getting involved! Thank you for helping! Thank you for making a difference!
Season Seferyn
Community/ 100th Committee 2 | The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Spring 2021
COMMUNITY Community has been busy with events throughout January and February with an event-packed March and April. January 2021 was a very successful month. On January 20, 2021, we had seven members pack food boxes of produce to be distributed throughout the community by the Food Bank. The volunteers included: Kimber Dootlittle, Casey Duffy, Perrin Hickey, Katie Lannon, Brittany Moen, Season Seferyn and Victoria Wejko. Our drive-thru book and clothing drop offs were January 23 and January 30, 2021. A big thank you to everyone who stopped by to drop off goods. We were very busy both weekends. The volunteers included: (week 1) Kelsy Anderson, Rea Carver, Jennie Junta, Brittany Moen, Anna O’Neil, Season Seferyn, Victoria Wejko and Kate Zwecker. (week 2) Rachel Ciotti, Camille Marcotte, Francesca Neilly, Anna O’Neil, Season Seferyn, Susan Shubmehl (and husband Paul), and Kathryn Vouri-Misso. On Saturday February 27, 2021, we worked two shifts at the Samaritan Center. The first shift prepared the meal for the day and the second shift distributed the food in to-go containers. Every day, the Samaritan Center provides a take home necessity item as well; what made that day special for us was that the item given was donated by the JLS. The items were warm winter socks that the JLS earned through the We Help Too sock campaign. Each visitor to the Samaritan Center on Saturday were given two pairs of new socks. In total, 265 pairs of socks were donated. Thank you to all who purchased socks during our sock campaign at Holiday Shoppes! The future looks busy for the Community Committee as well as the League.
FUTURE EVENT DATES MARCH 20TH - 9AM - 12PM Assembling the Little Libraries and Book Sorting
MARCH 22ND – 5PM – 7PM Sustainers and Actives Food Bank
APRIL 19TH – 23RD National Volunteerism Week
APRIL 23RD STEM Event (to be held online)
Season Seferyn
Community/ 100th Committee The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES •Spring 2021 | 3
WINTER LEADERSHIP Ten of our current members of leadership were able to attend the Virtual Winter Leadership training given by AJLI. The training was held February 27th. Members were able to connect with women from other leagues in the virtual ballroom. This platform allowed us to collaborate with leagues from across the country. Sessions included “DEI Action Plan”, “Strategies and Tactics for Fundraising Success”, “Leadership: Motivating a High Performing League Leadership Team”, and “Organizational Change: Fostering a Community of Adaptability while Leveraging your Change Agents”. In particular, attendees were able to complete the “Predictive Index”, which allowed members to find out information about their personality in conjunction with other league members. Sessions were held virtually, including over 1,800 members from 242 leagues. This was the largest attended training ever given by AJLI. This virtual platform is something that AJLI is looking to expand and increase to allow more leagues and more members to attend without the barriers of travel expenses. Our league was pleased to be able to offer this training, and the ability to connect virtually with other leagues, to ten of our members at a very low cost! If you are interested in attending a future training, please contact your Nominating Advisor.
what strengths aren’t being tapped for some people, though, and how we might be able to get them involved in the right, best-fitting kind of ways!”- Jen Baker- Fund Development Chair “Attending a Junior League training opportunity always makes me appreciate our mission of developing women leaders. And, sharing the Winter Leadership experience with other JLS members - even virtually - was a wonderful way to establish and deepen relationships and teamwork as the JLS looks toward a new League year.” - Jessica Murray, Past President, DEI Committee
GMM & SECTIONALS Thanks to everyone who came out and made sectionals such a success. We hoped you enjoyed the opportunities to connect with League members and try some new things. If you have ideas for events for the coming months or things you love to see next year at sectionals, let us know! Also, remember to tap into your neighborhood groups also, this is a great way to connect with members near you. We have some fun and interested speakers coming up for our GMMs. In March we will be welcoming sustainable farmers. In April we are looking forward to having a fundraising speaker, Carol E. Scott. This is such an important topic especially as fundraising has been difficult this past year for so many. May will be welcoming a speaker from Vera House who will speak about Diversity and Inclusion.
