By: Allison Gallaspy

Since its founding in 1923, the Junior League of Greater New Haven has sought to effect positive change in the Greater New Haven community by promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and supporting the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. As the League prepares for its Centennial Anniversary, we celebrate our members and share their incredible stories, recognizing how each individual story makes up that of the League as a whole.

Damaris Clark-Spear

Damaris Clark-Spear works in PR when she’s not pursuing her passions of yoga, Pilates, hiking, and being outdoors– preferably at the beach. She joined the Junior League of Greater New Haven in 2018 to meet like-minded women and give back to her community in a more consistent way. She credits her involvement with JLGNH for giving her more opportunities to navigate challenging situations and disagreements to grow personally.

Damaris has previously served in JLGNH leadership positions as the Career Development co-chair and Communications Council Director. She says that these roles have given her more perspective on how to be more creative and flexible, while she hopes her continued involvement will allow her to learn more roles outside her comfort zone.

One of her favorite projects to work on was the Prom Dress Shop because it made her feel happy to be a member of the League. “It was amazing to see what a difference it made to the kids to have that experience and the pressure that it took off the parents to not have to spend that huge amount of money on prom.”

She appreciates the challenges the JLGNH Board has faced since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and say they have been very creative when rising to meet them. But Damaris is probably not surprised by that creative problem solving. To her, being a member of the Junior League means, “open-mindedness and being willing to help others.”

By: Allison Gallaspy

Since its founding in 1923, the Junior League of Greater New Haven has sought to effect positive change in the Greater New Haven community by promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and supporting the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. As the League prepares for its Centennial Anniversary, we celebrate our members and share their incredible stories, recognizing how each individual story makes up that of the League as a whole.

Amy

Amy C. joined the Junior League of Greater New Haven in 2018 and took the leap to leadership this year. Amy is an institutional investor by trade who also enjoys playing tennis, traveling, and quality time with her husband and two dogs. She loves working with numbers, so she was happy to become the League’s Finance Director for the 2021-22 League Year.

She has learned a lot as Finance Director, including what it takes to run a nonprofit like the League, how the League is managed, and gained insight into other executive board positions within the League. Amy says, “what has truly been incredible is the team of other board members who have been so willing to help me out along the way!”

Amy values her experience with JLGNH for connecting her to a community of women who share a common mission, sense of community, and spirit of voluntarism. “We all have different backgrounds,” she says, “but we’re motivated to give back to others.” Her favorite community project shows that sense of community in action -- with New Haven Reads, where after learning about the literacy project, the League collected over 120 books during a drive benefiting the organization. “It was wonderful to be part of the team that put that effort together from start to finish.”

Dear Reader,

While the 2021-2022 League year continued to pose challenges in creating deep and engaging connections with the community, our members never faltered on their focus of providing support to women and children, specifically around literacy, health and food insecurity.

We accomplished what we set out to do! Our League members donated diapers and we both collected and read books to children in need. We continued to show that we care about children's well-being when we participated in Cardz for Kids, and we showed compassion with our Hearts of Hope.

We addressed women's health issues when we walked to bring awareness and raise funds for cancer and heart disease research, the two leading causes of death for women in the United States (1). In addition, we have acknowledged that the mental health crisis has heightened during the past few years and observed Mental Health Awareness Month in May and offering Mental Health First Aid training to our members to address what mental distress looks like and how to help someone in need.

Throughout the year we’ve continued to make Diversity, Equity & Inclusion a critical part of how we lead. Dr. TLC shared insights on racism and reminded us that we all share in the responsibility to be the change today that we want to see tomorrow. And we continued to honor those that came before us by participating in the MLK virtual series in January, as well as the Women United Celebration in February.

In addition to the work done with our DIAD programming, the League awarded two deserving women with the annual High School Voluntarism Award. All four finalists were exceptional candidates, and we were pleased to recognize two deserving students. 

Lastly, we connected our focus areas to the inaugural Little Black Dress Initiative. This campaign raised awareness about poverty and food insecurity in our community via social media and more than $5,000 for League programming through peer-to-peer fundraising efforts. All in all, we had a successful year providing our League members with a mixture of DIADs that aligned with our focus areas and mission, supporting the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

Sincerely,

Gerri Lyons Bell

(1) CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/women/lcod/2017/all-races-origins/index.htm

By: Allison Gallaspy

Since its founding in 1923, the Junior League of Greater New Haven has sought to effect positive change in the Greater New Haven community by promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and supporting the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. As the League prepares for its Centennial Anniversary, we celebrate our members and share their incredible stories, recognizing how each individual story makes up that of the League as a whole.

Maeghan Beahm

Maeghan Beahm has a passion for the Junior League that is immediately apparent when she talks about her experience. A member of the Junior League since 2015, she has held leadership positions in the Junior League of Charlotte and is currently pulling double duty as the Director of Junior League of Greater New Haven’s Membership Council and Communications Council. She is well on her way to achieving her goal of, “working to always make us a stronger organization of women working toward fulfilling our mission.”

Ms. Beahm points to the JLC Wearhouse in Charlotte as a highlight of her League experience and one where she could directly worked in the community. All her other League placements have been in-league, working to strengthen the League itself. She says, “I also enjoy contradicting the stereotypes many people have about the League. The Junior League as a whole has done so many wonderful things for our communities across the globe, and I am proud to be part of such an important group of women…I hope that all my time and efforts helps us to grow and develop as women leaders in the League and in our community.”

Maeghan transferred to the JLGNH where she was recognized for her contributions to the provisional training program with the 2020-2021’s In-League Award. Ms. Beahm was attracted to membership in the Junior League as an opportunity to develop personal leadership skills while also giving back to her local community. As a stay at home mom who relocates often as a military spouse, Maeghan continues to value the Junior League for the opportunity to keep her career skills in education and nonprofit management sharp serving the League and a reliable instant community in new locales. “Moving to a new area, one thing I knew for certain was that I could transfer my membership with the Junior League and I would have 1) a built-in group of women with whom I could become friends and 2) an immediate opportunity to learn about my new home/community.”