Our Community Gifts
JLW Through the Years—Timeline of Selected Projects
This timeline is not comprehensive but does highlight many Junior League of Wichita projects.
2011
Junior League of Wichita decided to dedicate its volunteer time and fundraising proceeds to combating child abuse.
The Association of Junior Leagues International awarded Junior League of Wichita honorable mention in membership development for the community credit system that gives volunteers flexibility in serving the community.
Pinches & Dashes: Recipes & Life Measures from the Junior League of Wichita was published in November.
2010
Junior League of Wichita celebrated 85 years in the Wichita community with monthly Done In a Day projects that mirrored past projects.
Junior League of Wichita also unveiled an outdoor classroom at Rainbows United and assisted the Kansas Humane Society in developing its Read to Rover program.
Junior League of Wichita received a $166,000 grant from the Lois Kay Walls Foundation to renovate Headquarters, including making it ADA accessible.
2009
Junior League of Wichita worked with St. Anthony Family Shelter, Harbor House and Holy Savior Catholic Academy to build libraries, adding furniture, books and technology.
Junior League of Wichita partnered with Envision to help students make audio recordings of books for visually impaired and special needs children.
Junior League of Wichita worked with Judge Riddel Boys Ranch to help troubled teens learn basic cooking skills.
The Limited Edition 36th anniversary Sunflower Sampler was published.
2008
Junior League of Wichita continued Reading Rocks, investing $65,200 and serving 1,750 elementary students.
Centsable Girls: Junior League of Wichita partnered with Girl Scouts of the Golden Plains investing $6,000 and teaching 120 elementary school girls financial literacy.
After 76 wonderful years of style and service to the Wichita community, the Junior League Shop closed in November.
2007
Members participated in the rebuilding of a home for a family in the community for the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, volunteering more than 1,000 hours.
Reading Rocks: Literacy for Lifelong Learning was a collaboration with Wichita Public Schools and Wichita Public Libraries.
Money Talks: Financial Literacy for Teens was a collaboration with Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas.
2006
Junior League of Wichita becomes a Vision partner in Visioneering Wichita.
2005
Good Works!, a collaboration with the Nonprofit Chamber of Service, was a one-day training event designed to equip leaders for nonprofit service and match them with organizational needs in the Wichita area. Junior League of Wichita received a $10,000 award from Association of Junior Leagues International for this project.
2004
Holiday Galleria began, which has since raised more than $654,000 for JLW community projects and training programs.
2003
Share A Story: A Junior League of Wichita and KPTS reading initiative was designed to break intergenerational illiteracy. Over the course of three years, volunteers read aloud weekly for a total of 63,000 volunteer hours, reaching 3,600 children in 72 Wichita public school pre-K classes. Junior League of Wichita volunteers also distributed more than 36,000 Clifford books to the children.
2000
Junior League of Wichita’s 75th Anniversary gift to the community was the Pride of the Plains exhibit at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The exhibit was a $1.5 million financial commitment and houses lions, meerkats and warthogs.
Junior League of Wichita established Kids’ Zoobilee, a collaboration with Sedgwick County Zoo benefiting the Pride of the Plains exhibit and Junior League of Wichita community projects that continued until 2010.
1995
Women of Great Taste cookbook won the regional Tabasco® Award for the Midwest the year it was published as well as an advertising award for the artist who designed it.
1990
Junior League of Wichita started the Komen Wichita Race for the Cure®, the first Komen co-ed race, with more than 1,400 participants, the largest first-year road race in Kansas history.
1985
As part of Junior League of Wichita’s 60th anniversary, the League presented to the city a new recreational facility at Sleepy Hollow Park, including two game field clusters, a jogging path and a children’s play area.
1983-84
Old Cowtown Museum benefited from Junior League of Wichita’s purchase of a microfilm reader, microfilms of 1870s Wichita newspapers and other equipment to assist with historical research.
Junior League of Wichita’s Witness Wichita Bus Tour, which started in 1972, gave 41 guided tours, 19 school tours, 19 convention and civic tours and three additional tours.
1982-83
Support for Roots and Wings began to assist with training of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for children in need of care. Some Junior League of Wichita members even became CASA volunteers.
