La Cañada Juniors Focus Philanthropy on Women and Children

Fresh from a highly successful membership drive, the La Cañada Junior Women’s Club has made a strong start to its 2006-07 season of philanthropy, newly focusing its efforts on two charities for a more meaningful impact.

“To provide financial and service based support to women and children in need” is the stated mission of the Juniors. “We have always concentrated mostly on helping women and children’s groups in our area,” said Jo-Lynn Battany, a vice president of the club. “This year we have voted to help Para Los Niños, a Los Angeles-based, nonprofit family service organization, and Haven House, a Pasadena women’s shelter.” The Juniors will raise money for both organizations at two major upcoming events — a cocktail party and auction Feb. 2 at the Rococo Room at Cafe Santorini in Old Town Pasadena, and a dinner dance scheduled for May.

Para Los Niños opened in 1980, after a series of Los Angeles Times articles highlighted the plight of hundreds of children left in hotel rooms or on Skid Row streets while their parents worked. Today it serves more than 3,000 Southern California children and youths, providing day care, after-school programs, meals, and access to healthcare and psychological therapy. “Their award-winning programs give results, and we are so excited to be working with them,” said Battany.

Haven House, founded in 1964, provides a home for battered women and their children (including older teenage sons, whom not all shelters are equipped to house) in their time of need. “From the moment they step in the home,” noted Battany, “they are greeted with love and compassion, and lots of help and guidance.”

In addition to the big fundraisers, Juniors members are also doing smaller, hands-on projects designed to meet specific needs. “Rather than just ‘writing a check,’ we have streamlined our service projects toward helping these groups achieve their goals,” said Battany. For Para los Niños, the Juniors have already mounted a successful children’s book drive in coordination with Usborne Books, and plan a teen gift drive in December. For Haven House, the club will focus on providing basic necessities such as school supplies and uniforms, as well as holiday gifts (a group of new Juniors recruits recently gathered to create handmade blankets for the women and children).

Other Juniors programs include “Meals on Heels,” a new initiative that every month brings members together to prepare lunches for homeless women and children served by the Union Station Foundation of Pasadena. In spring, there’s the signature Juniors Preschool Eye Screening, which tests for amblyopia, or lazy eye, in children attending several La Cañada preschools.

The Miss La Cañada Flintridge contest, a local tradition cosponsored by the Juniors with the LCF Chamber of Commerce, drew a record 82 applications for the 2007 royal court, to be announced at the Festival in Lights celebration Dec. 7.

More partnering with local businesses is another Juniors goal, according to Nancy Hempstead, president of the group: “La Canada businesses have such a strong sense of community. We think it’s a natural evolution for our club to develop stronger business partnerships. The success this year of the Miss La Cañada Flintridge contest is a great example — our club works closely with the chamber to manage the entire process, while providing a great opportunity for businesses that support the chamber to give back to the community.”

Hempstead added, “I am so pleased with the new direction and all the great projects our club is accomplishing this year. I am truly honored to be working with such a wonderful group of women.”