Jr League of Hartford

We spoke with President Amie Lugo about the Junior League of Hartford is an organization of women whose mission is to advance women’s leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration, and training.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Amy Lugo. She is president of
the Junior League of Hartford. Good morning, good morning, Thank
you so much for being here today.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Damn excited to be So.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You've decided to participate in the Birdies for charity? Why
is that?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, this is our second year doing it, and it's
such a great organization to be able to have our
funds go even further and stretched it all. If we
all know, in the nonprofit world, we're always trying to
figure out how to fundraise in what better way than
being able to get the match from the Webster Bank.
So it just seems to me like an easy choice
to do as a nonprofit organization.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
So people can go right to your website then it
is Hartford dot JL dot org and they can make
a donation right there.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Easy peasy. We like to make it.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
So, what is the history behind the Junior League of Hartford.
How did it originate?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Great? Yeah, so we were founded in nineteen twenty one.
We're actually part of the Associations of Junior League International,
which was founded in nineteen Oh We're sorry, nineteen twenty
one was us in nineteen oh one was the foundation
or the Greater Associations of Junior League's International and we've
been developing women to make an impact in Greater Hartford

(01:06):
for over one hundred years. One thing that's unique about
us is we're one hundred percent volunteer organization, raising funds
through different fundraisers. Actually, right now we're in the midst
of our biggest fundraiser that we do every three years,
which is called the Junior League of Hartford Designers show House,
and the money raised from that fundraiser is actually what
sustains our league for the following three years. So it's

(01:27):
a big undertaking and it actually just opened last Friday
and it'll run through May twenty third.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
How does the Junior League of Hartford advanced women's leadership?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
And we train women leaders to volunteer as well as
leadership training opportunities within our league. We send different women
to leadership conferences as well, all kind of helping develop
those women leaders.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
So how can women join your organization?

Speaker 2 (01:51):
That's a great question. Yeah, So if you go to
our website that was mentioned earlier, you'll find information on
there on how to join. So we take a new
membership class eve every fall and winter, So our next
class will be starting in September, so you can go online.
There's a simple application and you just fill that out.
We will also be holding info sessions that we'll be
posting about on our social media starting in August, so

(02:15):
you can kind of go to one of those infra
sessions and see if it's something that's right for you
and then join, and then the next class would be
in January. And we have lots of women leaders who
have been in our organization and served on our boards
who have then served on other boards for other nonprofit
organizations using the skills and the knowledge they learned by
working and being part of our organization. Many various like
minded women who are just looking for a way to

(02:37):
give back into the community. So mostly our new members
tend to be like in their mid twenty twenty five
to like thirty two, But we do have members that
once you've joined, you're in. You know, it's something you've
joined and you're not you know, I'm just joining for
a little bit. We have members up into their eighties
or actually our oldest members one hundred and one years old.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
That's wonderful. What are some of the benefits of being
involved with the Junior League of Hartford.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I think one of the benefits is the fact that
you know, we're not just a networking group, We're not
just a volunteer group. We're the best of both worlds.
You get volunteer opportunities while at the same time networking
with like minded women.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Anything else that you'd like to talk about.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, so I just love little I would love to
give another plug for our show house. Like I said,
this is our big fundraiser that we hold once every
three years. It might open on Friday and it'll run
through May twenty third. So what it is is we
basically purchase or leasing the house over in Hartford eight
to twenty prospect A and we've had various designers. We
have sixteen designers that went into the house, each room

(03:34):
taking over a room and they just made it their own.
And then we sell tickets to for members of the
community to walk through and see the magnificant designs and
transformations of this house. So it's a great way to
kind of, you know, spark some ideas for your own
house and just see some really cool interior designs. So

(03:54):
that's running. Like I said, it opened this lass weekend
and it'll run through May twenty third, and you can
find that more information about our show house on our website.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
And I'm speaking with President Amy Lugo of the Junior
League of Hartford. That webdress again is Hartford dot JL
dot org. If you'd like to make a donation, if
you'd like to volunteer, find out about events and more, again,
go to that website Hartford dot JL dot org. Amy,
thank you so much for being here today and for
serving the community.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Thank you