President's Message
May 2008 Installation Address
Robin McLaurin, President 2008-2009

We have a brand new club year ahead. We have new members, new ladies on Board and a host of new ideas for projects. So let’s create a new movie together. Great movies all have similar elements: they have to start with a good script (Juniors has a perfect script already written), and we did not even need to call on Ben Affleck and Matt Damon!  A little town called Charlotte is the setting for our film. 

This is a beautiful city but, sometimes, even the best of towns needs help. Scene 1 shows Juniors on a Shoe Closet trip helping eager kids pick out their first pair of new shoes. In 2007, we provided over 200 pairs of shoes and socks to needy children in our community. Let’s make sure in our new movie we strive to provide more. 

Cut to Scene 2: Juniors are smiling, giving encouraging words and serving lemonade at St. Peter’s Soup Kitchen. At St. Peter’s, we are not just serving lemonade to over 100 homeless men, women and children; we are showing that we care enough to spend time on a Saturday to smile, chat and pour something with a bit more flavor into these individuals' life.

Scene 3 depicts a sunny afternoon where the ladies of Dove’s Nest are creating beautiful jewelry next to Juniors. At Dove’s Nest, we are personally touching the lives of 10 women once a month.  These ladies need the time to just be girls, chatting with other girls and healing. 

Scene 4: a beautiful spring day and Juniors are cheering on one of the best groups of young girls out there – Girls on the Run.  How inspiring to play a role in the life of preteen girls as they work to develop self-respect and a healthy lifestyle.

Scene after scene, Juniors are out there, in Charlotte, educating, serving, working and playing to make this city a better place. There is even a rather dramatic scene where these ladies are working hard at Preview Night for the Southern Christmas Show as their fundraiser. They are running around the show floor, serving great food, entertaining guests, representing the Club and, best of all, making a ton of money for all their upcoming volunteer projects. 

OK – so we have a beautiful location and a great script. And we saw during installation that we have a superb crew that will make sure the movie stays on time and on budget. But what is the final element all good movies must have? A great cast! 

Juniors, you are that academy award-winning cast. The best script isn’t worth the paper it is written on if you don’t have the right passionate and dedicated cast. I know we have the right cast, right here, right now. However, to make our movie bigger and better, we can always use more actors to play the parts. We need to focus this year on recruiting. I truly feel that it will only benefit us to have more hands to make light the work we do. If we can all make it our goal to invite at least one person to a project, we will see a great start to growth for our Club.  

This year is our chance to make a new movie. Let’s turn some of the dramas in Charlotte into feel-good films of the year. All we need is this great cast, our script and the willingness to act our hearts out for our community. Juniors: Lights! Camera! Volunteer!

Last updated: 08/16/08