January 27, 2015

At the WMJWC annual banquet held last night, 13 new members were welcomed to the club as well as the official installation of new officers. At the banquet, which took place at Dante's Ristorante in Mendham, the following new members were welcomed into the club: Meghan Bergman, Katie Jabbour, Kelly Johnson, Victoria Legacki, Debbie Lopez, Megan McCarthy, Meredith Ross, Kristen Schutzman, Kerry Seely, Danielle Shefsky, Susanna Short, Kyleigh von Dohlen and Elisa Wyman.

New officers for 2016 include WMJWC president Anne Bergeron, co-president Ginna Welsh, vice president(s) Meredith Arena and Kim Walsh, secretary Mandy Culbertson, treasurer Kyleigh von Dohlen, communications officers Linda Chang and Mandy Culbertson, and membership/alumni relations officer Francesca Mullany.

Also honored with the annual WMJWC awards were members Francesca Mullany and Anne Bergeron. Francesca Mullany was presented with the Fernanda Smith Memorial Award for her continued support and enthusiasm throughout the years. Anne Bergeron was presented with the Junior of the Year Award for her dedication to the club and its various charities.

The annual banquet is also an opportunity to wish members becoming alumni well as they officially depart the club. This year, members Kate Rizzo, Kelly Rice, Allyson Daly, Jenna Rosselli and Paula Lubas became alumni. Rizzo joined the club in 2006 and has served as president (2009, 2010, 2011) and also held roles as our second vice president and membership chair. It was under Rizzo's leadership that the club raised the funds for and installed more than 21 defibrillators on Mendham and Chester playing fields. The project - called Play it Safe - was co-chaired by alumni members Dawn Nutt and Nicole Geary. Rice, who has been a member since 2009, served as club president (2013, 2014) and second vice president for two consecutive years (2010, 2011) and, along with co-vice president Daly, initiated the WMJWC Taste of the Season fundraiser in 2010 to support the Morristown Soup Kitchen and Dress for Success of Morris County. Rice has most recently served as membership chair, after chairing many of the club's committees throughout the years.  Daly, who also joined the club in 2008, has served as the Communication Chair for the club since 2011 after serving as second vice president in 2010 and 2011. Rosselli, who joined the club in 2010 has served as the club's second vice president and has led many successful fundraising events throughout the years such as the Luau in 2013 and the Fiesta in 2014. Lubas joined the club in 2014 and has since committed her energy and enthusiasm to many of the clubs many endeavors such as the annual St. Patrick's Senior Luncheon and our annual banquet.

Special thanks to members Paula Lubas and Linda Chang for their work planning and coordinating this annual event!

To view photos from the event, please go here.

January 13, 2016

We were so excited to see our community "light the way for Santa and his sleigh" this past Christmas Eve! Thank you to all members who supported our luminary fundraiser. Through this initiative, WMJWC raised funds to sponsor gifts for 16 children for the iCare Foundation.

A special THANK YOU to our committee chair Lauren Barnicle and committee member Corrie Viola for heading up this wonderful effort, and our members who supported and encouraged the sales of luminary kits. Together, we sold 260 kits, totaling $2,600 in sales plus additional donations that went directly toward gifts for iCare children. Thank you to Corrie Viola, Kelly Rice, Anne Bergeron and Francesca Mullany for helping to deliver the completed kits to our participating neighbors. 

Thank you also to our members for personally shopping for gifts for our sponsored children and helping make their Christmas a little brighter this year! Thank you to Angela Fantin, Danielle Shefsky, Kelly Rice, Megan McCarthy, Paula Lubas, Jenna Rosselli, Kristen Schutzman, Susanna Short, Linda Chang, Tori Legacki, Ginna Welsh, Megan Reynolds, Kelly Johnson and Kerry Seely. All gifts were given out at the 9th Annual iCare Fulfill a Wish party on December 20 at the Sisters of Christian Charity.

