Junior League of Seattle>

History

Junior League of Seattle (JLS) is an organization of nearly 1,200 women who are committed to promoting voluntarism and to improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. As one of 294 leagues world-wide, the JLS has been a member of the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) since 1924.

It all began in 1901 in Manhattan. Mary Harriman, Barnard College student, became impassioned about the plight of immigrants in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and formed Junior League of the City of New York. Ms. Harriman's efforts at organizing women volunteers to alleviate societal ills spread quickly and, by 1921, 40 leagues had joined together to form the national association (AJLI). A time-honored legacy had begun whereby volunteers identify and address community needs and then turn projects over to the community.

Junior League of Seattle was formed in 1923 and joined AJLI in 1924. Members opened the Eastlake branch of the Seattle Day Nursery and took responsibility for the welfare of 50 children, paying all maintenance and operating expenses, managing the medical and dental clinic at the nursery, and supplying members to assist the matron and kindergarten teacher. Today this childcare organization still thrives and is known as Childhaven.

Also during the 1920s, the JLS initiated the Braille Library for the Blind. The JLS owned and operated the only Braille Stereotyping Machine in the West, allowing books for the blind to be printed and distributed throughout the United States.

In 1929, the League started publishing Puget Soundings, an award-winning monthly magazine. Originally designed for in-house communication s, the magazine evolved over the years into a respected community magazine featuring articles on a wide variety of issues, often controversial. For several years, the magazine held a creative writing contest for Seattle high school students, awarding prizes in prose and poetry.

The League entered the Depression Years of the 1930s supporting the Convalescent Home for Crippled Children. The War Years of the 1940s saw the creation of the Blood Bank Services and the award-winning Educational Radio Series project.

During the 1950s, JLS started the Children’s Theater Project to facilitate communication in traumatized children. The United Nations adopted this project to help children impacted by war. In 1954, the League opened its first office at the Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle.

The Northwest Art education project was created by the League in the early 1960s to bring arts education to school children. This collection of original works by Northwest artists continues to reach more than 20,000 students annually. In 1966, the League published and distributed, free-of-charge, the Guidebook for the Handicapped. League members surveyed all public buildings in the downtown Seattle area for accessibility for the disabled.

During the 1970s, the League donated significant funds to the Parkview Home for Exceptional Children, which provided the extra care necessary for children ages 10-16 who could no longer live in a normal home environment.

In the 1980s, the Court Appointed Special Advocate program (CASA) was developed by JLS and has since gone nationwide. The goal is to ensure that needy children have a caring adult to advocate and intervene on their behalf with the court system. The Christmas in April project was implemented to provide home repair for the elderly and disadvantaged. After three years of JLS support, this project established its own community board and is now known as Rebuilding Together.

During the 1990s, the Healthy Child Information Fairs linked over 300 families with food, education and contact resources. And the JLS collaborated with associated agencies to improve the rates of children being immunized. As a result, the immunization rate in King County rose from 45% to 80% in just three years. The Yesler Terrace project assisted hard-to-reach families living in poverty, and JLS members provided meals for teens at the Denny Place Youth Shelter.

Our Mentoring Moms project provided emotional and educational support to teen mothers, many of whom are on the verge of homelessness. Volunteers served as mentors by providing child development and parenting guidance, life skills, career and job planning, and recreational outings.

 The Healthy Futures Art Project gives troubled adolescents a chance to express themselves and build their self-esteem while working one-on-one with a JLS volunteer. Our Done in a Day (DIAD) efforts create several hands-on short-term projects each year benefiting greater Seattle area organizations in need of assistance. Arts Alive provided after-school programs for children. And volunteers involved in the LifeBooks project help foster care children create personalized memory books.

During the past decade, the League has not only provided 1,000,000 volunteer hours for community projects but provided over $1.5 million in funding. Since its inception, JLS has raised funds for its projects in a variety of ways. From the 1920s through the 1960s, The Follies was a popular fund-raiser. League members staged and acted in a musical revue presented to a fee-paying public. The Christmas Shop was a unique fundraiser for many years. The Wise Penny Thrift Shop opened in 1960 and brought in revenue for forty years. The Simply Classic cookbook, an award-winning bestseller, was created and published in 1993, and continues to be a major fundraiser. Our newest cookbook shows Celebrate the Rain shows similar promise. The Annual Campaign provides direct funds to the League from our members. Revenue has also been raised through successful silent and live auctions of donated merchandise and services since 1994.

Throughout its over 85-year history, the Junior League of Seattle has successfully met the emerging needs of the community by initiating cutting edge programs and providing trained volunteers to manage and direct service projects, community education, fundraising and advocacy efforts. As a result of League training, the Junior League of Seattle has also provided a legacy of leaders who bring knowledge and experience to the community in which they serve.

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Past Presidents

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Past Sustainer Directors

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