“I attended AJLI Winter Leadership on 2/27, this was the first training opportunity I was able to attend and am so grateful I did. They made this virtual event so interesting, interactive, and informative. I absolutely loved connecting with other women from all over the country. I gained perspective from other SLBI leaders in how they have adjusted in this virtual world and how we continue to impact and improve our communities!” - Julia Kane- Membership VP “I really enjoyed the Predictive Index seminars and thinking about how great it would be for our individuality committees to do that as well. We all have different strengths that we bring to the table which is why we work well as an organization. It would be good to know 4 | The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Spring 2021
We are looking at ways to shorten some GMM topics to allow for more engaging/interactive topics. Feel free to reach out to any Education & Training committee member with your ideas. We still trying to plan something fun for June Annual Dinner. Make sure to keep an eye out for more information to come. We are hopeful to set up Neighborhood Watch Parties and add in some fun new categories of awards.
Victoria Wejko
Education & Training Co-Chair
Photos from Sectionals
Congratulations • Jayln Clifford on being named to the board of Vera House • Sam Beadel, sister of Reid, welcomed Lucien Wilder, mother and baby are doing well. Lucien is grand nephew to Lucia Wisenhand
With Sympathy • Sustainer, Noreen Reale Falcone passed away on February 6, 2021
Barb Genton relaxes at SAGE Upstate where she volunteers.
Jef Sneider and Gwen Kay at their home.
When we began giving charitably together, we both agreed on one thing: we wanted to advocate for children. Our fund supports Read more at organizations that provide cnycf.org/SneiderKay early childhood education, child care and literacy.
315 .4 2 2 .9 5 3 8 | CN YCF.OR G
The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES •Spring 2021 | 5
BOARD BRIEFS JANUARY 2021 MEMBERSHIP (Julia K - Membership VP): • Google Drive GMM FUND DEVELOPMENT (Marie N): • Grand Raffle, NATD & Centennial Celebration, Membership Renewal, Pop Up shops COMMUNICATIONS (Julie P ): • Website COMMUNITY (Season S): • Online Based Events Community,4 community areas for strategic plan, 100 year activities timeline, Neighborhood update SUSTAINERS (Janet Burman & Donna Hamilton): • None NOMINATING (Susan Shubmehl): • Timeline for slating Board and Leadership positions STRATEGIC PLANNING (Audra M): • Top issues impacting our membership
FEBRUARY 2021 MANAGEMENT / OPERATIONS •Virtual Winter Leadership •Xerox MEMBERSIP (JULIA K): • Annual Dinner FUND DEVELOPMENT (Marie N): • NATD & Centennial Celebration, Membership Renewal, Holiday Shoppes COMMUNICATIONS (Julie P ): • Website COMMUNITY (SEASON S): • STEM Update SUSTAINERS (Janet Burman & Donna Hamilton): • None NOMINATING (Susan Shubmehl): • Leadership Interest Form STRATEGIC PLANNING (Audra M): • Top issues impacting our membership
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION UPDATE The JLS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force continues work in partnership with our councils, committees, and members to embed DEI into our organization. January marked the one-year anniversary of featuring members’ DEI “reflection moments” at GMMs, and the Task Force is looking forward to offering other awareness, engagement, education, and training opportunities during this League year. Save the dates of Monday, May 10 and Tuesday, May 11 for two DEI opportunities, including a joint active-sustainer book club selection and meeting on May 10 and a special member training opportunity on May 11 - watch the weekly blasts and members’ website for details. Additionally, work to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion is continuing across the Association. You may have read in recent Junior League communications that AJLI has developed a short-term DEI Action Plan to implement immediate next steps regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion while work is started on a longterm strategy to become a culturally competent, inclusive, and equitable organization. As part of the action plan, AJLI will be offering transitional programming and communications, including a new DEI FAQs page. You can review the DEI Action Plan at www.ajli.org/?nd=dei_action_plan and the new DEI FAQs page at www. ajli.org/?nd=ajli_faqs.
