SUMMER JABBERWOCK 2021 FROM YOUR PRESIDENT Hello Junior League of Billings!! Hope you are having a great summer! It’s my honor and privilege to welcome you to the 2021-2022 Junior League year! I am looking forward to serving as your president! I wanted to start by saying THANK YOU! Thank you for your continued commitment to the Junior League of Billings. We are nothing without our members! Last year, I enjoyed celebrating the 50th anniversary and learning about the Junior League of Billings’ rich his- tory in our community. I am so honored to be part of an organization that has done so much and continues to positively impact the community we live in! There are exciting things going on this year and an amazing group of women on the Board of Directors. Our board retreat held in June was a success. Not only were we able to get to know each other better, we were able to meet and discuss plans for the next year guided by our mission. As a Board, we continue to be dedicated to our mission of developing the potential of women, promoting volunteerism and improving our community. This year, we will be working on the Association of League International (AJLI) Small League Fast Track Renewal Plan. This is a detailed plan which will allow our league to grow for the better. More information to come on this exciting venture. We will be hosting our 6th annual Montana Women’s Leadership Conference. This conference continues to support our mission and be our main fundraising event of the year. As a League we continue to focus on Poverty and Homelessness. The Free Laundry Day Project takes place on the last Saturday of each month. We have developed community partnerships which allow us to continue to provide this service to the community. A Membership Survey was also developed by the Board of Directors asking for feedback from our members. The survey will be coming to your emails. Please keep an eye out for the survey as we would love to have your input! I continue to be inspired by the Junior League of Billings members and am grateful I can lead our organization this year. I am yours in service. Please feel free to contact me, by email or phone, with anything! I will leave you with this quote from Mary Hariman, founder of the Junior League, “ We have the responsibility to act, and we have the opportunity to conscientiously act to affect the environment about us. ” Best regards, Helen Laferriere [email protected]406-679-0573
Transcript
SUMMER JABBERWOCK 2021
FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
Hello Junior League of Billings!! Hope you are having a great summer! It’s my honor and privilege to welcome you to the 2021-2022 Junior League year! I am looking forward to serving as your president! I wanted to start by saying THANK YOU! Thank you for your continued commitment to the Junior League of Billings. We are nothing without our members! Last year, I enjoyed celebrating the 50th anniversary and learning about the Junior League of Billings’ rich his-tory in our community. I am so honored to be part of an organization that has done so much and continues to positively impact the community we live in! There are exciting things going on this year and an amazing group of women on the Board of Directors. Our
board retreat held in June was a success. Not only were we able to get to know each other better, we were able to meet and discuss plans for the next year guided by our mission. As a Board, we continue to be dedicated to our mission of developing the potential of women, promoting volunteerism and improving our community. This year, we will be working on the Association of League International (AJLI) Small League Fast Track Renewal Plan. This is a detailed plan which will allow our league to grow for the better. More information to come on this exciting venture. We will be hosting our 6th annual Montana Women’s Leadership Conference. This conference continues to support our mission and be our main fundraising event of the year. As a League we continue to focus on Poverty and Homelessness. The Free Laundry Day Project takes place on the last Saturday of each month. We have developed community partnerships which allow us to continue to provide this service to the community. A Membership Survey was also developed by the Board of Directors asking for feedback from our members. The survey will be coming to your emails. Please keep an eye out for the survey as we would love to have your input! I continue to be inspired by the Junior League of Billings members and am grateful I can lead our organization this year. I am yours in service. Please feel free to contact me, by email or phone, with anything! I will leave you with this quote from Mary Hariman, founder of the Junior League, “ We have the responsibility to act, and we have the opportunity to conscientiously act to affect the environment about us.” Best regards, Helen Laferriere [email protected] 406-679-0573
Mini Golf Tournament in Downtown Billings. Thank you to Cayson, Alder and Soren for designing and creating our golf hole for the tournament. It was a fun day with lots of people finding our location.
COMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL Greetings from the Communications Council! I am happy to serve on the JLB Board, leading communication efforts for the next year. Our council will continue focusing on social media engagement, including our successful social member spotlight campaign “We Are JLB”. This campaign saw some of our highest engagement. If you are interested in participating, please send a note to [email protected]. We will dive deeper into Member Essentials—our newly refreshed JLB website-and find new and streamlined ways to engage with you, our members. The site will allow us new options for event registration, tracking participation and communicating with you more effectively. Further, we will be exploring other forms of member communication and engagement to ensure we are reaching all of our members-actives and sustainers. And, of course we will partner with our other councils-Membership, Community and Fund Development-to promote our events and activities throughout the year, including Annual Leadership Conference, Laundry Days, social events and much more. We would love to hear from you. If you have thoughts on how we can better communicate, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Looking forward to hearing from you. Amy Riesinger Communications Council Leader
FUND DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Hello Ladies of the Junior League, I hope your summer is off to an amazing start. The Fund Development Council is off to a busy start. We will be hosting a bingo night fundraiser on October 15th at the Elks Club from 6:00-9:00pm. Tickets will cost $50 and will be available by September. This event will feature 10 rounds of music bingo, raffle baskets, wine ring toss, and a game of heads or tails to win a Nintendo Switch. We are looking for members to donate bottles of wine for our wine ring toss at our next general meeting. We are also looking for local businesses and individuals to sponsor our bingo rounds for $100 each. Please reach out if you or someone you know might be interested. We are also working hard putting together our annual Montana Women’s Leadership Confer-ence. This event will be held on February 11, 2022 at MSU-B. Our keynote speaker will be Pamela Barnum, a former undercover police of-ficer and federal prosecuting attorney. We are taking applications for breakout session leaders. Please feel free to share our application with anyone that you think would be a good fit for our event. The application went out to all members via mail chimp. Tickets will cost $80 each and will be going on sale this fall. Elizabeth Russell Fund Development Council Leader
CONGRATULATIONS
to our 2020-2021 Volunteer of the Year, Jessica Taylor
ACTIVES August 4 Britanni Anderson August 13 Elizabeth Russell August 16 Dana Paulson SUSTAINERS August 3 Elda Schuman August 4 Suzy Cole August 12 Connie Grammens August 15 Kay Foster August 21 Jane McCracken August 26 Martha Tanner August 27 Jen Bennett August 28 Kelli Toohill August 28 Maxine Hanson August 29 Lucy Scott August 30 Joy Meyer August 30 Lynn Mullowney-Cabrera August 31 Mary Jane Knisely
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW SUSTAINERS
Thank you to Dee Dee Hilton and Lauren Wright for their many years as Active members of the
Junior League. Congratulations to our new Sustainers!
