Junior Guild Of Texas

Fifteen charter member mothers and daughters representing Houston Northwest area school districts established Junior Guild in the spring of 1987. Area charities had been previously canvassed as to the need for community volunteers and the willingness to include high school women as volunteers in their programs. The membership of Junior Guild includes high school women in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades.

The purpose of Junior Guild is to improve the quality of life within our community through young women’s participation in cultural, educational, and voluntary endeavors. Furthering the mission of the organization is that Junior Guild promotes community service, fellowship among the schools, promotion of organizational skills, and mother-daughter participation.

The organization is composed of Executive Advisory members (mothers), and Guild members (daughters). The Board of this organization is composed of Executive Advisory Officers and Committee Chairpersons (mothers) with Corresponding Guild Officers and Committee Chairpersons (daughters). Volunteer hours are required of the Guild members only. The mothers serve in an advisory and assisting capacity.

Requirements for Guild members include: general meeting attendance, fundraiser participation (one yearly), a minimum of 15 community service hours for Freshman, Sophomore and Junior Provisionals and 20 hours for provisional seniors. The hour requirement was set at 15, because the women in this organization are generally involved in myriad school, church, sports, music, art, drama, and etc. activities. It was the hope of the charter members that these hours would serve as a guide and would encourage more active community involvement. To date this has proven to be the case. Junior Guild has grown from 45 members in 1987-88 to a high of over 120 members and hundreds of former members with a diverse membership.

Although the young women sponsor new members into the organization for the upcoming year, Junior Guild is an inclusive rather than an exclusive organization. The sponsorship process is designed to be used as an instructional tool that encourages perpetuation of the organization by the members. Applications and deadlines are included to walk the members through a structured organizational process.

The following is the list of the programs served by Junior Guild in the Houston Northwest area:
A Smart Rescue
Autumn Leaves, benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association
Barbara Bush Library at Cypress Creek
Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Houston
NAM (Northwest Assistance Ministries)
Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts
SIRE (Self-Improvement through Riding Education)
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
TEAM (Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries)
Veterans Affairs (Flags for Fallen Vets and Wreaths Across America)