After being presented with three national awards in August, the Junior Auxiliary of Hattiesburg is gearing up two fundraising activities in November to support the chapter’s plans.
The success of the 2019 Charity Ball and the chapter’s #CommunityMatters campaign raised significant funding for the chapter’s projects, but the 2020 fundraising plans have had to be adapted to meet social gathering guidelines.
Ashley Castleman, the chapter’s 2020 Finance Chair, has led the organization’s efforts for a solid fundraising year despite not being able to host a large event.
“We are coming off of the best fundraising year in our chapter’s history, and every dollar of those efforts are paying off in big ways to fund our many projects,” she said. “However, those we serve are counting on us to be successful in our efforts again this year. We’ve had to rethink our traditional approach to fundraising for 2020, and we are pleased to offer two great ways to accomplish our goals. We encourage all those who are able to find a way to participate in our cash raffle or online silent auction this year.”
Raffle tickets are available for a $5,000 cash give-away, where a winning ticket will be drawn and announced live on WDAM on Nov. 12. Individual tickets are $25 each or $100 for five tickets. Additionally, an online silent auction will be hosted from Nov.12-14, with numerous items available for purchase at http://jahattiesburg.givesmart.com
The public can participate with proceeds directly funding the chapter’s numerous service projects. Meanwhile, JA of Hattiesburg has numerous individual and corporate sponsorship opportunities.
The National Association of Junior Auxiliary recently presented the Hattiesburg chapter with the Best New Project award for its collaboration with special needs children at the Children’s Center, Play the Same.
On Aug. 29, the National Association of Junior Auxiliary presented the Hattiesburg chapter with the National Award of Excellence, the Public Relations and Finance Award for the 2019 Charity Ball/Community Matters campaign, and Best New Project for its collaboration with special needs children at the Children’s Center, Play the Same.
“Our chapter is still greatly benefitting from the amazing momentum and community support that we received last year,” said JA Chapter President Whitney Hinton. “With great resolve, we are continuing to reach new levels of outreach and success in our 2020 service endeavors at a time when our community needs us most. These recent national awards are certainly a testament to the deep love of community that exists in our chapter and our members’ commitment to service. We also want to express a special thank you to last year’s leadership, who helped our chapter receive these national honors.”
While the last several months have certainly presented a set of new challenges for re- imagining and implementing ways to fulfill project needs throughout the Hattiesburg region because of COVID-19, the chapter has been quite productive in fulfilling the needs of numerous ongoing projects as well new ones that have evolved from the pandemic.
“I cannot say enough positive things about our JA of Hattiesburg members this year, and their willingness to joyfully step up and rise to new challenges during these unprecedented times,” Hinton said. “We’ve all had to do a lot of pivoting these last several months in order to fulfill our mission, and I believe our chapter is truly making remarkable strides in its service projects. While service does look different right now, our leadership and our members have been resolved to find creative workarounds in order to meet unique needs and make meaningful impacts. When you add the support of our donors who financially helped make this year possible, we are beyond grateful to be where we are today.”