Did you know that the Junior Auxiliary of Cleveland is part of a national legacy of service that celebrates its 85th anniversary in 2026?

 

It’s just one facet of the nonprofit National Association of Junior Auxiliaries in the spotlight during JA Week, celebrated this year by chapters including Cleveland, April 6-10. It’s a time to raise awareness, highlight community service projects and celebrate the impact of local NAJA chapters.

 

Bolivar County is one of 83 NAJA chapters with a total membership of more than 16,000. Chapters are mostly concentrated in Mississippi and Arkansas, with others in Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Missouri.

 

“Just as our chapter celebrates its own milestones, we will mark JA Week along with our NAJA sisterhood,” said JA of Cleveland's president, Emily Havens. “Our members and those across NAJA are living a legacy of service through hands-on projects and dedication to our community’s children and families.”

 

JA of Cleveland members will spend JA Week delivering sweet treats of recognition and thanks to community organizations that help support our mission.

 

NAJA’s total Provisional, Active, Life and Associate members in 2024-25 worked an overall 224,000 hours primarily centered on service. Hours worked also included fundraising, member education and chapter administrative duties. Members Association-wide in 2024-25 raised $4,275,989, primarily used to support their community volunteer service.

 

As we celebrate the National Association of Junior Auxiliaries’ 85th anniversary, we are sharing our challenge and theme, “It’s Time to Live Your Legacy,” chosen by this year’s National President, Kathryn Huffman, a member of the Junior Auxiliary of Tipton County, TN. Huffman’s theme communicates that JA members can be more than community servants; through service, they can establish their NAJA legacy.

 

JA of Cleveland follows in the footsteps of its founders.

 

In 1935, two Greenville, MS, physicians contacted Louise Crump, the society editor of the Delta-Democrat Times, asking her to rally her friends to help children in poverty with food, clothing, toys and transportation to medical care. Crump organized a group of nine ladies, who soon realized there were other women with the same passion across the Mississippi and Arkansas Delta. The groups joined to charter the first NAJA chapters.

 

Never wavering from NAJA’s original purpose of child welfare and helping to break the cycle of dependency, today’s chapters find unmet needs in their communities and develop projects to meet them.

 

Learn more about NAJA at najanet.org and about the Junior Auxiliary of Cleveland at https://www.clevelandja.org/. Find the chapter on Facebook or Instagram.