Provisional Class Starts Strong by Volunteering & Building Relationships

By Marcella Morgan, PAT Advisor

The 2022-23 Provisional class was very active throughout the 2022-23 League year. The Provisional class started out their League year by attending a team building retreat. The retreat served as a time for the women to meet their color groups and advisors in-person. The Provisional Committees that they selected also had time to meet and discuss a brief game plan for meetings. Throughout the year, Provisionals had required activities, courses, meetings and socials that they attended that introduced them to the League. Provisionals were also able to meet up at the General Membership Meetings and other events to socialize with Actives and Sustainers.

Community Projects

For the Provisional’s community projects, the Provisional Community Committee chose to support Infant Crisis Services in the fall and Positive Tomorrows in the spring. At Infant Crisis Services, the Provisionals took a tour and packaged diapers to be given to the clients that Infant Crisis Services supports.

In the spring, the Committee chose to create “Hope Bags” for the 125 students and siblings that attend Positive Tomorrows. The committee set up an Amazon wish list and obtained books from an Usborne vendor to be included in the bags. We were also able to include a copy of our signature book, Goodnight OKC, in each bag, thanks to our very own Provisional Member Jen Thomas! The Committee’s Co-Leads were Candice Bacon and Karen Meyer.

Little Black Dress Initiative

In March 2023, the Provisional class participated in an AJLI-approved fundraiser to raise awareness for those experiencing poverty and to raise money to support JLOC’s community projects. This initiative, called the Little Black Dress Initiative, was a week-long, social media-drive campaign focused on raising funds to support our community impact focus of health and wellness.

Participants were tasked with wearing the same black dress or outfit for five straight days. The Provisionals met to kick off the week and were given posts to share on social media to encourage donations and raise awareness for those that suffer from poverty. In this first year of hosting this event, the Provisional class raised an impressive $2,977 for JLOC community projects.

Team Building at the OKC Zoo

For their spring team building retreat, the Provisionals were hosted at the Oklahoma City Zoo. The Provisionals had the opportunity to help beautify the Zoo and clean-up the “Jungle Gym”, the playground that was donated to the Zoo on behalf of the Junior League of Oklahoma City for the JLOC’s 90th Anniversary. While at the Zoo, the Provisionals also had the opportunity to build feeder boxes for the animals. These boxes were nailed together and then the bamboo was glued inside the boxes with various heights to provide dimension and allow for a variety of treats to be placed in the bamboo.