I cannot say the 2021 Fall Provisional class had a normal Junior League provisional experience. But has anything in the last two years been “normal?”

When the world went remote, so did the Fall 2021 Provisional class. We pulled out our laptops and got to know each through a sometimes fuzzy and prone-to-technical-issues webcam. A Zoom login and internet connection replaced the downtown Junior League building meeting room, and we ended up getting voted in through a virtual Zoom Holiday Party (virtual cocktails included!).

But, being 100% remote did not stop the Fall 2021 Provisional class from being one of the most successful classes yet. (And I’m not just saying that because I was a member of it).

At the end of our provisional project, the 2021 fall class created twenty bath kits to help twenty newly-housed families. That’s a lot of people whose lives we helped! The kits were delivered to the Magnolia House and were distributed to newly-housed people in Magnolia’s apartments.

After three months of learning the ins and outs of what makes the Junior League tick (and a COVID-friendly scavenger hunt around the city), we girls got together for our first provisional project. We decided on putting together bath kits for newly sheltered people who were previously homeless. The Magnolia House and the Road Home asked for donations for people moving out of shelters and into more permanent housing. An issue the Magnolia House noticed was people moving into permanent housing, finally having a stable roof over their head, but not being able to afford normal household items to make a house liveable. The 2021 fall class fundraised to put together these bath kits to help make the transition from homeless to permanent housing a bit easier. We asked family, friends, and coworkers for help in buying the items needed to create these bath kits for some of the most vulnerable populations. Something as simple as having soap and a pair of underwear can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

We put together an Amazon wishlist for donors to buy the items directly, or they had the option to Venmo us, and we would order the items with the proceeds.

I believe we were all shocked at how much help we received in making others’ lives a bit better. In the end, we had enough donations to put together twenty bath kits, and our original goal was only ten. For a class that only met virtually, we did a pretty great job.

The Fall 2021 Provisional class is so excited to be a part of Salt Lake’s Junior League, and we look forward to many more times ahead (hopefully in-person this time).