A Love Letter to the Junior League of Rochester

Dear fellow JLR members,

I was at the office last week making copies for a JLR Garden Club mailing when I realized that it was likely the last time I would be in the office as an Active member. I decided to become a Sustainer at the end of this League year in part because I don’t feel I have the capacity right now for committee work, and I will begin my term as President of the Garden Club next month. But the other reason is that I feel like it’s the right time in my JLR career. I’ve served in a variety of leadership and committee roles and know that it’s time for others to serve and lead us in the great direction we are going. But when thinking about my time as an Active coming to an end, I was struck with a profound sense of gratitude that I wanted to share. I simply wouldn’t be the person I am today without the JLR.

When I stopped working as an attorney in 2014 due to my new chronic vestibular migraine condition, I was about to start my year as the JLR President. We were down to around 45 Actives from the 80 or so when I joined in the fall of 2008. The GIRLSrock! project was struggling, and our return to the Home Tour fundraiser wasn’t raising the funds we had expected. It was a low point for the JLR, and it was the lowest point of my life. The inability to continue in my career as an attorney was devastating for me, and I didn’t have a diagnosis for my constant dizziness. But having the JLR to focus on was the bright spot in my life at the time.

The other board members made accommodations for me when I was too sick to leave my home and went above and beyond their duties. They talked to me on the phone and sent cupcakes. And that kind of support has never stopped. At times I have been able to do a lot of work on various fundraisers and projects, and other times I haven’t. But no matter which League members I was working with, they were understanding and supportive, letting me contribute in whatever way I could at the time. And, I have developed so many new skills in the past 11+ years, many of which I never knew I would be capable of or enjoy so much.

Without the JLR, I never would have learned about fundraising and event planning. I never would have been brave enough to join my first Board, for the local women’s bar association. I never would have been named an Up and Coming Attorney or included in the RBJ’s Forty Under 40 awards. I never would have learned the ins and outs of running a small nonprofit, and I never would have taken courses on the path to a certificate in Nonprofit Management. I never would have emailed the founders of a brand new diaper bank to see if I could help, with the new skills I’d acquired as JLR President. I never would have found a home for that diaper bank three years later. I never would have been invited onto the Landmark Society Board and the Brighton Historic Preservation Commission. And I never would have found this way to live in peace with my illness.

So, as I stood at the copier last week, remembering all of the late nights spent there working on League business, the many, many meetings, and all of the fundraiser supplies, cookbooks, holiday decorations, and diapers I had lugged up and down those basement stairs, all I felt was overwhelming gratitude. There are too many members to personally thank here, but please know that, as a member of the JLR, you have changed my life. I am so proud of where we are today. I promise to always give whatever combination of my time, talent and treasure I can. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Amanda