The Junior League of Birmingham (JLB) is presenting its 100 Acts of Service Campaign throughout February. The mission of the initiative is to honor the life of Junior League Community Vice President Lee Ann Petty, who passed away Dec. 30, 2020. As Petty was dedicated to a life of service to her community and to others, the JLB is demonstrating their love for her and for Birmingham through promoting and providing outlets for community service.
Inspired by an initiative being built by Petty herself, the JLB is coordinating service opportunities for not only Junior League members but the Birmingham community at large. The service areas encompass the JLB’s four impact areas: Education & Culture, Economic Security & Financial Stability, Health & Wellness and Safety & Crisis.
“Lee Ann was the epitome of servant leadership and demonstrated her love for Birmingham through acts of community service whether planting flowers in front of the Ronald McDonald House, serving a meal at Firehouse Shelter, or through her service on numerous nonprofit boards in town. She inspired us to serve, and I know her story shared through 100 Acts of Service will do the same for others,” said Toni Leeth, JLB president. “It’s our privilege to take the project she put her heart behind and use it as a platform to honor her legacy and the impact of the Junior League through service.”
Petty served the JLB for nine years in various leadership roles - giving countless hours of dedicated service and leadership to the organization. In her role as Community Vice President, Petty connected with each of the JLB’s more than 30 agency partners to offer support and reimagine projects in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly 650 volunteers to safely deliver meaningful programs in each of the JLB’s service impact areas.
Along with her Role as Vice President and Volunteer Services Coordinator at Regions Bank and service to the JLB, Petty was also on the Board of the Firehouse Shelter, the Advisory Board of the Alabama Governor’s School, the Finance Committee for Dawson Memorial Church and served as Roundtable Past President for the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama - truly spreading her heart of service to each area of the Birmingham community that she could touch.
Current service opportunities for the 100 Acts of Service initiative can be found below and will be updated as new opportunities are added:
Tackle Food Insecurity with JLB and Youth Towers:
The JLB is collecting shelf-stable food for Youth Towers, a local non-profit supporting homeless and high risk youth ages 19-26. Purchase items from the Amazon wish list and have it shipped directly to the JLB, or bring your donation to the JLB between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Throughout February, the JLB is collecting pantry goods (small bags of sugar and flour, cooking oil, peanut butter), individual snacks (crackers, breakfast bars, fruit bars), dry goods (pasta, noodles), and snap-top non-perishable foods (soup, canned meats, fruit, vegetables). The link for the Amazon wish list can be found here.
Help Fight COVID-19 with JLB and UAB:
The JLB is organizing volunteers to help at the community vaccination sites in Jefferson County. Volunteers work outside in 5-hour shifts as runners, vaccine staff assistants and helping with registration. The schedule is updated weekly, so if all slots are full, patrons can check back at the end of each week. The link to Sign Up Genius can be found here.
Other community service opportunities include providing a meal at Firehouse Shelter with Firehouse Ministries, Stocking the Shelves with a purchase from the Pathways Shelter Amazon wish list, volunteering to be a mentor for one hour each week through East Lake Initiative, volunteering to help with a restoration project to restore and revitalize indoor or outdoor areas of the Foundry Ministries property and more.
With a goal to inspire the community to “Live Like Lee Ann,” the JLB hopes that those in the community would roll up their sleeves like Lee Ann would do and get involved in giving back to their city and truly building a better Birmingham. The JLB encourages using hashtags, #100Acts4LeeAnn and #LiveLikeLeeAnn to show your support and participation.
With nearly 2,200 members providing 55,000-plus volunteer hours annually across 40 community projects and $1M in direct funding to the Birmingham community, the JLB’s mission is to promote volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.
For more information on 100 Acts of Service or the Junior League of Birmingham, visit jlbonline.com/community-services/100-acts-of-service.
About The Junior League of Birmingham
The Junior League of Birmingham, Alabama, Inc. is an organization of more than 2,200 women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The organization focuses on four main impact areas: Education, Financial Stability, Health and Safety and Crisis Intervention. Members boast 55,000-plus volunteer hours annually across 40 community projects, and the organization provides $1M in direct funding to the Birmingham community. For more information, please visit https://www.jlbonline.com/.
