"Homeless To Harvard" Liz Murray To Be Guest Speaker At Metro JLLS Luncheon
A story so powerful it was made into a movie called “From Homeless to Harvard.” Liz Murray shares her inspirational story of growing up with two drug addicted parents who she began supporting at age 10. Homeless at age 15, the death of her mother was the wake-up call that made her break free of her circumstances and pursue a different path for her life. While living on the streets of New York, she completed and graduated from high school in just two years. Overcoming horrible odds, she won a full scholarship and was accepted to Harvard University. Murray’s story is described as an "extraordinarily inspiring journey.”
Murray will be the guest speaker at the 2010 Juliette Low Leadership Society Luncheon in Oklahoma City. In addition to speaking at the luncheon, she also will visit about 1,200 students in Metro Public Schools.
This year's luncheon will be Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. Honorary Chair for the luncheon is Mary Nichols.
A native of McAlester, Mary graduated a Phi Beta Kappa in 1937 and is member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Mary has said she has carried with her the experiences of being a Girl Scout as a young girl and believes in the leadership opportunities it continues to offer girls today.
Recognizing the importance of the arts in enriching young lives, she and her husband established the OU School of Dance first endowed faculty position. She is a charter member of the OU College of Fine Arts, World Literature Day, and the Bizzell Library. She is an honorary member of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and of Allied Arts.
Mary was the recipient of the Governor's Arts Award in 2001, and in 2004 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.
We are honored to have Mary Nichols as this year's Juliette Low Leadership Society Honorary Chair.
Event chairs are:
Luncheon Chairs -- Ann-Clore Duncan, Linda Whittington
Committee Chairs are:
Arrangements -- Karen Keith, Renee Knox, Kristi Oliver
Membership -- Lori Hill, Karen Luke
Printing and Invitations -- Anne Gray, Joan Maguire
Publicity -- Julie Tubb
Sponsorship -- Elaine DeGiusti, Julie Hall
“We are very excited that Liz Murray will be this year's speaker," said Ann-Clore Duncan. "Her story is one of great inspiration that we all can learn from. It is especially exciting that, while she is here, she will speak to many students served by Girl Scouts in the school program. Her story will show these young people that they can find their path to leadership, and that Girl Scouts is here to help them." |
|
Sponsorship Committee Update
A big thank you to all who have agreed to serve on the sponsorship committee.
The sponsorship mailing went out July 16-28. We are receiving responses already and the sponsorship committee will be making follow-up phone calls to remind and thank our sponsors in August.
As of Aug. 12, we have received $62,520 in fundraising for this event. |
|
How Our Members Are Doing
It has been six weeks since JLLS member Berta Faye Rex was in a house fire. She received burns to her throat but she has steadily improved.
According to her family's blog, she remains weak but is working on her stamina. Amazingly, she has no active medical problems at this time.
She has temporarily moved into a supported living retirement facility. She is expected to be living at this location for the next several months while her house is being rebuilt.
Her house received major smoke damage which required it to be demolished back to the brick shell and wood studs so that it could be rebuilt. But, her family says that the pig collection is just fine!
JLLS members are encouraged to write Berta Faye a note and send to:
Berta Faye Rex
10401 Vineyard Blvd., #208
OKC, OK 73120
Also, JLLS member Marion DeVore is recuperating after a bad fall. Actually, she fell once and broke her hip, and then fell again and broke her leg.
Get well wishes may be mailed to:
Marion DeVore
The Fountains at Canterbury
The Springs
1404 NW 122nd, #204
OKC, OK 73114
|
|
|
Fall Tea In Enid
Members of JLLS/Enid will host a Fall Tea on Nov. 5 in the home of Marcy Price. All members and a guest are inivted to attend the event.
Committee chair for the Tea is Pat Sage. Committee members are Cindy Carleson, Deborah Switzer, Kayte Anton, Gwen Pethoud, Marcy Price, Betty Shuttee, Jennifer Hemstreet, Carla Burdick and Eve Switzer.
You can find updated information on the group's Facebook page. Just go to www.facebook.org and do a search for Enid JLLS. |
|
Enid JLLS Plans March 5 Luncheon
The spring Enid JLLS Luncheon will be March 5, 2010, at the Cherokee Strip Conference Center. The guest speaker will be Louisa McCune-Elmore.
Elmore is editor in chief of Oklahoma Today. Before joining the magazine in November 1997, she was a contributing editor for The American Benefactor. She has also worked at Worth, George, Harper’s Magazine, Mirabella, and New York. In 1996, she was assistant editor on Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater, written by Harper’s Magazine contributor Gene Lyons. A former contributing editor to Green: The Magazine for Personal Finance, her articles also have appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Reader’s Digest, Worth, OKC Business, and World Literature Today.
Under her guidance, Oklahoma Today has won dozens of national and state awards, including the 2005 Magazine of the Year from the International Regional Magazine Association (circulation 40,000 and under) and the 2005 San Francisco Honorary Publications Award for Best Fiction ("Mister Bob"). The magazine has received dozens of IRMA awards under her leadership, including Gold for Special Issue in 2001, 2000, and 1999 and runner-up for Magazine of the Year in 1999.
Born and raised in Enid, Oklahoma, McCune-Elmore graduated from San Francisco State University in 1992. From September 1992 to April 1993, she worked for Evergreen Helicopters in West Africa on a project to eradicate river blindness, and from January 1994 to April 1995, she worked at the Enid News & Eagle as a general assignment feature writer. In 1994-95, she co-created Newsmakers: Live with the Editor, a television talk show produced by the Enid New & Eagle. A Renaissance Weekend and Oklahoma Symposium participant, she is the magazine’s spokesperson and has appeared on CNNfn, OETA’s Writing Out Loud, Flashpoint, Read All About It, Mayor’s Magazine, and several other state and local programs and newscasts.
Committee members are Kathy Eck, Lea Bain, Jennifer Hemstreet, Dolores McClure, Judy Brannon, Deborah Switzer, Carla Burdick, and Eve Switzer. |
|
JLLS Support Impacts Metro Membership
As a member of the metro JLLS group, you are supporting the works of older girls involved in Girl Scouts. This year has been a banner year for older girls, and for programs that support leadership opportunities for older girls.
The most prestigious honor for an older Girl Scout is earning the Gold Award. This year, the council honored 11 girls with this high honor. The projects these girls completed in order to receive the Gold Award has had great impact on the communities in which they live, but even on the world!
Projects include updating a science lab at a local school, creating a unique apparatus for children with diabetes, updating a family services facility, and educating the public on breast cancer.
Two of this year's recipients made changes internationally. One prepared care packages of toiletries and other items that were sent to childrean in a Peru orphanage, while another built a school for English learning in Cambodia.
Supporting older girls means you have made a difference in the lives of these girls, but also in the lives of countless thousands around the globe! |
|
Upcoming Dates
Sept. 23. 11:30- 1 p.m. -- JLLS Kick-off Luncheon for committee members hosted by Ann Johnstone
Sept. 30, 11:30-1 p.m. -- JLLS Sponsorship Committee Report-Out Luncheon for committee members.
Oct. 23, 6-9 p.m. -- Urban Campout "An Evening With Friends" at Harn Homestead.
Nov. 4 -- Enid JLLS Tea
Feb. 18, 11:30 a.m. -- OKC JLLS Luncheon
March 5, 11:30 a.m. -- Enid JLLS Luncheon.
Join Our New GS-West Alumnae Association
Be part of the future of the council by being part of our new GS-West Alumnae Association. It's easy to join -- just let us know you'd like to be involved! Contact alumnae@gswestok.org |
|
|
