Our hearts are full as we honor the women who have poured six years of love, time, and service into this organization and now step into Life Member status. We want to recognize our eight newest life members, their contributions to the Junior Auxiliary of Rankin County chapter, and what they’ve learned in their six years of dedicated service.
Bridget Bell is a resident of Brandon, MS, where she lives with her husband, Russell Bell, and their three children-Nathan, Gabriel and Sarah Claire. Her family also includes three dogs-Dexter, Dottie and Brutus, and three cats-Jasmine, Cookie and Maui. During Bridgett’s time in JARC, she has been involved as a Gal Pals participant and served on several projects, including: Brave Kids Bags, Story Time, Especially for You, Character Counts, Ranger ‘Riters, Hudspeth Gift Wrap, BAGSS, Stuff the Bus, Pirate Pals, Rankin Outreach and Helping Hands. She served as the Character Counts Project Co-Chair and Chair and held the following Board positions: Hospitality Chair, Public Relations Chair, Vice-President, President and Ex-Officio. Bridgett has even served at the national level as National Association of Junior Auxiliaries Membership Committee Member. When asked, Bridgett said that her favorite project was Character Counts. She loved getting to interact with the kids and being an anchor in their lives. Providing a point of stability, positivity, an opportunity for them to take their minds off of their current situations and help build their confidence meant everything. Bridgett shared these thoughts: “It only takes one person to make someone either feel worthy or unworthy. We should all take every opportunity we have to let those who interact with us know they are someone and are worthy of love.”
Shamera Brumfield is a resident of Pearl, MS with her husband and four kids (three girls and one boy). During her time in JARC Shamera worked on almost all of the projects. She chaired Pirate Pals and Reading is Fundamental and also served on the Constitution and Scholarship committees. Shamera’s favorite project is Reading is Fundamental. As a librarian, this is something very dear to her heart and she shared that she has had so much fun working with schools and businesses throughout Rankin County to foster a love of books and reading in children. Her favorite memory was hosting two Madd Hatter parties in one day, one at Oakdale Elementary and the other at Pisgah Elementary. Shamera hopes that we could help a larger number of students with scholarships since it’s always so hard to choose a small number of recipients when the majority of the applicants are more than deserving…