The Provisional Class Tailgated and Volunteered!

By Molly Sundstrom, Membership Development Committee

November was a susy month for the Provisional Class!

We kicked off the month with our social by tailgating at the Stanford-Oregon football game on November 12. Although Oregon defeated Stanford, everyone had a great time BBQ-ing and socializing with other Junior League members.

Provisional Class November meeting presentation
about Kids in the Kitchen by Jacquetta Lannan

Our Provisional Class met on November 15, and we learned about the different service opportunities within the League. We were privileged to presentations about our biggest fundraiser—Finishing Touches Home Tour—and discovered the many opportunities to volunteer at The Shop. The Shop is an upscale second hand store in downtown Menlo Park and each provisional will have an opportunity to volunteer. We were filled in about Kids in the Kitchen, and even learned how to solicit donations in order to ensure a successful event. The Kids in the Kitchen initiative promotes healthy eating and exercise with the help of the San Francisco 49ers Academy and will be held in April of 2012. All the provisional members were excited to volunteer and are looking forward to the event.

The Provisional Class volunteered at Finishing Touches Home Tour, December 2nd and 3rd. Volunteers worked at Mistletoe & Martinis, the Home Tour and the Boutique at the Rosewood Sandhill Resort.

Also coming up, we have our Holiday Social, which will be on Wednesday, December 14, at the Gatehouse. This year’s social will be co-hosted by the Membership Enrichment/Outreach Committee and is a cookie exchange in which provisionals, actives and their guests will bring their favorite cookies and recipe to share. The social will also feature a contest with prizes for the best tasting, best presentation and most original cookies! To attend, RSVP here!

Blogging! Team Activity from September GMM, Bundle 1

By Michelle Hostrup, Social Media Assistant Chair

The JLPA-MP had a very busy Fall and start to the 2011-12 League year. Now that things are starting to quiet down as we enter the holiday season, I will be posting a few blog articles that were written after the September GMM, but never published. The responses are too good not to be shared, so here they are!

The first General Membership Meeting of this league year was on September 14, 2011. There were at least 20 tables set-up in the meeting room, each completely full – the room was packed! President Meaux Costello kicked off the meeting with a warm welcome and announcements, followed by project and event updates from the different committee’s.

Summer Brill, Communications VP, gave an update on the League’s Communications focus for the upcoming year, including three main areas:

• Marketing - Streamline the process for using communications outlets for League
• Interaction - Facilitate and encourage sharing and interaction among members
• Branding - Increase awareness of the League in the community

During her presentation, Summer introduced a group activity related to our League blog. Each table received a blog topic and was given instructions to discuss their topic, create a unique blog post, and submit the blog post by logging onto the JLPA-MP website.

The blog posts submitted during the activity were extremely creative. From the submissions I developed five bundles of responses from the various teams. The remaining team response bundles will be published over the next few weeks, so check back in to read each one!

Team Blog Activity from September GMM, Bundle 1

Tell us about a situation you experienced with the League that you wouldn't have experienced outside of the League

Submitted by Naomi Chavez Peters and Board Members

Naomi Chavez Peters & Team

The League turned Sally into a master fundraiser. The biggest auction ever held in the League was her year running the auction at the Fashion Show! "Being a League member brought me out of my shyness," says Sustainer Anne. "It's a safe place to try things and not be judged" says sustainer, Kathy. "I would never have become a CPR instructor without the league training." She got Red Cross CPR training through the League in the 80's. “And both my husband and I became gourmet cooks after writing two "Private Collection" cookbooks!" Kathy ended up with over 700 cookbooks! "I got the opportunity to be the 'mom and consultant' I always to be, through my association with the Junior League," says Naomi, who just returned from a trip to West Texas (Amarillo and Odess) training League leaders in those communities.

If you were given 30 days free of all responsibilities (work, childcare, etc.), what would you do with that time?

Submitted by Christina York

We would travel, read, eat, sunbathe, shop at The Shop, go running, garden, and volunteer.

Stay tuned for more team responses to be published.

Member Recognition Awards - November 2011

By Mary Grundy, Member Resource Committee


Pictured left to right, Brenna Preston,
Noelle Santamaria and Kristin Najarian

Did you enjoy the 11th Annual Pancake Breakfast with your family? Did you know this year's Pancake Breakfast achieved a fundraising record? Thanks to our DIAD committee and the particular efforts of Jen Baker and Noelle Santamaria, the event was a tremendous success!



Have you heard the buzz about the Holiday Home Tour? Did you buy your tickets yet? Do you know how much goes into this huge and important event? Our Home Tour committee has some gals working very hard to make sure it all runs smoothly, with a BIG turnout. Courtney Zanini and Heidi Bullock are just two of the Home Tour committee members going above and beyond to make this year’s event the best ever!





Pictured left to right, Helen Ungerman,
Courtney Zanini and Miriam Huntley

 

All four of these amazing ladies demonstrated incredible enthusiasm, energy and dedication to their committee projects. Please join Member Resources in congratulating Jen, Noelle, Courtney and Heidi on jobs well done! Thank you for all of your hard work and for going “above and beyond” in your efforts to support the League! You’re an inspiration to us all!

Finishing Touches Featured in San Mateo Daily Journal

Our Home Tour Committee has been hard at work planning the League's fourth annual Finishing Touches Home Tour and Boutique. The San Mateo Daily caught up with our Co-Chairs Helen Ungerman and Kathleen Castaillac and committee Treasurer Pam Wagner at a recent planning session at the Rosewood Sandhill, see the article here.


Photo Credit Tom Jung/San Mateo Daily Journal

The festivities kick off this Friday, December 2nd, with a festive luncheon and boutique at the Rosewood Sandhill, followed by a self-driven tour of the lovely Atherton homes and then the Mistletoe and Martinis Cocktail Party and Boutique at 6:30pm.


On Saturday, December 3rd, the festivities continue with the Designer's Breakfast & Guided Tour followed by the self-driven and shuttle driven tour. And don't miss the Boutique at the Rosewood, open until 3pm. See details here.  Tickets for the Tour and Mistletoe and Martinis Cocktail Party will also be available for purchase at the door.

Follow us on Facebook!

We learned how to TWEET a photo at the Communications Team Social!

By Catherine Ross Stoll, Communications Team

On November 14th the Communications Team got together for a social (thanks to Gae Sares for organizing it) at The Office Bar and Grill in San Carlos. While we were there, having a good time and enjoying some yummy food, the subject of Twitter came up in our conversation.

Cynthia Munoz, Michelle Hostrup, Gae Sares, Amy Truel, Beth Ann Brown, Catherine Ross Stoll, Summer Brill, Catherine Wilson, Kathryn Brownstone

I suggested we take a photo right then and Tweet it out. We had the waiter take our photo on my iPhone and I immediately tweeted the photo straight from my iPhone using the hash tag #jlpamp to make it easy to search for. Michelle Hostrup (our Social Mediaa Assistant Chair extraordinaire) then searched for that hash tag within her Twitter app on her iPhone, and retweeted my tweet within a few minutes of the photo being taken. So easy!

If you want Michelle to see your JL-related tweets too, please use the hash tag #jlpamp and she can either retweet it or use the info in your tweet to compose her own tweet. A quick and easy way to bypass the web form if there is something happening that's worth tweeting about right away.

Follow us on Twitter today!