1981-82
Kids on the Block, a creative hand puppet show educating audiences about the disabled child’s problems and feelings, was implemented.
Junior League of Wichita members supported Accent on Kids, Inc., in its efforts to establish a Ronald McDonald House in Wichita. Funding was obtained for two homes to be purchased and established as a home-away-from-home for families of critically ill children.
1977
Junior League of Wichita’s Child Advocacy Committee implemented the Pelican Project. Pierre the Pelican, a free monthly newsletter series, was designed to educate new mothers on the growth and development of the child and the parent. By 1980, 4,200 monthly newsletters were sent to new and expectant mothers.
1976
Junior League of Wichita celebrated its 50th anniversary by raising $75,471 for the funding of Heritage Square, a “park for the people.” For a number of years after, Junior League of Wichita sponsored a flower festival to mark the beginning of the Wichita River Festival.
1972-73
Junior League of Wichita increased the number of volunteers registered with the Volunteer Bureau (renamed the Volunteer Action Center) from 1,567 in 1970-71 to 2,459 volunteers with an estimated 206,520 hours of volunteer service per year provided to agencies in need.
Junior League of Wichita was instrumental in establishing the Wichita Youth Home, Inc., a residential home for 12- to 15-year-old boys by purchasing the home for the organization.
1972
Junior League of Wichita established the Ecology Study Committee, which eventually led to the creation of the Ecology Speakers Bureau.
1970
Junior League of Wichita was instrumental in the successful start-up of public television station KPTS, Channel 8.
1969
Junior League of Wichita, along with The Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, published an official centennial book, Wichita Century, depicting a pictorial history of Wichita from 1870 to 1970.
Junior League of Wichita began Juvenile Court Volunteer Program to work one-on-one with children on probation; by 1971, 150 volunteers had been trained and 135 children had been served.
1966
Junior League of Wichita helped promote a bond referendum and furnished volunteers and funds in connection with the proposed new zoo.
1950s
Members made and delivered more than 1,325,000 cancer bandages to local hospitals, the Wichita Public Health Nursing Association and the cancer office in the fight against cancer.
In the late 1950s, Members served as the first docents at Wichita Art Museum.
1952
Toy Lending Library in Southwest Community Center opened; fully staffed and funded by Junior League of Wichita volunteers. By 1956, the library served more than 400 children a week and had grown to three locations in Wichita.
1951
Community Arts Council formed; members served on boards of local art associations and provided countless volunteer hours to identify and meet needs of the Wichita arts community.
1940s
Members sold war stamps and bonds to the public, sewed and knitted for American Red Cross, and passed out doughnuts, coffee and smiles at Union Station.
1946
Puppet and marionette productions by members led to the beginning of Wichita Children’s Theater.
1943
Junior League of Wichita donated Wichita Day Nursery to Family Consultation Service.
1940
Junior League of Wichita started a dental clinic in conjunction with the Board of Education to assist children needing dental care. In 1945, the clinic and all of the equipment was turned over to Sedgwick County Board of Health.
1937
Marionette presentations were given to more than 4,350 Wichita children.
1933
Junior League of Wichita conducted swimming lessons for disabled children. The Town Talks luncheon lecture series was formed to address women’s issues and the state of our community. In 1961 Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at the series.
1932
Junior League Salvage Shop opened at 2142 N. Market. It was renamed The Thrift Shop in 1940 and Junior League Shop in the 1980s. The shop moved many times but always served the purpose of raising money for Junior League of Wichita while providing clothing at reasonable prices to the community.
1926
Junior League Day Nursery: Junior League of Wichita set out to build the “best planned, best equipped day nursery in the Southwest” after the Cleveland Avenue Day Nursery was condemned by city inspectors.
1925-26
Free Milk and Ice: Members provided more than 25 cars and drivers weekly to take nurses and social workers on their visits to the poor and ill, deliver free milk and ice to needy babies and drive mothers and children to doctors and clinics.
1925
Junior League of Wichita, Inc. was founded with 10 charter members as the 51st Junior League in the United States. Helen Brooks Hall (Mrs. Standish Hall) was the first president.