The Junior League of Phoenix

The st. vincent de paul (svdp) committee completed its final year of a three-year community partnership agreement. Jlp's $15,000 in funding and volunteer services were used to expand The growth space of The rob & melani walton urban farm. Melons, cauliflower, broccoli, squash and tomatoes have all been successfully harvested this fiscal year. Jlp has hosted monthly volunteer shifts at The urban farm to harvest The foods and averages 450 lbs. of food per shift. Jlp volunteers also assisted svdp with preparing meals for distribution to guests at The watkins campus family dining room including food prep, sorting items, cleaning, and greeting dining room guests. Jlp volunteers contributed more than 130 hours to The svdp family dining room and urban farm, which directly address jlp's focus of fighting hunger and food insecurity.

Phoenix food day & healthfest is a joint event hosted by jlp and The city of Phoenix and is one of The largest community health and wellness events for families living in underserved pockets in The valley. The 2022 event was The first in-person event since The pandemic. More than 3,000 families participated and visited with more than 40 vendors and farmers as well as demonstrations throughout The day. In addition, jlp members volunteered nearly 200 hours on The day of The event alone.

The harvest compassion center (hcc) committee continued its support of The organization's mission of providing food and clothing in a hope-filled environment to The underserved in The valley. This was jlp's final year of a three-year community partnership agreement. In addition to jlp's $15,000 in funding, jlp volunteers served more than 160 hours and helped to contribute to hcc's overall distribution of 562,248 pounds of food, hygiene products and baby items.

Kids in The kitchen continued its successful partnership through programming with homeward bound. This included monthly programming to bring after-school healthy snacks and activities including mindfulness exercises, yoga, coping skills and self esteem. In addition, jlp volunteers contributed greatly to homeward bound's trunk or treat event with six themed cars that were decorated to pass out candy as well as yard games to play. Jlp also donated over $500 worth of new costumes for children of homeward bound, which greatly relieved stress to parents who otherwise could not afford costumes for their children.

R.o.c.k.e.t.s (raising our children's knowledge & education through science): The r.o.c.k.e.t.s program continued its monthly lessons at The children's museum of Phoenix, a long-time partner of jlp, during its first friday event. We also distributed take-home projects at The children's museum of Phoenix during its special events and exhibition days. The committee hosted two sold-out teach launch educate to innovate conferences at The Arizona science center. The 2023 conferences served 235 teachers, reaching 31,645 students in Arizona. 80 percent of The teachers were from title 1 school programs.