Community Services
Since September 2023, I've had the privilege of leading a remarkable group of girl volunteers dedicated to community service. The opportunities to assist underserved populations in our community are abundant and ever-present. Alongside our ongoing meaningful volunteer initiatives, my primary focus has been on intentionally fostering leadership capabilities among the girls.
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Striking a balance between strategic thinking and active doing is paramount. To work hard and work smart, we recognize the importance of collective thinking, open communication and collaboration. Our approach involves facilitating conversations, strategic planning for meetings, proactively seeking new opportunities, and gaining insights from guest speakers. These practices are pivotal in equipping the girls with both the mindset and skills needed for effective leadership.
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This page will showcase some of our impactful community service work, as well as highlight the enjoyable and social aspects of our endeavors. If you're interested in collaborating with us, we warmly invite you to connect by completing the form on our contact page. Your involvement can contribute to the growth and success of our shared initiatives.
12/2024
Wreath Across America
Finally, in December, the Juniorettes finished the year off strong by writing Christmas Cards to military personnel, laying fresh wreaths through Wreaths Across America. The girls celebrated the holidays with a potluck and White Elephant Exchange to round out the amazing year!
11/2024
Thanksgiving Pie Fundrasing
In November, Dominion Juniorettes continued to support the Prince William County Foster Children Christmas Program in 2024 via Thanksgiving Pie Fundraising Event. The girls set a goal of raising $1000 with $600 to spend on gifts. The girls expanded ways to fundraise and also expanded the ways that donors could contribute by including donating gift items/gift cards in the wish list directly. As a result, a total of $1259 was raised. All gifts were delivered to PW County Social Services on December 2nd. County staff were extremely impressed by the club deliverables.
10/2024
Haymarket Food Pantry
In October, Dominion Juniorettes joined DWC woman club on Haymarket day to hand out flyers and to recruit members. The girls shared a booth with the DWC woman club and distributed club flyers to community members who passed by our table. The girls enjoyed the event very much as it demonstrated how Juniorettes club was being part of a larger community. The girls even talked about joining the parade next year!
9/2024
Haymarket Food Pantry
In September, Juniorettes had the first meeting of the year and discussed our master calendar for the whole year. At the end of the meeting, the girls had a draft master calendar with follow-up actions identified for each lead. With a detailed master calendar, the girls were confident about a well-planned year with meaningful events to serve the community. Towards the end of the month, Dominion Juniorettes served at Haymarket Food Pantry again.
8/2024
DVCC Community Clean-up
In August, Dominion Juniorettes decided to reach out to our community business owner of Cookies & Cream to seek potential fundraising and new members recruitment opportunities. Even though this event did not generate new members for the club, it was a great experience and bonding time for the club girls. The girls caught up on what happened in the summer and shared their plans for the new school year. The girls also learned that success may not come the first time and it takes persistence and proactive adjustments to plans based on lessons learned to be successful! The girls were encouraged and committed to try again next year!
5/2024
End-of-Year Celebration
In May, Juniorettes decided to have a potluck meal and an end-of-year celebration. Ten girls attended the event and all brought something to share as an appetite or a dessert. The girls celebrated four seniors and presented them a gift to thank their continued community service throughout the past few years. Our seniors shared their experience and lessons learned to their younger fellow club girls. We also talked about some new ideas that haven't been implemented yet. Everyone wishes each other a fun and meaningful summer.
4/2024
DVCC Community Clean-up
In April 20th, 2004, Dominion Juniorette girls volunteered to join DVCC earth day community clean-up initiative. After two hours of walking and picking, four large trash bags were filled full with all kinds of trash from plastic bags, papers, and food garbage. One group of girls noticed that there was a particularly larger amount of trash in the parking lot of Battlefield High School. They further discussed and identified factors contributing to this phenomenon. Follow-up actions that have been discussed by the girls include talking to the school admin about setting up trash cans in the parking lot. This potentially could be scaled up to the whole county as an improvement plan. Through this example, the girls start to understand the differences between “fix the students” approach vs. “fix the system” approach. System perspective and solutions are needed to create a more positive and larger scale of impact on our community.
3/2024
Haymarket Food Pantry & Prom Wishes
In March, Dominion Juniorettes girls served at the Haymarket Food Pantry as volunteers to help distribute food to people in need. On top of that, throughout the year, the club girls collected egg cartons and donated to the Haymarket Food Pantry on a monthly basis. In addition, Dominion Juniorettes continued Prom Wishes service. Through this event, the girls understand the underserved community could not afford expensive prom items but they all deserve a chance to shine just as the rest of the community. The girls talked about potentially serving on the actual event day to serve other girls to “shop” these organized items. It is always rewarding when seeing some of their volunteer time and effort could make others smile.
2/2024
Invited Guest Speaker
In February of 2024, Dominion Juniorettes piloted a new service called “A Night to Shine” organized by one of the local churches. The whole world synchronizes and lights up the hearts of our people with disabilities on a designated night each year. This is a great opportunity for club girls to engage and support people with special needs. The girls cheered our kings and queens as they walked through the red carpet.
1/2024
Invited Guest Speaker
In January of 2024, Dominion Juniorettes Club invited Gainesville district school board representatives to share what the school board does and how the school board works. Most importantly how students could engage themselves in public citizen comment time to have their voices heard. The girls discussed follow-up actions and the possibility of making a field trip to one of the school board citizen comment time.
12/17/2023
End-of-year Celebration and Gift Exchange
The girls had so much fun playing some game and did a white elephant gift exchange. It is a great opportunity to reflect back and plan forward. Look forward to a great year with the girls.
12/16/2023
Wreath Across Amercia
It was a beautiful day in December. There were a lot of people and we did a lot of steps to find a name without a wreath. In order not to make it as a check-off-the-list task, I tried to look up the name through google and got to know the person who gave up their lives a bit more. Across time and space, I hope the appreciation can be felt. I shared some afterthoughts in our reflections page.
End of November
Gifts Shopping and Delivery for Folster Children
11/21/2023
Thanksgiving Pie Fundraising and Distribution
We raised a total of over $900 through Thanksgiving pie fundraising with the support of our community. The $ raised will be used to buy Christmas gifts for folster children. Changing to a new vendor is a bold decision and action I took but glad we did it. The quality, the size and the price of the pies exceeded expectations. Still I was hoping for a more fun and meaningful fundraising event for the girls.
10/15/2023
Military Cards Making and Guest Speaker on Drug Abuse
It was a great pleasure to have Mr. Todd as our guest speaker to talk about drug abuse. The data and facts are appalling. Being informed of drug abuse related deaths will help with raising the awareness of the issue.
