The Junior League of Monterey County helps women take the lead in community activism.

“Every league is different,” explains Renee Penalver, the enthusiastic president of Junior League of Monterey County.

It’s the nature of any organization to take on the character of its community. Penalver has experienced this as a Junior League member in Iowa and Texas before coming to Monterey County.

“In Iowa, we had 100 active members and 200 alumni,” she says. The local group is smaller by comparison, with about 20 active volunteers and 100 on the alumni roll. “But it’s more diverse here,” Penalver adds, pointing out that the midwestern organization drew a number of women with time to spare. “Our women have full-time jobs, so when meeting we keep in mind their lifestyle,” she says.

Her day job is assistant professor of psychology at CSU Monterey Bay. She first joined Junior League as a means to socialize and become part of a community while moving around the country. And volunteering also brings a sense of purpose.

Junior League brings women together in order to develop leadership skills that can be important not only in their careers, but also in furthering the work of civic organizations. In other words, it encourages a higher level of community involvement, and provides volunteer muscle to a number of other local nonprofits.

The Monterey County chapter – one of 295 around the U.S. and England – has supported local foster programs through the county’s Department of Social Services; provided Christmas baskets for Gathering for Women, a daytime center for homeless women; and hosted monthly birthday parties at Casa de Noche Buena in Seaside, a shelter for families experiencing homelessness; and more.

League members were there to help when the Shuman Heart House opened earlier this month, welcoming women and families to the homeless shelter. One of the most valued and popular workshops the nonprofit organized was this year’s “Women in Finance” meetings at the Carmel Woman’s Club. But they also mix fun with education and service. The members dined and watched Barbie together. They also toured a sustainable glass factory.

All of this fuels Penalver’s enthusiasm. “My excitement is genuine, and people get excited,” she observes with a laugh. “Women join for different reasons – friendship, to advance their career, to be in the community.”

Penalver often reminds members that their involvement presents opportunities to network and to put their skills to use. In her spare time – and one struggles to believe there is much of it – Penalver is a board member for the Child Abuse Prevention Council.

Junior League of Monterey County has been going strong since 1963. But the history of one of the oldest volunteer institutions for women reaches back to the turn of the last century.

It was 1901 when a 19-year-old Barnard College student and debutante, Mary Harriman Rumsey – sister of the future governor of New York, W. Averell Harriman – founded the first Junior League chapter. Harriman Rumsey was inspired by the settlement movement, a drive to improve the outlook of those trapped in the dismal urban working-class neighborhoods of the era through interaction.

The nascent Junior League grew from this spirit of middle – and upper-class women anxious to improve society (Eleanor Roosevelt joined in 1903, also as a 19-year old). Keep in mind that almost two decades passed between the establishment of the Junior League and American women gaining the right to vote, in 1919.

Monterey County’s chapter often works with children – speaking to Girl Scout troops on Leadership Day, organizing programs with MY Museum, and more. They also run professional development events for local women.

New members are always welcome. The last general meeting of the year takes place Thursday, Nov. 16, from 6-8:30 pm, at the Veterans Transition Center at 220 12th St. in Marina.

To learn more about the Junior League of Monterey County, visit montereycounty.jl.org.