{"id":12552,"date":"2015-05-28T12:40:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T16:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=12552"},"modified":"2015-05-28T12:40:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T16:40:28","slug":"junior-league-installs-new-officers-2015-marks-jlfms-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2015\/05\/28\/junior-league-installs-new-officers-2015-marks-jlfms-50th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior League installs new officers; 2015 marks JLFM\u2019s 50th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lisa Muench, Michelle Patrick Olivarez, Alex Hamley, Jennifer Beattie, Francesca Berberich, Danielle Lucht, Erin Martin, Jessica Steinberg, Veronica Bynum, Holly Zasadny<\/p>\n

FORT MYERS,\u00a0Fla. (May 28, 2015) \u2013 The Junior League of Fort Myers, Inc.<\/a> recently installed with its incoming board members for the 2015-2016 calendar year.<\/p>\n

Danielle Lucht, financial advisor with Alliance Financial Group, will serve as the Junior League\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

Originally from Washington, D.C., Lucht has lived in Fort Myers since 2002. Before joining Alliance Financial in 2004, she worked as a producer for WINK News. As a financial representative, she specializes in designing and implementing retirement strategies for her clients.<\/p>\n

In May 2013, she received the 2012-2013 Junior League President\u2019s Award in recognition of her outstanding ability to enhance, enrich and empower the Junior League to better serve the community. She chaired the American Cancer Society\u2019s Cattle Barons Ball in January 2010 and was instrumental in forming the current chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2011. Lucht earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and a Master of Arts degree from New York University.<\/p>\n

Her president term will begin June 2015 and run through May 2016.<\/p>\n

Additional officers include Erin Martin, president elect; Michelle Patrick, community vice president; Jessica Steinberg, membership vice president; Jennifer Beattie, finance vice president; Alex Hamley, communications vice president; Francesca Berberich, recording secretary; Jaclyn Julow, corresponding secretary; Holly Zasadny, member at large; Veronica Bynum, nominating chair; Carrie Gil, advisory planning; and Lisa Muench, sustainer advisor.<\/p>\n

Since 1966, the Junior League of Fort Myers, Inc. has contributed more than one million volunteer hours to community projects and programs.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the Junior League\u2019s 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary in 2016, its members are encouraging all of Southwest Florida to join them in continuing their ongoing volunteer efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach volunteer hour is valued at $23,\u201d said Lucht. \u201cIf we can get 222 of our members and residents to each volunteer 50 hours in the next year, together we will have donated more than $250,000 of much needed labor to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge is simple. From June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016, the Junior League is asking adults to commit to volunteering 50 hours of community service and\/or $50 to the local nonprofit(s) of their choice. Children, ages 6 to 16, are asked to donate 25 hours. Families are encouraged to take the challenge together if they wish. During this same time, JLFM members will also commit to completing 50 community service projects.<\/p>\n

Participants may commit to the challenge and track their hours by downloading a form on the Junior League\u2019s website at\u00a0www.jlfm.org<\/a>. At the end of the year, the Junior League will hold a celebration honoring all participants with a certificate and commemorative pin next May.<\/p>\n

The Junior League will kick-off this 50 for 50 challenge at its Kids in the Kitchen\u00a0Summer Festival on Saturday, June 6. The free event is open to the public and will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Stars Complex located at 2980 Edison Avenue in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

The day will include activities for kids to enjoy including seed planting, fun exercises, free summer reading books and educational information on healthy drinks, foods and dental health. A free healthy lunch will also be offered. A number of nonprofit organizations will have booths onsite to provide information about the services they provide children and their families as well as information on how locals can volunteer with their organizations.<\/p>\n

Since its founding in 1901 by social activist Mary Harriman, the Junior League has evolved into one of the oldest, largest and most effective women\u2019s volunteer organizations in the world, encompassing 150,000 women in 292 Leagues in four countries. Its mandate has remained the same: to develop exceptionally qualified civic leaders who collaborate with community partners to identify a community\u2019s most urgent needs and address them with meaningful and relevant programs and initiatives that not only improve lives but also change the way people think.<\/p>\n

Through the decades, the JLFM has made major contributions to Southwest Florida to support a wide variety of community needs including founding the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium (1973), the Volunteer Service Bureau \u2013 Volunteer Action Center \u2013 now known as Volunteer Center (1992),<\/p>\n

Teen Court (1992) and the Women\u2019s Resource Center (1996). It has also been active in feeding the hungry in the five-county area through the food drive at the annual Taste of the Town, mentoring teenage girls in foster care, supporting self defense for women, preparing women to re-enter the workforce, creating a listening library for cancer patients, preserving historic architecture, supporting the Ronald McDonald House, distributing holiday food baskets, organizing holiday gift drives, providing gender-specific programming to teenage girls in juvenile justice, supplying backpacks to children in Harlem Heights Community and more.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0member\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Association of\u00a0Junior\u00a0Leagues\u00a0International,\u00a0Inc., the Junior League of Fort Myers, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit\u00a0organization founded in 1966 and made up of\u00a0women\u00a0committed to promoting\u00a0voluntarism, developing the potential of\u00a0women\u00a0and improving\u00a0the\u00a0community\u00a0through the\u00a0effective\u00a0action\u00a0and leadership of\u00a0trained volunteers.\u00a0Its\u00a0purpose\u00a0is exclusively\u00a0educational and\u00a0charitable.\u00a0The JLFM is also a granting organization, providing mini-grants to organizations throughout Southwest Florida\u2019s five-county area to programs that create better life outcomes for our area\u2019s youth. JLFM memberships are open to all women aged 21 and older of all races, religions and national origin who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to voluntarism.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0more\u00a0information,\u00a0call\u00a0239-277-1197 or\u00a0visit\u00a0www.jlfm.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lisa Muench, Michelle Patrick Olivarez, Alex Hamley, Jennifer Beattie, Francesca Berberich, Danielle Lucht, Erin Martin, Jessica Steinberg, Veronica Bynum, Holly Zasadny FORT MYERS,\u00a0Fla. (May 28, 2015) \u2013 The Junior League…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[4635,4636,4637,2591,4638,4639,4640,4641,4642,663,4643,4401,4599,4591,4592,4644,664,4645,4360,2403,4593,4600,2404,4601,4646,4647,16,1046,4596,1255,1072,672,1416,4294,1929,19,2649,4219,4648,4602],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}