A Letter from the President
My name is Kimberly Zehnder, and it is an honor to have the ability to serve all of you as your President of the Junior League of the Great Lakes Bay Region for the 2023-24 league year and continue our organizations remarkable 90th year legacy of service to our community.
Thank you for being with us on this journey forward! All of you have joined the league for different reasons. Some of you join to meet new people, to volunteer and make a difference in your community, or maybe to grow and become a leader with the skills in the training that we offer. Whatever that reason might be, we are happy to have you with us and hope that your experience will be rewarding and impactful for many years to come.
I would like to thank all of you for your involvement in the JLGLBR and your unwavering commitment to our community. Without your support, volunteerism, and participation, programs like the Saginaw Community Foundation, Child Abuse and Neglect Council, Establishment of the First Ward community center and Hospitality House, to name a few, as there are so many others that might not exist in our community without your help. There are also countless other organizations that JLGLBR has helped, either with training our members how to lead so they become a leader and impact our community in some way, or with financial support that enabled them to thrive.
This year marks our first year with the new “Issue Based Community Focus” (IBCI) - Food Insecurities. We are looking forward to seeing the ideas and community impact that will begin developing out of this new focus area in the future from both active and sustaining members.
Our sustainers are a big piece of the puzzle to the growth of our league. They have created a legacy with their knowledge, skills, and effort to make this league amazing. They can help us learn and grow from their wisdom, and the ties that currently still connect them to our community. I highly encourage sustainers that want to help us along the way, to attend our GMMs and see what we are doing, and how they can help.
My theme for us this year is “Bridging the Gap”.
Bridge the gap between all the strengths and skills that our sustainers have and can share with us to help us along the way. Bridge the gap between each other by meeting people where they are, and with the views, strengths, and skills that they each bring to the table. Bridge the gap between what the community needs are, and what we can do as a group to help fill the gap. Embrace the differences and seize the knowledge that we all come with individually, to make us stronger as a group.
It is an honor to serve the Junior League of the Great Lakes Bay Region, and to serve you. Thank you all for your service, dedication, professionalism, and commitment to our great league.
Yours in Service,