Day In The Life – Done-in-a-Day Committee

By: Aida Latorre

The Junior League of Washington’s (JLW) Done-in-a-Day (DIAD) Committee brings members opportunities to volunteer with different organizations throughout the DC metro area. DIAD members come from varying backgrounds, and the flexibility of the committee allows its members to balance their involvement with JLW and their personal and professional lives.

Volunteers work with groups like the Capital Area Food Bank, DC Design House, American Heart Association, and the Rosemont Center. During volunteer shifts, members provide tutoring assistance, support 5K walks, serve as tour guides for various event centers, and work hands-on with children and young adults with physical or developmental disabilities.

I came to the JLW as a transfer from the JL in Denver where I served on the DIAD committee as well. Last year, I began my membership in JLW on the Transfer Committee and loved the many avenues where JLW is involved in the community and the varying opportunities for members to get involved within the League. It was difficult to decide on a placement because I loved providing tutoring assistance and providing support to different events like 5K runs and fundraising events.

When the time came to decide on a committee for this year, I had just started a new job that requires extensive travel, and I knew that DIAD would give me the chance to get involved with various organizations within the DC area but also would have the flexibility I’d need to get my membership points completed with my new hectic schedule.

I have loved volunteering as a member of DIAD. I have volunteered on a few occasions with Washington School for Girls where I was paired up with a student (usually sixth or seventh grade) and assisted the student with their language arts and/or reading lessons. With the American Kidney Fund, I volunteered at the “Get Social” kiosk that promoted attendees get preventative kidney screening.

Recently I volunteered at the Rosemont Center’s Fall Fiesta where I provided logistical support for their event. During the event, I was able to meet some great leaders in the community and helped support a school that provides early childhood education and family support programs in a bilingual setting. I look forward to continuing my involvement with the DIAD Committee and continuing to make a difference within the DC community.

To request short-term volunteers from our Done-in-a-Day Committee, please click here.

Thanks for Giving to the Junior League of Washington

This Thanksgiving, as you reflect on all of the blessings in your life, we want to thank you, our hard-working volunteers, for all you do to support the Junior League of Washington (JLW) and its community partners.

This year already, you have put in nearly 5,000 volunteer hours at our community partners, at flagship events like the Library of Congress’s National Book Festival, and at fundraisers like Holiday Shops – which support our grant programs that help us give back to literacy-focused programs and our 20+ community partners in the DC area.

In the spirit of the holiday, we wanted to take this opportunity to share with you today a few of the “thanks” we have received from our community partners and grant recipients this year – including the Washington School for Girls, the Literacy Lab, and the Library of Congress.

We want to show you that your work with the Junior League of Washington means something.

You are encouraging thousands of book fans to keep reading at the Library of Congress’s National Book Festival. Our partnership with the Library of Congress spans 14 years, and there’s a good reason why Look no further than book-signing lines over 1,000 people long – which JLW volunteers help manage – to see how this annual festival connects people young and old with the power of books.

You are sparking a life-long love of learning in young girls at the Washington School for Girls. Our three-year Targeted Grant helps this all-scholarship, all-girls, independent Catholic school expand to including even more students from third through eighth grade, starting them through their curriculum at a younger age and helping them transition from elementary to middle school.

You are equipping low-income students with the literacy tools s/he needs to succeed and thrive. Our Community Partner Grant helps the Literacy Lab place well-trained tutors in early childhood centers, schools, and homeless shelters full-time to make sure students ages three to third grade don’t fall behind in the literacy skills they need to succeed in school and later in life.

And you are having a real, profound effect on countless lives across the Washington, DC, area.

Thank you for giving your time to be a part of this organization.

Read on to see what our donations of volunteer time and grant dollars mean to our community partners.

Thank you very much for the incredibly generous donation that arrived in yesterday's mail. We were thrilled to be honored as the JLW's Community Placement of the Year and realize that gifts from the JLW are particularly precious since you raise them directly from your members. We are fortunate to be able to partner with such a fantastic organization, and I would appreciate it if you could please relay my thanks to the League.
With gratitude,
Tom
The Literacy Lab

I love my school because they push you to do better: WSG makes you want to do better: At WSG, you have so much fun that the school year goes by really fast. WSG is a wonderful school.
Sincerely,
Kovenant
Washington School for Girls

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Finally, we’d be all the more thankful if you would consider making the Junior League of Washington a part of your year-end giving by contributing to the League this Giving Tuesday, on November 29, 2016. Click here to learn all the ways you can support the League – as an individual donor, through purchases on Amazon Smile, or through corporate or foundation giving.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!