MEMBERSHIP COUNCIL NEWS
After the previous year we all have had, we in the membership council are looking forward to filling the calendar with fun, purposeful activities for everyone to get reacquainted with JLB and our mission.
We kicked off with a sunrise yoga session at Lexie Williams home. The weather was perfect and there was even a slight breeze. Yoga lasted about an hour, then Lexie treated the participants to mimosas and gave a tour of the property. Fun was had by all who attended. In lieu of a summer picnic, we have opted to do a fun activity to involve our families and getting out into the community. JLB Family night at the Mustangs should be a lot of fun to watch America’s pastime, and catch up with one another. We are also busy planning our August Open House and we hope to have more details very soon! We think it is going to be fabulous! We will have our fall calendar available soon as well! Please come to as many gatherings as you can so you get the most out of your Junior League experience. Our objective hasn’t changed from last year, so thanks to our previous membership council leader, Jessica Taylor, I will reiterate our goals:
Recruit, Retain, and Recognize!
Because we are BETTER TOGETHER - Here’s how YOU can help!
Recruit: Always be sharing why you’re a member of Junior League. Actively encourage friends to join you at socials, volunteering, and GMMs. But also, please think of any ladies who would benefit from the opportunities that the League provides and who want to positively impact the community. Please send us names and email/mailing addresses as soon as possible. Retain: Discuss ideas with Membership Council on how we can continue to retain members. What gets you excited about each year with the JLB? How can we make it better? You tell us!
Recognize: Do you feel appreciated for your efforts with JLB? Tell us how we can show you our appreciation. How do you prefer to be recognized? Shout-outs on social media? Prizes and drawings for participation and engagement? Being announced during a GMM? You tell us! And remember to please make sure you’re following Junior League of Billings on Facebook and Instagram for motiva-tion, event notices, and volunteer needs. Liking and Sharing increase the visibility of our posts. We are looking forward to an exciting and FUN League year! Dawn Gilman Membership Council Leader
About Me Hi everyone! My name is Helen Laferriere and I will serving as the president of the Junior League of Billings. It is truly my honor and privilege to follow in the footsteps of such an amazing group of women. Just wanted to share a little bit about me. I was born and raised in the Washington DC area and moved to Montana in 2002. I graduated from Billings Central High School and went on to receive a Bachelor's in Nursing from Presentation College and Masters in Nursing from the University of North Dakota. I work as a Nurse Practitioner at St Vincent Internal Medicine. I have worked there for almost 10 years. I enjoy working with my adult patients to achieve optimum health. My passion for caring for others not only drew me to my career but also drew me to the Junior League of Billings. I be-came a member in 2016. I have served as the Fund development chair x 2 years, president elect elect and president elect. I have enjoyed each year on the board as I learn so much from my fellow leaguers. I have been able to attend AJLI Winter Leadership. I also had the opportunity to plan the Women’s Leadership Conference last year virtually. I am married to my husband Clint. We have 2 dogs, Bella and Winston. We enjoy spending time with family and friends. We also enjoy outdoor activities including camping, rafting, and hiking. During the summer, we try to get out and enjoy Montana as much as possible. We were able to float the Smith River this year which was amazing! During the fall and winter, we enjoy watching football. I am a huge Packers fan! Again, I look forward to serving as your president this year! Helen Laferriere President, 2021-2022
MEMBER SURVEY
Please take time to fill out the Member Survey. You received a link to fill it
out this past week. We value your input about the League and look forward
to hearing from every member. Please fill out and submit the information
by August 4, 2021. Thank you for your input.
Board Retreat 2021-2022
The Junior League Board working diligently to get ready for our new year.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR FEBRUARY 11, 2022 LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Imagine what it would be like to live as a different person with a different name, identity, and background. Working for months at a time with dangerous people, and your success depended on establishing trust. That’s precisely what Pamela Barnum did for years working undercover in the Drug Enforcement Section. She learned real-world techniques for building trust and interpreting body language. When Pamela left policing she accepted a position as a federal prosecuting attorney, spending countless hours in the courtroom, perfecting her nonverbal communication and trust-building techniques. Following a successful 20-year career in the criminal justice system, Pamela
Barnum studied corporate negotiations in graduate school. Now, she shares her expertise with others, teaching them invaluable communication skills to build trust, improve relationships, and increase influence. Pamela has been a featured trust strategist and body language expert, contributing to print media, radio, and television news programs. Her TEDx Talk, “What Drug Dealers Taught Me About Trust,” was viewed more than 400,000 times in the first year.