Our hope is for this community project to become a WMJWC and Mendham/Chester tradition for years to come - allowing us to brighten everyone's spirit with the magic of Christmas and ultimately touch the lives of families in need during holidays.

December 2, 2015

The 2015 WMJWC Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive was another huge success! We collected and donated 102 bagged meals, 99 turkeys, $535 in donations and over 3,470 canned and packaged goods.  The meals, paypal donations and turkeys went to Family Intervention Services (FIS) which supplied 250 families in Morris County with Thanksgiving dinners this year. We also donated at least 150 bags of groceries to the Chester Food Pantry.

In addition to membership and friends’ support, Hilltop Elementary, Mendham Township Elementary and Mendham Township Middle School all participated in the food drive. At Hilltop and Mendham Township Elementary, the Club sponsored a “Feather’s for Food” contest.  Each classroom competed for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophy that the Club will provide soon. In addition, the Mendham Township Middle School Student Council held a breakfast party contest for the class that brought in the  most food items.

Thanks to Anne Bergeron, Megan Reynolds, Francesca Calogero, Linda Chang, Kelly Johnson, Laura Wilson, Heidi Speckhart, Meredith Arena, Corrie Viola and Kim Walsh for helping to bag the meals. Most of all, thanks to this year’s committee chairs Megan Reynolds and Kim Walsh for a job well done!

December 2, 2015

Fun was had by all at our Annual Yankee Gift Exchange held on Wednesday, December 2. It was our last official meeting of the year and is one of WMJWC's most fun events! We all had a wonderful time celebrating the end of the year with friends and a bit of friendly, and funny gift‐giving.

Thank you everyone who attended and a special thanks to our lovely host, Anne Bergeron. 

To view the picture gallery, go here.

November 13, 2015

Help us “light the way for Santa and his sleigh” on Thursday, December 24th and help those in need this holiday season!

All proceeds from this luminary event will go towards the West Morris Juniors Woman’s Club purchasing holiday gifts for families in need through the iCare Organiziation.

The cost is $10.00 per kit. Each kit includes everything you need to assemble 10 luminaries. (10 long burning votives, 10 votive cups and 10 white paper bags). 

For more information and to place an order, please go here.

October 30, 2015

Our Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive is kicking off November 2 and will end with the turkey pick up on Monday, November 23! Last year, Juniors donated 113 meals, 120 turkeys, eight truck loads of food and $360 in donations to Family Intervention Services (FIS).  These items supplied over 125 families with Thanksgiving dinner last year.   Our goal is to increase these numbers as FIS supplies over 250 Thanksgiving Meals to families in Morris County. As in the past, we'll continue to work with the area schools (Mendham Borough's Hilltop Elementary, Mendham Township Elementary and Mendham Township Middle) to collect donations.

How can you help? Consider donating one or more Thanksgiving meals to a family in need via our homepage! Every twenty dollars you donate will buy one complete meal (minus the turkey). Or, you can drop off donations at the home of Megan Reynolds. And, you can also help sort and bag food on Thursday, November 19 at 9:45am.

Contact Kim Walsh at kadams68@yahoo.com or Megan Reynolds at meganmreynolds@gmail.com if you'd like to help out!

October 23, 2015

The West Morris Junior Women’s Club (WMJWC) is pleased to announce the winners of the club’s annual Halloween Poster Contest. A decades-old tradition, the contest saw a record-breaking number of entries this year from area schools including Mendham Township Elementary School, Hilltop Elementary School, St. Joseph School, Chester Dickerson School and Chester Bragg School. The contest was open to students in kindergarten through fourth grade. This is the second year the club included both Mendham and Chester elementary schools. Entries in 2015 were more than twice the number of entries in 2014.

Of the 165 entries, 59 winners were selected. First, second and third prize winners were selected per grade and per school. All winning entries will be on display at King’s Food Market on Route 24 in Mendham beginning this weekend through Halloween. Winners also receive recognition in school and get to take home a Halloween-themed prize courtesy of the club. To see a list of all the winners along with a gallery of all the winning entries, please go here.

