NYJL Website Launch

It's almost 100 years old and just before the millennium, the New York Junior League entered into cyberspace. Launched at 4 PM on Wednesday, June 9th, at the first half of the annual meeting Mary Beth Tully, Secretary/Communications VP announced our site was live. What an exciting moment as I'd been interested in helping this 2684-strong volunteer organization get on-line since '95 when I joined. The site has information about the history of the Junior League, the volunteer efforts of its members, a list of our community partners and headquarters information. Founded in 1901 by Mary Harriman with a small group of friends, today's Junior League volunteers contribute over 100,000 hours of service collectively to New York City with more than 25 community projects focused in four areas of community need each year. As we prepare for our centennial celebration, in 2001, we have been restoring and reorganizing our archives. As a part of the Archives committee, it was fascinating to learn about things like the Baby Shelter that operated out of one of the League's former headquarters at 221 East 71st Street, and which is now Marymount College. Twenty babies from birth to nine months received temporary care from volunteers and in the early stages of this ward, all Junior League members were asked to contribute $10 to help support the shelter, which was running at full capacity, due to unemployment during March 1929. The League's interest in health care issues for children and the family continue and were marked by this year's grand opening of the CHAMP (Community Health Access Model Program) preventative healthcare facility in East Harlem. The NYJL has many other significant committees, so stop by the web site and learn more about this organization that has made significant contributions for almost a century. (www.nyjl.org)