The COOKBOOK  is here!!!!  and it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!  Check this out!

The first cookdbook from the Junior League of Greater Winter Haven features a collection of more than one hundred recipes from League members, their families and friends.  Showcasing two of the area's greatest treasures- the Chain of Lakes and the citrus industry- each chaper highlights a location or historical event in the Greater Winter Haven area.  We hope you enjoy the delicious recipes, stunning photography, and an insight into the history of Polk County.

Please follow the blog as I highlight some the beautiful details of this cookbook.  The cookbook will debut at our annual Girls Night Out Event and will be for sale at Merry Market, November 15 & 16.  Please contact your favorite league member to purchase tickets for the event and to reserve your copy of the cookbook!
See you at the Market!

Kids in the Kitchen has launched this year with their first event.  KIK has partnered with Girl's Inc. of Winter Haven.  Every month KIK will work with a different set of girls as part of their after school program.  The goal of KIK is to teach children that eating healthy is important, fun and most definitely yummy!
This first group meet on September 11, and had the opportunity to work with 26 3rd graders.  KIK set up 4 work stations that included 3 fun snack stations and 1 art station.  The 3 healthy snacks included fresh fruits and vegetables that were then made into a caterpillar, a stop light and a silly mouth.  Many of the kids had never tried some of the various peppers that were used to create the stop light.  This snack used a small carrot  stick smeared with cream cheese.  The girls then had to place the different colored peppers in order to match what a real stop light looks like.  The caterpillar used different grapes that were assembled on a skewer and then smeared with  cream cheese frosting.

The smiley face was very popular with apples, peanut butter, mini marshmallows and blue berries!

The final station included a placemat that each girl could color, laminate and take home with them.  This placemat had the food pyramid on it and KIK used this time to teach about all the healthy food choices they should make each day!

The KIK volunteers really enjoyed working with these great girls and are looking forward to next month's activity!  If you want to volunteer next month, make sure to reach out to Jill Bentley.
   

Connecting Our Members to One Another and Our Community...Piece by Piece

Our theme this year is Connecting Our Members to One Another and Our Community....Piece by Piece. As the Junior League of Greater Winter Haven, we are an organization of extremely talented, motivated, and kind hearted women. WE love helping other people, it's what we do. Each of us individually are small tiny puzzle pieces in the organization, however, together we join all of our pieces together to create this huge puzzle which impacts the Greater Winter Haven area and beyond. Together we join forces with one another as well as our supporting community members and organizations to make lasting change in our community. It takes everyone joining together to host these fundraisers which help support our projects so that we can make a difference. Together, we are the Junior League of Greater Winter Haven. We kicked off our first General Membership meeting with this message shared by our league President, Amy McKee. If you did not attend, we also met in our new location next to the Bean and Grape cafe. It was a great evening of committee updates, new provisionals and fantastic women!

PAST PRESIDENT TEA

On Sunday, September 21st the Past Presidents hosted a Tea at the home of Cindy Bruce (President 99-00).  We welcomed President Elect, Amy McKee into her new role and offered guidance and support for her upcoming Presidential year.  We took advantage of this time to have a “tasting party” for three of the potential recipes for “A Splash of Citrus”, recipes from the JLGWH. 

The picture shows past presidents, Lia Grey (98-99), Cindy Baxter (06-07) and Zan Dismuke (91-92) completing their evaluations.

The Past President’s pictured from left to right, back row:  Cindy Bruce (99-00), Donna Sheehan (01-02), Cindy Baxter (06-07), Zan Dismuke (91-92), Lia Gray (98-99)  front row:  Jae Lynn Akin (11-12), Amy McKee (President-Elect), Jennifer Myers (10-11).

A Very Merry Market

The Junior League of Greater Winter Haven kicked off the Holiday Shopping Season with our 4^th Annual Merry Market at Olde Towe Square in downtown Winter Haven!  Vendors from Central Florida and around the United States participated in the shopping event.  One of the League’s most festive fundraisers,  Merry Market is a 2 day event filled with premier shopping, food and entertainment.  Merry Market is a great way to get a head start on shopping for the Holidays and the funds raised benefit the local community and the JLGWH’s projects.  

 Junior League Members Volunteering at Merry Market

Photos with Santa were a hit at the Holiday Market

Photo Booth Fun at the Hops & Grapes kickoff party

Hops & Grapes is almost here!