Jessica Murray Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 6 | The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Spring 2021
COMMUNICATIONS As always, the communications council is hard at work making sure all our members are kept up to date and our materials have a cohesive look. Our current focus is on updating the website, a long needed project to ensure that the “back end” is flexible enough to support online events like this year’s virtual Holiday Shoppes. The template we have chosen is the most up-to-date template offered by Digital Cheetah and we look forward to unveiling our new website by the end of this League year. Other than the website the team is busy behind the scenes preparing mailings, sending email blasts, posting on social media, and keeping our members and public apprised of League happenings. Julie, Katina, and Heather were able to participate in Winter Leadership and came away motivated to work to make the communication’s council more efficient and productive. We look forward to sharing more later in the year. Thank you to everyone on the council from our chairs to our committee members who work hard every day to make sure that the news of the League is disseminated in multiple ways so as touch every member with their preferred method of communications.
Julie Palmer
Communications VP
Welcome New Leagues! At the latest AJLI Board meeting, the board voted to approve five new Leagues.
• JL OF THE EASTERN PANHANDLE, WV • JL OF LOWER COLUMBIA, WA • JL OF GREATER NEW BERN, NC • JL OF THE GRAND STRAND, SC • JL OF PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MD
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The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES •Spring 2021 | 7
SUSTAINER UPDATE We hope that everyone has had a great start to 2021, and that this will be a year of new beginnings, positive experiences, and happy memories. We also plan to make the rest of the 2020-2021 League year memorable for our Sustainer members. A LOOK BACK Although we weren’t able to gather in person to participate for our annual Pie-Making event at Blessed Sacrament in December, true to form, our Sustainers stepped up to the challenge and went above and beyond. We organized a “Fund a Pie” collection to purchase the pies instead, and raised $705 which bought 120 apple pies that were donated to the Rescue Mission! That was enough for 960 people to receive dessert with their Christmas dinner. Because of health and safety protocols due to COVID, the Rescue Mission asked that we purchase the pies through Sysco Corporation, 8 | The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Spring 2021
where they order their food from, and have them delivered. The League opened an account with Sysco, which can be used for future Leaguesponsored events. We also collaborated with our Active members and collected gift wrapping paper for the families who participated in the annual Christmas Bureau distribution event (which was held as a drive-through at the Post-Standard building because of COVID). A contactless donation drop-off was created for anyone who wished to donate a roll of giftwrapping paper. In a short amount of time, we were able to collect and deliver 50 rolls of wrapping paper to the Salvation Army. As part of the February Sectionals, we were able to arrange a special Sectional for Sustainers, in collaboration with the George & Rebecca Barnes Foundation. The George & Rebecca Barnes Foundation invited sustaining members to an entertaining and educational Zoom event in recognition of Black History Month. “The Reverend Samuel May, Minister, Reformer, and Abolitionist - A Living History Portrayal” was given by Scott Peal, Director of Education at the Onondaga Historical Association-. A link to a 20 minute video of Scott portraying Reverend May presiding over an abolition meeting and explaining the events leading up to the “Jerry Rescue” was forwarded to participants to watch. Afterwards, a discussion via Zoom took place allowing participants to ask questions
about Reverend May and the history of the abolitionist movement in Syracuse. It was a very interesting history lesson enjoyed by all who participated.
BOOK CLUB
GOING FORWARD Spring is around the corner, which means warmer weather and, with any luck, more of us vaccinated! As restrictions on gatherings are eased up, we look forward to being able to get together again and see everyone. Tentatively, we are looking to have an R&R scheduled for April hosted by Wendy Carl Isome and Stephanie Macero. As we get closer to the month, we will know if this will be possible. Under the current conditions, a Sustainer Cocktail Party appears to not be a possibility in May. However, we are open to ideas to having it somewhere that could accommodate it being held outdoors with protection for inclement weather. We are also looking for anyone who would be willing to host it. Finally, please lookout in your mail for the “Awards” forms, and take the time to nominate a fellow Sustainer for the “Sustainer of the Year Award”. There are many deserving women who should be considered for this recognition. Also, please consider submitting a nomination for the Mary Herriman Award as well. We hope by June we will be able to present these honors in person. Stay safe and be well! All the best,
Donna Hamilton & Janet Burman Sustainer VPs
The JLS Book Club had a great January meeting discussing Circe and The Great Believers. We will meet again March 25th to discuss American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins and May The Futilitarians: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving and Reading by Anne Gisleson. Though a Zoom option will be available, we also hope to have a socially distanced outdoor option available as well (register on Seeing Spot for further information). In addition to our regularly scheduled meetings, the Sustainers have invited us to join them on May 10th to discuss Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. This is sure to be a fascinating discussion! For questions please contact Amanda Perrine.
