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BOSTON (October 28, 2005) – The Junior League of Boston, Inc. (JLB)is proud to announce this year’s Volunteer Recognition Award winners. The winners were recently honored at an awards ceremony celebrating those members who you have been identified as among the JLB’s best volunteers.
“Each year, we are stunned by the caliber of nominees that we have in all of our award categories,” noted Nominating Chair Amy Schroeder. “This year was no exception. The achievements of these women, these volunteers, are truly an inspiration. Their individual approaches to community empowerment and creative fundraising are also a strong indication of where the JLB is headed as it approaches its 100th year.”
Nominations are taken from more than 1,300 members of the JLB. The Volunteer Recognition awards are presented to four members of the Junior League who have gone above their League placement requirements and embody the mission of the Junior League of Boston.
- This year’s Sarah Lawrence Award went to Elizabeth (Betty) Stout of Watertown. The Sarah Lawrence Award, named after the JLB’s founder, is given to a member of the Junior League of Boston who has used her training and experience in the JLB to benefit another non-profit organization in the greater Boston area. Stout has been an active volunteer with Germaine Lawrence for the past several years. Germaine Lawrence provides residential treatment services for troubled adolescent girls through-out New England. During her three-year tenure as Chair of Germaine Lawrence’s fundraising gala, revenue has nearly doubled and both the number of attendees and the professionalism of the event have increased significantly. Stout has been instrumental in helping her church become an important partner of Germaine Lawrence. She is an influential supporter of Germaine Lawrence’s current capital campaign and has opened many doors for other people to get involved financially and as volunteers.
- Karen Bourque of Acton is the winner of this year’s Volunteer Recognition Award for an Active Junior League Member. Bourque’s commitment to improving the Boston community was exemplified in her involvement in not one project or committee, but three. Karen Bourque was a Vice Manager of Community, a Provisional Advisor and a co-chair of Healthy Girls Initiative. As part of the Healthy Girls Initiative, Bourque organized several trainings on health-related issues for teens, which has now been adopted into the curriculum of several other JLB programs. In her role as Vice Manager of Community she led efforts to add to the JLB’s 18 community projects, including JLB’s newest endeavor, JLB Project Reach. Bourque also launched her own JLB project this year, JLB Healthy Start-Chelsea. As chair of Healthy Girls Initiative for three years, she saw a need for a direct service project devoted to working with adolescent girls around health topics. She created a curriculum, found a community collaborator in The Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and launched the program. The program’s curriculum has already been replicated to a second site at Codman Academy in Dorchester. Bourque is also serving on the JLB’s Management Committee this year.
- This year’s Volunteer Recognition Award for a Sustaining Junior League Member was awarded to Karen Roth LoRusso of Arlington. Sustaining members of the JLB are not obligated to continue their volunteer commitments, but Roth LoRusso not only has continued her efforts, she has taken one fundraising idea and worked tirelessly in the trenches to make that vision a reality. Roth LoRusso has been a critical member of the Junior League of Boston Cookbook committee for more than two years. The JLB Cookbook, Boston Uncommon is scheduled to be unveiled in the fall of 2006. In preparation for that launch, Roth LoRusso has given hundreds of volunteer hours to post over 700 recipes to the web site, and then had those recipes tested and evaluated for inclusion in the final recipes that will make up Boston Uncommon.
- This year’s Volunteer Recognition Award for a provisional member was awarded to Kristen Hunter of Newburyport. Before becoming active members, JLB volunteers must go through a “provisional” year – a time designed for intense training and personal development, in addition to the required volunteer commitment of active members. Hunter far exceeded her commitments and demonstrated a dedication to excellence through her extensive JLB activities. Hunter has been a critical member of the Learning Circles North Shore community project. Learning Circles provides twice-monthly group mentoring with adolescent girls to help improve decision-making skills. Hunter brought a unique personal touch to her mentoring, offering a career workshop on Interior Design, her own area of expertise, and found special ways to celebrate the achievements of the girls in the program including an “Academy Awards Night”.
For more information about these awards or the JLB, call Cherie Bosarge-Dutton at 617.251.3331.
About the Junior League of Boston
The Junior League of Boston (JLB) was established in 1907 by women interested in educating young women in the social and industrial problems of the city. Among its achievements in the last 99 year, the JLB has produced a nationally recognized film for its contributions to public understanding of the mentally challenged; established the Good Grief program, which was turned over to the Boston University School of Medicine; and established WIRE, the Women’s Informational Referral and Educational Service. Today, the Junior League of Boston has 18 community projects focused on the Health and Education of Women and Children. Through these projects, the JLB collaborates with agencies such as Bridge Over Troubled Waters, the Department of Social Services, and The Boys & Girls Clubs. In 2004, JLB volunteers gave an estimated 14,000 hours of direct service to the greater Boston community.
The JLB is an organization of over 1,300 women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. The Junior League of Boston is part of the Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. which includes nearly 300 Leagues in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and England. For more information about the Junior League of Boston, call 617-536-9640 or visit www.jlboston.org.
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