Letter: Junior League makes valuable contributions to the community

Saturday, Oct. 4, 1997 | 4:11 a.m.

I will speak for my own experience in this incredible 51-year-old organization. From 1946 to 1997, we have been an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through effective action and the leadership of those trained volunteers. We are part of an international organization, the Association of Junior League International, which celebrates its centennial in 2001. Our purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. Our membership is diverse in age, education, economic and ethnic backgrounds, and, in Las Vegas, we are 400 members strong.

The Junior League of Las Vegas has developed more than 60 community projects, including D.A.R.E., Project Lead, HELP of Southern Nevada, Lied Discovery Museum, Read Aloud Nevada and JLLV Education Grants. Our advocacy efforts have led to legislation directed at improving the lives of children in the state of Nevada. I'm most proud of our advocacy efforts that produced legislation giving single parents the legal avenues to collect court-ordered child support.

In a year when the nation is pleading with all of us to volunteer, it is most irresponsible to claim you are a community leader and "slag" an organization that has served this community as well as the Junior League because, on one or two occasions, you have opposing viewpoints.

If anyone is interested in joining this diverse group of women and becoming a trained volunteer, please call the Junior League at 822-6536. Be a leader, be a Leaguer.

Kris Amerine, President-elect, Junior League of Las Vegas