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Saturday, February 27, 2010 @ 7pm

Junior Auxiliary of McMinnville will present

The Crown Jewels Art Gala

a formal fundraising event at the McMinnville Country Club

attendees will enjoy heavy hors d'oeuvres, a live band and a silent auction featuring art work by local children.

Tickets are $100 a couple ($50 a person)

and are currently available at Gary's on South High Street, from any active or provisional Junior Auxiliary member, or by contacting project chair person Kelly Wood at 808-1521 or jamcminnville@yahoo.com.

All proceeds will go support the many service projects of Junior Auxiliary of McMinnville.

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few pictures from our annual J.A. Christmas Party. We all had so much fun eating, laughing, sharing recipes, talking, bonding and looking at all the pretty ornaments during the "Dirty Santa" gift swap! Laura and Kevin Dunlap have a beautiful home and we are so grateful to them for allowing us to come together there to celebrate the season! Thanks to everyone who took a night out of their busy holiday schedule to spend a night with "the girls" and to those of you who couldn't make it this year, WE MISSED YOU!

During the party Sheila Boyd gave out an prize to the member who got the most donations during our luminaries project this year. Congratulations to Rosie Shirley (below)! Thanks to all members who donated gifts for the prize.

Near the end of the night Kevin came home with the kids and headed upstairs to put them to bed. Little Jackson snuck back downstairs to play on his tricycle! He was so cute and having so much fun "sneaking" around...I couldn't help but capture it on film!

Merry Christmas Everyone from Junior Auxiliary of McMinnville!

J.A. Christmas Party 2008

This year's Christmas Party is being hosted by Laura Dunlap at her home on December 16th at 6 pm.

All members are invited - that means Active, Provisional, Associate and Life Members. Everyone attending just needs to bring a finger food and an ornament for the "Dirty Santa" gift exchange!

Sheila Boyd will also be presenting the top "luminaries" seller with a prize basket...just in time for Christmas!

Contact Laura Dunlap for directions to her home.

We'll see you there!

Christmas in the Park 2008 Memories

Our 23rd annual Christmas in the Park was a big success. It's such a great opportunity for the entire community to come together for a free night of family fun...and there were a lot of people out to enjoy the night!

We began the evening with a welcome from President Natalie Miller and a mini-ceremony honoring some of the kids from our "Healthy Children, Healthy Futures" project (Lauren Patterson, Jackson Dunlap, Morgan Mingle and Andy Dunn were there....our prayers are with Presley Slatton who could not attend).

Then the luminaries were lit all around the stage and the names on them were read. A big THANK YOU goes out to Miss Sheila Boyd who organized the whole luminaries project...great job Sheila!

In addition to Santa Claus, there were several other Christmas characters in attendance...they provided lots of photo opportunities and handed out candy to the kids! Thanks to member M.A. Higgs and her family for helping us out with that!

After having their picture taken with Santa Claus - kids were able to go and make frames to display them in. Junior Auxiliary members were on hand to help with this craft.

Facepainting is always a favorite for the kids and there was a line wrapped around the Regions building for most of the evening! Even without white paint (oops!) our "artists" for the evening made all of the kids happy with snowmen, crosses, Christmas trees, snowflakes and other Christmas-y things!

In addition to the Cider House, craft table and facepainting...Regions Bank provided a warm oasis out of the cold for many attendees!

The Cider House is a favorite tradition for Christmas in the Park and every year it is ran by the year's provisional members. The girls did a great job this year giving out cookies and smiles and keeping the cider flowing!

Choirs from churches and schools from all around the community as well as a few musicians and singers performed from the stage...Christmas carols and music filled the air! Thanks to everyone who provided their talents for the evening!

Here are members Brooke Totherow and Randi Fuston taking a quick hot chocolate break in between acts on the stage...

A group from Covenant Fellowship Church provided a living nativity scene to remind everyone the real reason for the season! Thanks Covenant!

This was our first year to not use Polaroid film for the free Santa Pictures...we used memory cards and color photo printers to get the photos out this year! It was hard work but the pictures turned out so great!

Thanks to everyone who came out! Thanks also to our sponsors for the event...all of the support really makes the night special!

Christmas in the Park - December 2nd

Come out and see us at Christmas in the Park. It's shaping up to be a really exciting event with several new activities planned to go along with the classic favorites!

Show up a little early to see the first ever Christmas in the Park Luminary Lighting Ceremony..I think it will end up being a new tradition for our community!

