AMERICAN EXPATRIATE CLUBS NEWS • 75 members participated in our virtual Spring Leadership Conference: Catalysts For Change, with inspiring speakers and timely insights during this unprecedented time.
35 Years of Service to the London Community. We are the Junior League of London! AWBS - All Women Of Berkshire & Surrey, Celebrating Inclusiveness And Friendship!
AWBS is a sisterhood of international and local women in the Berkshire and Surrey area, who come together to enhance their UK experience through fun and fulfilling volunteer-run activities. We are proud to announce AWBS TV, our virtual offerings just for our members, join us for Summer Camp, our virtual offerings production of webinars, events and social gatherings all Summer long! Along with our regular prestigious monthly speakers, we will also feature informative, inspirational and entertaining live virtual sessions where all members are welcome to join in. We even have recorded sessions in case you’ve missed a featured event. To find out more about becoming a member of AWBS, visit our website or contact membership@awbs.org.uk who will be more than happy to help and answer questions you may have. Our diversity makes us unique, but also brings us together! www.AWBS.org.uk 28
AMERICAN IN BRITAIN
Since 1901, the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) has been dealing with global challenges via strong community advocacy and adapting our work to serve those in need. Through both World Wars, the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, the Great Depression, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and our current COVID-19 pandemic, Junior Leagues have stayed strong in our commitment to our mission and assisting our community partners. Adapting To Change This spring we demonstrated our ability to transition to virtual work to support London community partners. We digitised our initiatives, leadership training, meetings, events and fundraising. The results were outstanding! • Our LBDI COVID-19 Poverty Awareness campaign (#theLBDI) raised over £15,000, with 100% of the funds dedicated to our community partners and programmes fighting poverty and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable Londoners • We hosted our annual Pub Quiz virtually with 100 participants and donations supporting LBDI • We created 7 Neighbourhood Community Action Teams for member support and local volunteering opportunities within London neighbourhoods
Planning For The Holidays We are also excited to announce a brilliant way for our friends and supporters to make donations to support our longest-running community event: Holiday Hampers. Each holiday season, we put together Hampers with essential items and gifts for those most in need. Last year we supplied over 600 hampers supporting over 1000 vulnerable Londoners. We know the need may be exceptionally higher this year so the ask is simple: make donations via our Aviva Crowdfunder site. Aviva employee donations open on 10th June; each UK employee has a £25 voucher to donate to a project of their choice. The more supporters and donations we have, the more visibility and hopefully, donations from Aviva employees. If this is not your cup of tea, then you can also donate in other ways to support Hampers, including hosting a donation drive (jll.org.uk/ holiday-hampers/). Developing New Community Leaders Leadership, voluntarism, friendship, and civic engagement are recurrent themes with our members. This summer we welcome a new group of Leaders, including Active Members leading committees and long-standing Members (Sustainers) helping to mentor and guide our strategic initiatives. We welcome new members each September and January. You are invited to attend an interest session to meet members and learn how you can be part of the legacy that is Junior League. Embracing Our History For 35 years, the Junior League of London has been affecting change in our community. Our 2019-2020 President, Melissa Allen created ‘35 Cheers’ this year to tell our story. Recap the cheers at jll.org.uk/about/35cheers/. Junior League of London
