Signature Project Paving New Paths

Atrailblazer is defined as a person who blazes a trail for others to follow through unsettled country or wilderness, and the Junior League of San Antonio has been blazing trails and paving new paths in the community for the past 96 years. To do this, it has taken a lot of hard work from many esteemed Junior League members, as well as partnerships with our big-hearted and like-minded community leaders. From children’s hospitals to walking trails, you would be astounded by the work JLSA has done over the past nearly 100 years.

BY LORENA PEÑA

Now, we find ourselves once again taking on an issue that we feel will leave lasting ripple effects in our community - children’s mental wellness. Throughout the 2017-2018 League year, members of the signature project team conducted a research endeavor to find out what the greatest needs were in the community. In September 2018, Junior League members voted to select children’s mental wellness as the focus area of our next signature project. When it comes to children’s mental wellness, access to care, support, and education are instrumental and lacking in the San Antonio area and beyond.

Based on that information, we decided to partner with Clarity Child Guidance Center, the premier mental health treatment center for children and adolescents in South Texas, for our centennial project called Paving New Paths. Along with raising funds for the new signature project that will bridge physicians at Clarity, JLSA’s volunteers, and mental wellness experts to create curriculum to share with our community, Paving New Paths will also be raising money for a sizable grant for Clarity. This grant will renovate a building on the Clarity campus, to be renamed the Junior League of San Antonio Education Center and provide a state-of-the-art space to help Clarity share even more training sessions on a nationwide level.

To make all of these wonderful things happen for Clarity and the community, each year from now until 2023, we will need 20 community members to serve as Trailblazers. These individuals can come from the mental health field, have been touched by children’s mental health, or just be a strong community advocate who is willing to step up to the challenge of raising $5,000 for that year. With one in five children (nearly 100,000 kids in Bexar County) being affected by mental illness, the amount of people who are impacted or know someone who is affected by children’s mental illness is larger than we think. A sad statistic is that more than 60% of those children will not receive the care they need. That is why we must all do what we can now to help future generations.

Trailblazers will not only raise money for the Junior League’s grant to Clarity, but they will also help to shine a light on the issue of children’s mental wellness in the community, which is essential to ultimately removing the stigma associated with this health topic. Plus, how amazing would it be to say YOU were one of the 100 people who helped make the state-of-the-art education center at Clarity and a premier children’s mental wellness curriculum a reality for the entire San Antonio community!

The 2020 campaign started on January 27. If you or someone you know is interested in serving as a Trailblazer, email Lorena Pena at lorena@stic.net, or feel free to visit https://pavingnewpaths.swell.gives for more information about the Paving New Paths Project.

Thank you to the 2019 Trailblazers for Paving the Path, and the League looks forward to the amazing work in the future!