September 24, 2015

WMJWC's "Fall into Music & Storytime" was a huge success! This community event, held on Thursday, September 24 at the Brookside Community Club, featured our very own Meredith Stack Ross and Billboard Magazine's best-selling kids' artist Mr. Ray. Meredith read stories from her Peanut and Patton books, and Mr. Ray had the kids up and dancing to his music.

Guests indulged in yummy autumn treats, got their pictures taken, and purchased signed copies of the Patton and Peanut books! $6 of every purchase will be donated to pediatric cancer research and we raised $240 through book sales! You can purchase your own copies by visiting www.pattonandpeanut.com.

Thank you so much for everyone who worked so hard to pull this together. Many of you helped us spread the word by inviting friends to our Facebook page and distributing flyers to your children's pre-schools. Francesca and Anne would also like to thank Linda Chang and Mandy Culbertson for helping with set-up, and Corrie Viola and Lauren Barnicle for helping to clean up. Lastly, the event would not have been successful without the support and attendance of so many members including Kelly Rice, Kristen Schutzman, Laura Wilson, Meghan Bergman, and Katie Jabbour.

And also a big thank you to our co-sponsor, the Brookside Community Club.

To view photos from the event, go here.

June 16, 2015

Congratulations to West Morris High School senior Lindsay Berish on being the recipient of the 2015 West Morris Junior Woman’s Club scholarship! The $1,500 scholarship was presented to Lindsay by our scholarship chair, Genevieve Manfredo, during the Senior Scholarship Awards Program held on Tuesday, June 16.

Lindsay was awarded the scholarship based on possessing many of the qualities we value such as volunteerism and service. In addition to her academic achievements such as High honor roll and the Distinguished Student award, Lindsay was deeply involved in Girl Scouts, cheerleading, theater and more. She also volunteered her time at the Jersey Battered Women’s shelter where she conducted a book drive to stock the childrens’ library and worked with iCare where she organized a childrens’ clothing drive.

Congratulations Lindsay! Best of luck to you and the Class of 2015!

May 9, 2015

Thanks to all who came out to support the 4th annual Taste of the Season event held at the Publick House in Chester on Saturday, May 9th. With over 40 people in attendance, guests enjoyed delicious food and sampled fine wines from all around the globe. The event raised more than $2,500 with a portion of the proceeds going to The Valerie Fund's Thomas J. Rice Grief Support Program.  

Special thanks to the team who made the event happen:  Kim Walsh, Francesca Mullany, Anne Bergeron, Paula Lubas, Allyson Daly, Linda Chang, Kelly Rice, Meredith Arena, Genevieve Manfredo, Heidi Speckhart and Meredith Ross.  

Also special thanks to all the local businesses and friends who contributed to the evening’s raffles and prizes including:

Anne Riehl, Rodan+Fields

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa

Barre3 Morristown

Cecil Diaz at the Mendham Spa

Chester Wine Spirits & Gourmet

Chris & Corrie Viola

Disney

Francesca Mullany, Chloe & Isabel

Jazzercize

Jockey Hollow gift cert donated by Mary Ellen Clark

Kidville Denville

Kings

Kris Wagoner, Gold Canyon Candle

Mendham Apothecary

Mendham Golf & Tennis Club

Jason & Nicole Geary

Nitro Flex

NY Giants

NY Jets

Pinch Sitters

Rachel Federov, Welcome Home

Randolph Gymnastics

Shop Rite Wine & Spirits

Somerset Patriots, Red Bulls and NJ Devils

Sunny Nails

The Chocolate Shoppe

The Image Maker

The Publick House

The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ

Trunk Club

Windswept

We hope that everyone had a great time! To see the photo gallery, go here.