We are just around the corner, about 3 weeks to be exact, from the JLGWH's biggest fall fundraiser!!  To kickoff Merry Market, we are having a beer and wine tasting event called The Hops & Grapes Cocktail Kickoff Party.  This event will be at Olde Towne Square in downtown Winter Haven from 6pm to 9pm on November 11th, 2011.  Tickets are only $35 dollars per person and include a night of beer and wine tastings, heavy Hors D'oeuvres, live entertainment, holiday shopping, gift bags, giveaways and more!  We are very excited to be inviting both men and women this year, as the kickoff party has typically been a girls night only.  We are jazzing up the usual with more fun and excitement!!  There will be a professional photographer taking pictures throughout the night and a photo booth that fits up to 12 people! This is the perfect night to get dressed up and have some fun with your friends or your better half all while supporting a fantastic organization that helps the women and children in your community!  This is truly an event you don't want to miss!   

Let's Get Ready to ROCK!

This evening marked the unofficial kick-off of the 2011-2012 JLGWH year.  Gathered at m.marie boutique , active members mingled with wonderful women from our community interested in what membership in JLGWH can offer.  In addition to welcoming potential new members hugs and handshakes were exchanged as members greeted each other after a summer break from the action of volunteering.  President, Jae Lynn Akin, addressed the group with the many benefits of membership in this unique organization.  The hostesses for the evening were the provisional chairs, Holly Hughes and Megan Smith, who will lead the new member group through an exciting year of training and personal development. A very big THANK YOU to Meghan Gullen, JLGWH member and owner of m.marie, for opening her doors to us and providing some awesome coupon incentives for the purchases made this evening.

Interested in learning more about Junior League but unable to attend tonight? No worries. Join us Saturday, August 13 from 1:30-3:00 at The Stable in Lake Alfred for another new member social before the year officially kicks off Tuesday, September 13th at the Chain of Lakes Club Room.

Rock the League!

Are you digging the new background? It seems entirely appropriate for this year's theme: Rock the League! Rock the Community! Rock the Future! Looking forward to a great year with our "Queen of Rock" Jae Lynn Akin.

Spirit of the League

When you think about our mission statement, does any one member pop into your head?  We are fortunate to have 

so many incredible women in our organization. The JLGWH is able to accomplish so much with women committed to changing our community for the better with their selfless, caring attitudes and leadership abilities. Among our many exemplary volunteers is there one woman that rises above?  I challenge each of you to read our mission and nominate the active member you feel embodies the “Spirit of the League”.   I know it is a difficult decision with so many hard working women in our league.  

Please take a few minutes out of your busy day to send me an email with your nominee and an explanation of why she deserves this honor.  The recipient will be announced at Spring Dinner.  

DOWNLOAD SPIRIT OF THE LEAGUE CRITERIA

Past Winners 

2010 Tammi Haas 

2009 Jill Barton 

2008 Cindy Baxter 

2007 Marianne George 

2006 Sharon  Garber 

2005 Sarah Case 

2004 Anna Coco 

2003 Peggy Threlkel 

2002 Cindy Bruce 

2001 Jayne Bates

Submitted by President, Jennifer Myers

What's in a Name?

Perhaps it's just an agenda to those who pick it up at each general membership meeting. But for years "League Lites" have informed members of important upcoming dates, meeting agendas, birthdays, and other tidbits of information.

Our former paper newsletter, "League Lines," has gone to digital email form.  Each month members receive this update with a note from the president and relevant news and dates.

Now, in an effort to cultivate communication within our league as well as extend into our community we are creating an updated newsletter that, in addition to current and upcoming league information, will also provide readers articles with pertinent information on health, nutrition, education, and family. We hope to deliver this publication biannually in both paper and electronic forms to be as far reaching as possible. Alas, one thing is missing, a name.

What's in a name? Plenty. A professional naming firm may charge as much as $80,000 to develop a business name. Wow! Many of the 294 Junior Leagues currently have a newsletter or magazine publication. Some have names with geographic relevance as in Junior League of Atlanta's, Peachtree Papers and Junior League of St. Pete's Causeway. Others have adopted names with meaning to the league as in the Junior League of Los Angeles' publication, Inspire. Our publication is in search of a memorable name that conveys the value and uniqueness of our organization and we are leaving it to you to decide. After a brainstorming session at a general membership meeting last fall, three selections were chosen: Blossom, The Chain Affect, and JL Just Lead.  All can be a part of this new publication as column heads etc., but only one will be the feature title. What do you think it should be?  Cast your vote in our poll.