President’s Note

A Message from Our President

Ninety-three years ago, a strong, bold, and empowered group of women joined together to create the Junior Charities of Topeka. Their aim was to use their collective voice and drive to help those in the community that needed assistance, identify solutions to issues, and to provide meaningful leadership engagement for women. 

Joining a Larger Network 

Five years later, they joined forces with a larger group, the Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc., and became officially known as the Junior League of Topeka in 1937. For the last 88 years, the Junior League of Topeka, and the thousands of women that have been members during that time, have worked for the betterment of our wonderful community by lighting the way forward in creating meaningful community impact while advancing women’s leadership through Junior League membership. 

Community Impact and Projects 

That momentum created and focused over the last 88 years has, through collaboration, training, and volunteerism of members, enabled the Junior League to transform our community with projects like the Diaper Depot, CASA of Shawnee County, Meals on Wheels, Midland Hospice, Ronald McDonald House, and the Topeka Community Foundation, just to name a few. 

Recent Achievements 

We have worked hard over these last few years to maintain an impact on our community, through the many challenges we have all experienced. Our members dedicated their time and talents to keep working towards lasting community change. A few projects we completed last year include: 

  • Donating tens of thousands of hygiene and period poverty items to Topeka Rescue Mission, KVC, school districts, YWCA, MAP, etc. 
  • Engaging over 250 member volunteers. 
  • Collaborating with 8 community partners. 
  • Holding our 6th Annual Dress for Change (previously known as Little Black Dress Initiative) poverty awareness campaign.

Growth and Future Focus 

All of the above-mentioned items, as well as the countless other opportunities we have participated in, have allowed our League to continue to grow and be a change agent for our community. We are excited to continue to grow our issue area: Women’s Health and see how we can continue to help the community with women’s health equity. 

Goals for the Upcoming Year 

This League year, we will be continuing to heavily focus on civic engagement and community impact as we work towards our membership development, our organizational governance, and our sustainability. We will also dig deeper into the community needs to see how we can help focus more on those needs. 

  • Partnership Development
    • We will continue our important work as we develop partnerships with community organizations this year.
  • Immediate Impact Projects
    • We will challenge ourselves with tackling immediate impact projects that further our mission, expose our membership to other community partners, and address our issue area of women’s health.
  • Annual Campaign
    • We will hold our 7th Annual Dress for Change that will focus on women’s health equity.
  • Training and Development
    • We will continue to provide a variety of training and development opportunities for our membership. 

Join Us in Our Mission

We would love to have you join us in working towards our mission. Here are some ways that you can help:

Become a Member

To learn more about the mission, vision, and work of the Junior League, contact our Director of Membership at membership@jltopeka.org. We would love to have you join us at one of our meetings or events to get to know us!

Become a Sponsor

To learn about sponsorship opportunities, contact our Director of Funding Development at fundingdevelopment@jltopeka.org. Without your support, we could not be women as catalysts for lasting change!

Participate in Our Community Drives

To learn about upcoming opportunities, contact our Director of Community Impact at communityimpact@jltopeka.org. You can also inquire about collaboration with the Junior League!

Join Dress For Change

To join us in our poverty awareness campaign, contact our Dress for Change Chair at dressforchange@jltopeka.org. We would love to have you join us!

I am completely honored to be the president of the Junior League of Topeka. The women before me and the women after me are a true testament to the amazing power of empowering women and training leaders in our communities. I look forward to serving as the President for this next year.

Respectfully,

Ashley Charest

president@jltopeka.org
President, 2025-2027
Junior League of Topeka