The Junior League of Monmouth County (JLMC) has been named as a Charity Partner for the Spring Lake 5 Mile Run. Shannon Dolan is participating in the 2014 Spring Lake Five Mile Run to raise money to support the programming of the JLMC. Sponsor Shannon in her goal to raise at least $750 in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the JLMC.
An active JLMC member for five years, Shannon talks about Volunteerism and how JLMC makes a difference:
“No, it’s not a typo… voluntarism is actually a word, and it means in large part the same thing as volunteerism. According to Miriam-Webster it means:
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the principle or system of doing something by or relying on voluntary action or volunteers.
Actually Miriam-Webster defines volunteerism with one word… voluntarism. Anyway, why the diction lesson, you ask? Because it is meaningful in understanding why organizations like the Junior League of Monmouth County are important, for education and training. The mission of the Junior League is to promote voluntarism, develop the potential of women and to improve communities. Before I joined the JLMC, I had never even heard the word voluntarism, and yet have been a volunteer almost my entire life.
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As a young girl, my mom would bring me to the “old folks home” to play bingo with the residents. I grew up in a family with many great-aunts and uncles and so being around the elderly even at a young age wasn’t uncomfortable for me, and I really enjoyed my time playing bingo. Throughout most of elementary school you would find me on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings at The Orange County Home and Infirmary in Goshen, NY.
My volunteering transitioned from bingo to supporting other local, town and school-related functions and fundraisers. And in college, I joined the Delta Gamma Fraternity where our philanthropy was and is focused around service for sight, trying to stop blindness before it starts. In addition to work at the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind in Washington, DC, we did a lot of other little projects like painting local schools, reading programs, and such.
As an adult living in NYC, I joined NYCares, and planted trees, and cleaned parks like Riverside Park and Central Park. I also tutored high school students in East Harlem on Saturday mornings at the LaGuardia House, under the SCAN “Reach for the Stars” program. When I moved out of NYC, down to Sea Girt, I was traveling a lot for work and knew I couldn’t commit to every Saturday morning or Tuesday night anymore, I was looking for more flexibility in my volunteer schedule.
I knew an organization like the Junior League would have many opportunities for me to give back to the community, and would offer the flexibility I needed and wanted. Sure enough there is one, the JLMC headquartered in Rumson with membership across Monmouth County and even into Ocean County.
As a League member, I have been a part of many community projects, from working with residents at transitional housing facilities like Manna House, and Catholic Charities, to helping out on human trafficking projects, Coastal Habitat for Humanity projects in the rebuilding effort post-Sandy and more recently young girl empowerment programs like Girls on the Run, along with countless supply drives like diapers and school supplies.
All the while I was thinking I was volunteering, and I was, but I was doing it voluntarily. And so when I started to take leadership positions within the JLMC and really started to think about, and process our mission – to promote voluntarism, develop the potential of women, and improve communities… that word voluntarism struck me, and I have now added it to my vocabulary.
It is a small point, and while seemingly insignificant, nonetheless meaningful, because the JLMC has in some part completed its mission with me. It has promoted voluntarism, quite literally into my vocabulary, it has developed my potential as a community leader - I am currently the Marketing Director for the League and slated to be the President-Elect next League year, and it has certainly improved the community in which I live.
My voluntary journey is not over, nor do I want it to be. I anticipate holding other leadership positions in other non-profits because of the knowledge and confidence I have gained through my JLMC experience and training. But more importantly, it is incumbent upon me to further the mission of the JLMC by paying it forward and training other women to become strong community leaders. So if you want to voluntarily improve your community, develop your potential as a leader, and or promote voluntarism, check out the JLMC to find out how you can become a member and/or support our mission.”
-Shannon Dolan
Current JLMC Marketing Director and next JLMC President-Elect
Senior Vice President Product Management & Strategy at CA Technologies
The Junior League of Monmouth County (JLMC) membership has a wide range of backgrounds, interests and professional pursuits. They all share an interest in and a commitment to voluntarism. Each member has her own personal story of how the JLMC has made a difference. The JLMC is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving our community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The JLMC focuses on facilitating the empowerment of girls to become confident women.