Stephanie Ward, our Coats for the Community chairperson, is planning to set up a coat giveaway booth during the event. We think this will be a good opportunity for folks that didn't make it out to the mall in October who need coats now that it has gotten colder outside.

Play Day at Jungle Jym

Here are a few pictures from our play date with some of the kids from our "Healthy Children - Healthy Futures" project and some of our members' kids too!

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The weather was great...not too hot and not too cold. It was a fun afternoon with pizza, juice boxes, facepainting, fingerpaints and lots and lots of playing! We can't wait to do something like this again very soon!

Welcome Provisionals!

We are pleased to announce that all of this year's proposed Provisional members were voted into the club at our September general meeting and were welcomed at our October general meeting with a social held in their honor!

We'd like to welcome the following ladies into our Junior Auxiliary family:
-Marcy Bolding
-Kimberly Chisam
-Nicole Chisam
-Tiffany Gannon
-Lacey Jones
-Tiffany Keeton
Ashley Moore
-Pamela Shelton
-Rosie Shirley
-Veronica Stepien
-Anne Vance
-Kelly Wood

From their applications we learned that they are a very hard-working, passionate and dedicated group of women and we're very excited to have them join our group!

We hope that in the next few months that they take opportunities to get to know the other members of the club and that they learn a great deal about J.A. and what this organization is all about. The work that we do is not always easy but it's always rewarding and we're happy to have these ladies to join our cause!

Member Appreciation Brunch Recap

Our Member Appreciation Brunch was a success!

It was open to all active, associate and life members and it was really a great opportunity for us to spend a little “off-duty” time together, getting to know each other a little better, sharing individual and group accomplishments, welcoming new Active members, celebrating our Associate and Life members and, of course, giving out some awards!

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Those award winners were:

• Jennifer Brooks - Member of the Year
• Jamye Jaco - Executive Award for Service
• Pam Cantrell - The Presidents Award for Participation and Enthusiasm

The awards say it all! Congratulations ladies!

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Members that were granted Active status were:

• Cole Black
• Lori Womack
• Jennifer McBride
• Carly Bruce
• Allison Tupper
• Danielle Miller
• Christie Gilispie
• Jessica Higgins
• Aimee Hale

Congratulations Ladies! We're so excited to have you in the club - You were such an enthusiastic Provisional Class and we're so excited to see what you'll do now as Active Members!

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Members whose status changed from Active to Associate (meaning they served the equivalent of 1 Provisional year and 5 Active years in J.A.) were:

• Jennifer Brooks
• Pam Cantrell
• Joyce Britton
• Tina Smith
• Dana Roller
• Toree Craven

Congratulations to y'all too! Your service to J.A. and to our community has meant everything...you've made the club what it is today and the rest of us definitely have some big shoes to fill!

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Finally, members whose status changed from Associate to Life (meaning that they served the equivalent of 10 Associate years OR paid the equivalent of 10 years' Associate dues) were:

• Diane Wood
• Joyce Britton
• Cindy Rogers
• Jackie Reed
• Tammy Womack

You ladies have set such wonderful examples for the rest of us! We're so excited to be able to celebrate your service to the club and to Warren County...our Life members are really the rock on which our chapter is built, so congratulations to you on this milestone!

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So thanks to all who attended this brunch. It was so much fun! Please feel free to email jamcminnville@yahoo.com to make suggestions for next year's Member Appreciation Event.

P.S. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I get them...keep watching the blog! -Ashley

Member Appreciation Brunch

Watch your mailboxes for the official invitation...but here is the information:

Save the Date!

Our Member Appreciation Brunch
will be held at 10:30 am
on Saturday June 14th
at The Inn at Harvest Farms Lake

Tickets are $12 each (to cover expenses).
Members are encouraged to bring a guest if they would like.

Please RSVP by calling Susan Burks 273-4195 or Jennifer Sain 808-1479

The brunch will be in a garden setting. Casual dress is fine.


Come join us for an event that is sure to become a J.A. of McMinnville tradition - fun, door prizes, several awards including a 2007-2008 Member of the Year will be presented!


With this brunch we wish to honor those going active, associate and life this year.
We would like full membership participation...

associate and life members are encouraged to attend.
We would like this to become a tradition for our chapter - a time each year when our entire chapter can come together to exchange ideas,

to celebrate our individual and group accomplishments,

and to reaffirm our commitment to our club and our chapter's purpose in the community.