Junior Auxiliary of Winona, serving Carroll and Montgomery counties, attended the National Association of Junior Auxiliaries, Inc. (NAJA) Area Education Conference (AEC), the annual professional conference and awards banquet this weekend in Memphis, Tenn. We are tickled to announce that NAJA awarded us with four awards this weekend for our work this past year! JA of Winona was awarded:
Martha Wise Outstanding Existing project award for our Angel Tree project where we provided Christmas to children in our area.
Public Relations Finance award for our use of media to promote our Charity Ball, the annual children’s charity event fundraiser that highlights our Crown Club.
Outstanding Crown Club for overall excellence through service in Crown Club, our service charity for ninth and tenth grade girls.
President’s Award for overcoming the obstacle of the tornado of 2023 in which we quickly shifted from our Charity Ball to charity.
We thank our community for your support in our efforts this year. What we do is absolutely not about awards or recognition, but we wanted to share with all of you what all we accomplished alongside your efforts this year. Thank you for loving and supporting JA of Winona.
In addition to the awards, JA of Winona took an active role in AEC by serving as a host chapter and participating in bookselling for the guest speaker, Jana Kramer. Some of our ladies also presented in sessions to help guide other chapters in their learning and growing just as we were impacted by sister chapters and leaders:
President, Amy Land, and Vice President, Haley Denoon, presented “Leading the Royal Court: Being a Leader Your Team WANTS to Follow” to help chapters understand and embrace their leadership styles in order to best lead their chapters.
Crown Club Chair, Taffi Bennett, participated in a panel that led discussion of membership recruitment, retention, and reengagement in “Membership Rocks.” This session used real conversations to guide chapters to better membership practices while validating current ones. Angel Tree Chair, Rebekah Jenkins, and Provisional Member, Adrienne Greenlee, presented our “Secret Penpal” project in the AEC Project Theater as one of eight chapters invited to share a stand-out project for other chapters to see. Kristin Chesteen, Kelcy Lancaster, Haley DeNoon, Taffi Bennett, and Amy Land ran the book table throughout the weekend. All 13 of our ladies represented us well at the chapter and national level, carrying themselves with kindness, professionalism, and respect.
While JA of Winona has been recognized through several awards this year, the President’s Award deserves its very own recognition. Out of 100 chapters, JA of Winona was the only one chosen as the 2023-2024 recipient of the President’s Award. This award goes to a chapter that has overcome a great obstacle or adversity throughout their year yet continued to serve their community.
With a tearful standing ovation for its acceptance, it is clear that the tornado of spring 2023 did more than just take away material things from our community, but it brought unity in our chapter and those we serve, and it brought inspiration to those who watched from the shadows and social media posts throughout our national association. While we never really realized our reach, Past President of NAJA, Noel Smith-Howe told us that she watched us jump to action, and when their community was hit just days after ours she told her people, “If JA of Winona can do it, we can do it too,” and they went to work.
While this event took our Charity Ball, our annual children’s charity event that funds our year of service, it provided an opportunity for true charity amidst a tragedy, and while we hope we never have to face this again in our community, it provided an incredible opportunity to stretch how we use our hands and our hearts in our service.
