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Dear GFWC Sisters,

I am very excited and honored to serve as the Director of Junior Clubs.

My focus during my administration as Director of Junior Clubs is supporting the GFWC affiliate Operation Smile. Did you know that every 3 minutes a child is born with a cleft lip or palate which may suffer from torments, malnourishment and difficulty with speech? With Operation Smile, a cleft lip or palate can be repaired for as little as $240 and in approximately 45 minutes.

My other special project is the GFWC Juniors’ Special Program: Advocates for Children. The definition of child advocacy is ‘support for children who are in a vulnerable position in society or in a vulnerable situation.’ We aim to honor our roots and be a voice for children.

I am very excited for this administration and look forward to working with all the clubs especially the four Junior Clubs we have in our state.

Thank you and let us forget not to be kind.

Ann Kruse

Dear Fellow GFWC Sisters,

What an honor it is to welcome you to the 2024-2026 Administration as the 37 th GFWC Director of Junior Clubs! I look forward to serving alongside you all as we continue the impactful work for which we are known. GFWC Clubwomen are dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service, and we are passionate, creative, and untiring advocates as we work together. I love that we also have so much fun and build wonderful relationships with each other while we work hard!

The guiding concept for the Junior Administration will be “Stronger Together.” We are stronger when we work together as all three levels of GFWC membership: Women’s Clubs, Juniors and Juniorettes. Our multi-generational membership is truly one of the benefits of belonging, and we can accomplish so much together. We will support existing Junior clubs and charter new Junior clubs nationwide. We will empower State Directors of Junior Clubs and encourage and equip Junior clubs in states without Directors. We will utilize technology to help ALL Junior members feel connected to GFWC and to each other, including learning about the numerous resources available to all members. We will participate in the goals and vision of the GFWC Strategic Plan and continue to promote and develop the Junior Certification Program available to all Junior and Juniorette clubs.

Advocates for Children continues to be the Juniors’ Special Program. We will encourage clubs to plan projects for their favorite local organizations and/or March of Dimes, St. Jude’s, and other GFWC Affiliate Organizations. We will celebrate Advocates for Children Week the fourth week of October, and we encourage all clubs to participate. More information about Juniors’ Special Program is available in the GFWC Club Manual.

I am at your service, along with the entire GFWC Junior leadership, to help engage clubs at all membership levels in celebrating our rich history while looking ahead to a strong future for GFWC. As we work together, we are Stronger Together!

In Junior Love,

Shannon Bailey, GFWC Director of Junior Clubs

GFWC Juniors' Special Program: Advocates for Children

NFWC Chairman: Ann Kruse

GFWC Juniors’ Special Program: Advocates for Children is designed to encourage all Women’s, Junior, Juniorette, and International Affiliate clubs to make a difference in our world by being an advocate. The Program was envisioned as a way for clubwomen to provide a voice for children and to teach and encourage parents and other caregivers to advocate for children at the grassroots level.

Clubwomen can become advocates by working to:

• Ensure that children are protected from harmful situations • Encourage healthy physical and emotional lifestyles

• Impact policy to improve children’s lives

The Juniors’ Special Program: Advocates for Children also encourages advocacy and projects that will assist and protect children in crisis, including those experiencing child abuse, depression and suicide, foster or residential care, homelessness, human trafficking, life-threating illness, and/or poverty.

GFWC ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN WEEK

To raise awareness for GFWC’s child advocacy efforts, GFWC has declared the fourth week in October as GFWC Advocates for Children Week. All GFWC Women’s, Junior, and Juniorette clubs are invited to participate by planning events related to the Juniors’ Special Program with an emphasis on collecting personal hygiene items, clothing and blankets for local organizations for children removed from homes due to unsafe conditions.

Contact your Governor/Mayor to request they proclaim this week as “GFWC Advocates for Children Week” for your state/city.

Sunday, October 23 – Saturday, October 29, 2022 Sunday, October 22 – Saturday, October 28, 2023

GFWC AFFILIATE ORGANIZATIONS

GFWC has established a formal relationship and mutual understanding with the listed Affiliate Organizations. Our partners offer unique and customized services: materials, speakers, kits, and/or additional information specifically designed for GFWC clubs. They are aware of GFWC clubs’ specific needs, our organizational structure, and have a signed Memorandum of Understanding with GFWC. GFWC partners will assist in monitoring the donations generated by GFWC members. To ensure that donations to GFWC Affiliate Organizations at the individual, club, district, or state level are reflected toward GFWC’s collective impact, make sure to write GFWC in the memo line on your donation check.

GFWC is partnered with these organizations that believe in the future of our children:

MARCH OF DIMES

OPERATION SMILE

ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL

UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION SHOT@LIFE CAMPAIGN

UNICEF USA

Visit GFWC.org for project ideas that support our Affiliate Organizations and/or other activities to meet our common goal of advocating for children!

JUNIOR PLEDGE

I pledge my loyalty to the Juniors

By doing better than ever before

what work I have to do;

By being prompt, honest, courteous

By living each day trying to accomplish something, Not merely to exist.

The Junior Pledge was written in 1916

by Helen Cheney Kimberly of California,

was adopted in 1930 at the GFWC Convention as the National Junior Pledge.