In this testimonial-style video, several members of the Junior League of Charlotte share personal reflections on the organization’s mission, history, and lasting impact on the Charlotte community. Speakers highlight the League’s focus on community service, leadership development, and collaboration, citing specific initiatives such as the Double Oaks community revitalization, arts programming, and a suite of long‑standing child‑focused programs (JumpStart, Kindermorn, Right Moves for Youth, Drug Education Center, puppet therapy, and children’s theater). They also credit the League with laying the groundwork for major Charlotte institutions like the Nature Museum/Discovery Place and the Children’s Law Center/Council for Children’s Rights. Throughout, members express pride, confidence, and a sense of purpose derived from volunteering, emphasizing how the League’s work has shaped a growing Charlotte over its 90‑year history.
Chapters
Well, their mission is to help others, to look at the community and see what needs to be done, to develop something for children in hospitals, to teach children to read, to help people that don't have enough money to buy nice clothes or a winter coat to get one. But also to develop leadership. And that, that to me was a key point. I got so much confidence out of being on the board and being the president.
One of the things that really sticks in my mind going back to the late '80s, early '90s, our Junior League, along with a number of other partners, because we knew it's about collaboration, it's not about trying to do something on your own. It's about collaborating and getting with other significant civic and community partners. The Double Oaks community over off Statesville Road was a fragile community with a lot of families and children in need, not just housing, childcare, educational resources, and the League raised over $800,000 to be part of that whole initiative.
What I am most proud of is, I think, When we moved here in 1950 from Washington, D.C., and there was an amateur symphony here now, but there wasn't— and the Mint was open, but there were not many arts in Charlotte. And so I got— during my year, Don Webb was chairman of the committee that started the young people's concerts with the symphony. Oh, that's right. And that started our Junior League involvement in the arts.
I'm proud because we have our— we have our fingerprint all over Charlotte because we started so many different programs and looked at community needs over 90 years. We addressed those needs, and a lot of people aren't even aware of how many things that we started in Charlotte way back when, 90 years ago. What I have is one example of some of the things that we've done since 1926. JumpStart, Kindermorn, Right Moves for Youth, Drug Education Center, puppet players and therapy. That was very popular in the day.
Children's theater.
The Junior League was a part of what I would call a growing Charlotte. They laid the foundation for many of the institutions that are so important today. You think about the Nature Museum and now Discovery Place. You think about the Children's Law Center and now the Council for Children's Rights. The Junior League has not just had a touch for these things, but they've actually created the foundation, the ideas, and they brought forward volunteers that were committed without pay.
Well, there's so much unhappiness and misery in this world, and those of us who can volunteer and help those that are unhappy, um, it's a wonderful thing to do.
