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JUNIOR LEAGUE LEADER HAPPY TO HELP

By Sara Sullivan

Posted: November 29, 2009 at 3:28 a.m.

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She knows it sounds a bit cliched, she said. But after she had her first child, Kamron Whitehead started feeling a more pressing need to make the world a better place.

The former elementary school teacher had become a stay-at-home mom, and “was kind of feeling like I needed a place to belong,” she remembered. “I needed a place to feel like I was making a difference.”

So the woman became involved in the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas.

Ten years later, she’s serving as president.

Hometown Helper

Whitehead was born and raised in Gravette and attended the University of Arkansas before teaching second grade in Rogers for four years. “So I have a real love for this whole community, this whole area,” she said. She and her husband, Phil, live in Fayetteville, where they met and where their two children were born. “I’m a hometown girl, about as hometown as you can be.”

And perhaps because she feels like “this is home - forever,” Whitehead is determined to make a positive impact on the area.

“That’s just how Kamron’s always been,” her husband said.

“She’s got a big heart and just really wants to help the less fortunate.”

And in the Junior League, she’s not alone.

About 200 active members join her in the Northwest Arkansas league, which is affiliated with the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. Made up of community women from a variety of backgrounds, the group champions local charities, focusing specifically on area women’s and children’s shelters.

Invested In Others

In addition to providing hoursof volunteer labor and organizing holiday parties and educational programs for shelter residents, league members also host a couple of fundraising events each year to benefit their projects.

They sponsor the Touch A Truck Family Festival in the spring and the upcoming 11th annual Winter Dreams Home Tour, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 6 at decorated residences throughout Benton and Washington counties.

“It’s kind of become one of our signature projects,” Whitehead said of the home tour. “Most people know us, I think, for this event,” in which participants don booties over their shoes and explore area homes to soak in decorating, architecture and landscaping ideas.

The event costs $20 per person, and tickets can be purchased on the league’s Web site, www.juniorleaguenwa. org, or at the homes on the tour. Over the years, the event has raised about $250,000 for the league’s eff orts.

Like the Serve Our Shelters (SOS) project, in which members organize educational events and trainings, host holiday parties, volunteer hours of labor, and even make scrapbooks so shelter children have a way to remember and share with their families - birth or adoptive - an important portion of their lives that might otherwise be forgotten.

The league has been “an integral part of saving children’s lives and improving ... Northwest Arkansas,” said Trish Jones, director of Children’s House in Fayetteville,which has been supported by the league for more than 15 years.

And Whitehead is a prime example.

“She is a very caring, compassionate individual, and when she believes in what she does, she will be your strongest advocate,” said Jones, who has worked with Whitehead for years. “You can tell she’s very proud of her family,” Jones said, which is likely why she wants to help other families establish a happy, loving environment.

Will Work For Good

Whitehead is fun-spirited, high-energy and thoughtful, Jones said. “And she’s not afraid of a task.”

In fact, very few league members - if any - are.

“They are extremely handson,” Jones said. “They’re not in the back,” but are out front in the trenches, toiling to achieve whatever needs to be done.

“I hate the idea of being white glove and pearl,” said Whitehead, who acknowledges and laments that some people harbor misconceptions about the Junior Leagueand its members. “We’re just community-minded women” who are capable, organized and hardworking. They’re not afraid to roll up their sleeves to clean, garden and labor for their projects, she said.

Trained To Help

While helping others is a huge component of the Junior League, self-improvement is the other. “That’s a big part of what the Junior League is, is a training organization,” Whitehead said, which is important if for no other reason than to become “a better volunteer, an organized volunteer.”

These are women - whether working or stay-athome, single or married, with or without children - whose time is precious; if they’re donating it, they want to make the most productive use of it as possible.

“It’s a great professional development tool,” Phil Whitehead said of participation in the Junior League. “There’s a lot of business aspects to it” that help keep members’ skills sharp.

Members have the opportunity to broaden their skills base by learning about organization, marketing, public relations,Web site design and a host of other things that they might not otherwise be exposed to in their daily life, Kamron Whitehead added.

The league is highly structured - with 21 committees reporting to a handful of council vice presidents who report to the president - but the hierarchy is critical for the organization’s efficiency, considering the number of participants and undertakings. Plus, “with the committees that we have, everybody finds a niche,” she said.

Friends In Service

Being president of the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas takes up a big portion of the 35-year-old’s time. “It’s darn near a full-time job in some weeks,” Phil Whitehead admitted. But, “we’re glad to have her be part of it, because it keeps her happy, keeps her sharp.”

It’s also a great outlet for his wife, an avenue for adult interaction, he said.

“I have made the best friends - lifelong friends - since I’ve been involved,” Kamron Whitehead said. “All the while fulfilling that need of making the community better.”

Our Town, Pages 13 on 11/29/2009

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