JOINT BOOK CLUB MAY 10TH
Amanda Perrine
President-Elect
The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES •Spring 2021 | 9
FUND DEVELOPMENT Holiday Shoppes/Valentine’s Raffle Event – this corporate relationships. If your business or another combination event was a big success given our pandemic restrictions and course corrections throughout the planning and participation stages. Thank you so much to the HS and Raffle committees and all those that went the extra mile to make these events successful.
business you know of is interested in becoming a JLS sponsor and supporting our mission and vision, please reach out to FD Chair Jen Lowe Baker at jlowe5057@ gmail.com for details and sponsorship levels.
Amazon Smile – Receipts in February $142! Experience feel-good shopping at no extra cost to you! It’s Annual Membership time! Thank you in advance for your ongoing commitment Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible to the Junior League of Syracuse. For over 100 Years AmazonSmile purchases to the Junior League of Syracuse. now, the JLS has developed our members to be valued Support the JLS by shopping at smile.amazon.com. community leaders and volunteers. With the help of your Grants – this subcommittee continues to explore many financial support and investment in the Junior League avenues and options in the grant space. CNY Tuesdays of Syracuse, our members have been instrumental in the is an ongoing event that requires nominating and voting development and growth of more than 100 educational, for the JLS everyday over a period of a few weeks. cultural, human service and philanthropic assets in our Keep your eyes open and check their website daily to community. Your membership and generous appeal support the JLS in receiving a $2000 grant! This league donations truly sustain our organization’s mission and year we have so far received the following: Wegman’s our ability to benefit and provide civic leadership to the $2500, Aldi’s $250, Canva $150, Walmart $250 and C&S local community in which we serve. You will be receiving Foundation $2,500. There are many more applications in member renewal packets in the mail soon, let us know if various stages of completion and consideration. Please you have any questions. reach out to the FD committee if you have ideas for
Night at the Derby – Postponed until May 7, 2022! additional opportunities. Given current restrictions on large group gatherings, SKY Armory will hold the date for us and roll our deposit forward once again. We thank SKY Armory for working with us and look forward to a great event in 2022!
Corporate sponsorships – Thank You to our League Sponsors:
Our Woman Owned Business sponsorship appeal generated four new league sponsors!
Advanced IT – Silver Sponsor $750 Busch Products – Silver Sponsor $750 OCM Construction Inc. - $200 Sponsor Math & Movement - $100 Sponsor We look forward to partnering with these businesses to support each other throughout the year! We will continue to work on developing and maintaining 10 | The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Spring 2021
Thankful for the continued energy and support of all JLS members in making our fundraising events a great success. Looking forward to spring and the new opportunities it brings!!
Marie Norkett
Fund Development VP
THANK YOU NOTES FROM OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS
The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES •Spring 2021 | 11
431 E Fayette St ¥ Suite 225 ¥ Syracuse, NY 13202 OFFICE: 315.423.9773 ¥ FAX: 315.471.1464 office@jlsyracuse.org ¥ JLSyracuse.org
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Visit JLSyracuse.org for direct links.
MISSION: The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. (JLS) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. VISION: The JLS will be an organization of diverse women committed to enriching the quality of life for women, children and their families in the Central New York community. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT: The JLS welcomes all women who value our Mission. We are committed to inclusive environments of diverse individuals, organizations and communities. 12 | The Junior League of Syracuse, Inc. • The NOTES • Spring 2021