Programs
What Does the Junior Auxiliary of Gulfport Do?
Our service year runs May 1st through April 30th. The summer months are spent planning and preparing for the school year and in helping with ongoing general welfare needs for the coastal children.
Service Programs
The General Welfare Program/Special Projects - The General Welfare Program/Special Projects program is considered the “heart and soul” of the Junior Auxiliary of Gulfport. Nearly half of our annual operating budget is dedicated to the General Welfare of children in need. Through General Welfare, we reach out to our community’s neediest children, providing clothing, food, and medical care free of charge to children and families who might otherwise fall through the cracks. In 2008-2009, approximately 530 children and their families received assistance through the General Welfare Program.
Backpack Blessings: Our newest Service Project “Backpack Blessings” provides meals/snacks to children who may not otherwise get them during “non-school” hours such as weekends. Backpacks (including food, snacks, drinks, utensils, etc.) are sent home with the child and then the child returns the backpack to the school after the weekend.
Building Blocks: Allows our members to provide support to area families in need of rebuilding their homes. By working in conjunction with agencies that pre-screen families for financial need, our members will help families to paint, decorate, landscape, and plan meals for their new home.
Casework: The General Welfare program is able to provide care to uninsured children with medical needs through a network of providers. Most often, the casework portion of the program provides screening, diagnostics, or treatment for dental problems, visual impairment, or hearing deficits. For children with more complex medical needs, consultation and treatment can be arranged with specialists, either locally or outside of the area as necessary
Clothes Closet: The Junior Auxiliary “Clothes Closet” is stocked with new clothing, shoes, coats, and undergarments, available at all times. Children are screened by school personnel. When a child in need is referred to the Clothes Closet, we provide a variety of new, basic garments that fit properly and are appropriate for school within 24 hours. The goal is to allow these students to concentrate on their school work, and not be encumbered by shoes that are painfully too small for their feet, face the elements without a warm coat, or feel ashamed or suffer ridicule because of torn, stained, outgrown clothing.
Food Pantry: General Welfare also includes a Food Pantry, administered in partnership with the Department of Human Services. For the past several years, the Junior Auxiliary had stocked the pantry with non-perishable items, and had kept our donated freezer stocked with frozen meals and meats year-round. The Food Pantry and JA freezer were lost when the Gulfport DHS facilities suffered major storm damage. We have begun restocking a small pantry for DHS to use in emergency situations, and the full food pantry is expected to be re-established as soon as the Department of Human Services building is re-opened. The Junior Auxiliary also partners with the DHS in several child-centered programs and activities throughout the year.
Hearts Without a Home: JA of Gulfport has been working closely with the Harrison County Family Court Emergency Children’s Shelter since its groundbreaking in 1978. The shelter serves as the temporary home of children between the ages of 2 days and 18 years, who have been removed from their families due to abandonment, abuse, neglect, or endangerment. Our members perform many volunteer duties at the shelter, from comforting frightened children new to the shelter, to painting murals on the walls which brighten the environment, to helping school aged children struggling with homework assignments, to providing games and fun activities to help them get through the days.
Medical Care: This General Welfare program is able to provide medical, dental, and optical care through a network of local providers who work with Junior Auxiliary. Basic care including prescription drugs can usually be provided free of charge to uninsured children.
Special Projects: The ‘Special Projects’ portion of the program addresses acute needs of children and families that fall outside of the traditional areas of assistance offered by General Welfare. These needs vary greatly, but frequently address issues of health, safety, education, basic necessities, or housing.
2010-2011 Projects
In addition to working to assist underpriviledged children through the General Welfare program, the Junior Auxiliary of Gulfport is dedicated to improving the lives of all children in our community through a variety of educational, artistic, and cultural enrichment offerings, as well as health and safety projects. In 2010-2011 these projects include:
· BOOST/Mentoring - Junior Auxiliary members volunteer at local elementary schools through the BOOST/Mentoring program, tutoring individual students who have academic special needs. Both current (active) and past (life and associate) members are involved with this program at several area schools.
· Child Lures - Child Lures is a program aimed at the prevention of sexual abuse and/or abduction by child predators. Trained Junior Auxiliary members teach children how to avoid potential danger and empower them to deal effectively with a variety of potentially dangerous situations involving strangers, known individuals, and interactions on the internet.
· Classroom Supply - The Classroom Supply program restocks supplies that run low in the classrooms during the later part of the year. This program was initially expanded in 2004-2005, when a local elementary school reported that they were functioning without lined paper or pencils. The program was again expanded in response to Katrina, with 223 affected children receiving back-to-school backpacks and supplies.
· College Bound - The College Bound program grants more than $6,000 in scholarships to outstanding senior high school students each year. Students are selected based on superior academic achievement and merit, leadership potential and community involvement, and financial need.
· Cultural/Social Issues - This program was developed to educate and promote the arts in schools as well as provide speakers to schools targeting social and cultural issues of specific interests to pre-teens and teens.
· Hannah Hatfield – The Hannah Hatfield program is a scholarship for teachers. Four outstanding (Gulfport School District) teachers who have demonstrated superior dedication to their students are awarded $1500 each. The Junior Auxiliary of Gulfport selects the four finalists from the nominees, and presents this award on behalf of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and members of the Hatfield family.
· Lynn Meadows Discovery Center – The beginnings of the LMDC evolved from a free-standing children’s art center that was created in the 1980’s by the members of the Junior Auxiliary for the benefit of the children of Gulfport and western Harrison County. In 1991, this art center became the inspiration for the development of a large scale, interactive children’s museum, under the careful guidance of former chapter presidents Carole Lynn Meadows and Rose Alman. The funds that had originally been used for the creation of the art center became the seed funds for development of the new Discovery Center.
Today, the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center has grown into a nationally recognized children’s destination, providing a place for children to learn, create, explore, and grow. In recognition of the importance of the Discovery Center for our community and the children of South Mississippi, our members continue to volunteer at the LMDC, assisting with staffing and special events as well as maintaining an appointed position on the center’s Board of directors.
· Mississippi Santa - Mississippi Santa brings Junior Auxiliary of Gulfport members together with New York Firefighters to assist with the distribution of toys to needy children on the Gulf Coast.
· Reading is Fun - Reading Is Fun is an early literacy program designed to promote enthusiasm for reading in school-aged children. During each weekly session of the five week program, Junior Auxiliary volunteers read a children’s book aloud to the students. Following the story, the children take part in an arts and craft activity which correlates with the story they have just heard.
Because a love of reading has been shown to be the strongest predictor of success in school, this program is repeated three times per year at area elementary schools and community centers.
· SMILE! Dental Health - SMILE is a dental screening and education program for 2nd grade students. Trained Junior Auxiliary members teach children about dental hygiene in a fun and interactive experience, while dentists who have volunteered their time to help the project perform visual examinations. Children are screened and are referred for treatment as necessary. Students also receive toothpaste, floss, and a toothbrush to keep. In the program’s first year (2004,) 690 children received dental screenings through the Smile! project. Among those 690 students, 207 children were found to have large, untreated cavities, and these children were referred for treatment. Uninsured children whose parents are unable to afford fillings are eligible for assistance through General Welfare.
· SOAR - The SOAR program is designed to help children learn about important lessons dealing with Self, Others, AND Responsibility.
· WOW (Wellness on Wheels) - The WOW program has been designed to promote health, fitness, and nutrition to all elementary age students.
For more information on how you can bring any of these programs to your school please contact JA of Gulfport, or you can email us: info@jagulfport.org