April 26, 2015

Juniors took part in Mendham High School's "A Day of Community," on Sunday, April 26th from 1:30-5:30 p.m. The Club was there to help educate the public about the importance of bone marrow screening/donation in memory of Steven Crowe, a past member's son who passed away in 2005 at the age of nine after battling cancer.

In 2005, nine-year-old Steven Crowe lost his battle with Myelodysplatic Syndrome (MDS). His little sister, Becky, was able to donate both bone marrow and stem cells to her brother. A family match is not always an option and that is why screening the community for a donor is so important.

Thanks to Kelly Rice, Francesca Mullany, Anne Bergeron, Linda Chang, Lauren Barnicle and Kate Rizzo for representing our Club and registering bone marrow donors. Also, a big thanks to Allyson Daly for her generosity in donating the WMJWC tablecloth, table runner and lip balm giveaways  for the event. In all, the Club collected 14 samples and helped educate many about the importance of bone marrow donation. The team also got a chance to meet hometown hero, and now CNN Hero Maggie Doyne - what an inspiration!

To learn more about bone marrow donation, please visit our partner Delete Blood Cancer (DKMS) website http://www.deletebloodcancer.org/en.

April 15, 2015

Members of WMJWC met and mingled with potential new members at the spring membership event at the Black Horse Tavern on Wednesday, April 15. Thanks to all who joined us for our spring membership event! If you are interested in joining Juniors, go to www.wmjwc.org to learn more.

April 13, 2015

WMJWC partnered with Clothes for Kids Sake to collect items for Big Brothers Big Sisters on Monday, April 13. We collected 635 lbs of items for those in need in our community. 

Thank you to all members, neighbors and friends who donated to this wonderful organization! 

March 9, 2015

More than 30 area seniors were treated to a St. Patrick's Day luncheon compliments of WMJWC on Monday, March 9 - continuing a decades old tradition of enjoying corned beef and cabbage, and traditional Irish music at the Garabrandt Center in Mendham. The event, which has been hosted by the West Morris Junior Woman's Club for over 40 years, is a much anticipated and appreciated event for the members of the Mendham Area Senior Housing (MASH) organization. The WMJWC also donated $200 to MASH.

The event was co-chaired for the third year by WMJWC member Cynthia Dreeman. Special thanks to the many members and friends who helped make the event a success once again this year including Francesca Calogero, Corrie Viola, Jenna Roselli, Kelly Rice, Linda Chang, Genevieve Manfredo, Anne Bergeron, Paula Lubas, Meredith Arena, Meredith Ross, Megan Reynolds, Rebekah Forlenza, Ginna Welsh, Danielle Shefsky, Laura Wilson, Trish Meyer and Nicole Shaw. Additionally, special thanks to the Chester Diner for their continued support in providing the delicious lunch and Ken O’Brien, the public works superintendent in Mendham, for providing the wonderful bagpipe entertainment during the luncheon.

Visit our photo gallery to see more pictures from this heartwarming event!

January 17, 2015

The WMJWC 20th Annual Spelling Bee was held Saturday, January 17 at West Morris Mendham High School. The event was chaired for the second consecutive year by member Mandy Culbertson with a huge amount of help from members Genevieve Manfredo and Edith Kaplan. 

For the first year, Juniors was thrilled to welcome Chester Bragg School to the competition which resulted in the best-attended spelling bee on record with 56 participants. This year’s top three winners, who will now go on to the Northern Region Spelling Bee on February 21, include: Peter Cosmi (Hilltop), Aidan deGrandpre (Mendham Township Middle School) and Hanna Kutlu (Hilltop).

Special thanks to WMJWC members Kelly Rice (judge), Jenna Rosselli (judge), Linda Chang (judge) and Lauren Barnicle (word caller). Also there to help were WMJWC members Corrie Viola, Megan Reynolds, Francescao Mullany and Nicole Shaw. 

Congrats to all the winners! Best of luck at the regional contest!