National Charity League: What is it? An insight on what some of the girls of McLean do to help out their community!

National+Charity+League%3A+What+is+it%3F+An+insight+on+what+some+of+the+girls+of+McLean+do+to+help+out+their+community%21

Anna Johnson

The Fort Worth Trailblazers class of 2027 at the kickoff meeting for the 2022-2023 school year! The meeting discusses the goals that NCL has for the new year!

Giving back to your community has never been more fun!

National Charity League, or NCL, is an organization that allows mothers and daughters to perform philanthropy together, but this organization is so much more than just charity. NCL is a nation-wide organization, meaning it is all over the U.S. It has many chapters, which are branches of the organization local to you that you can join! There are many Fort Worth chapters, but they divide them up0n what school you attend. The chapter that includes McLean Middle School is the “Fort Worth Trailblazers”.

So, here’s a little more one what NCL does. You can sign up to do philanthropy for local charities like “Don’t Forget to Feed Me”, an animal food bank, or “Project Linus”, where you can make blankets for children in need. NCL ranges from grades 7-12, so in each chapter, there’s a “class” for every grade. In each class, theres a board that contains positions like president, vice president, ect. Everyone has a job, though, like historian and Tea chair, just not everyone has a position on the board. Positions rotate each year, so everyone has a chance to be on the board.

You have monthly meetings with your chapter, where you make sure that everyone is doing there job and that things are running smoothly. The actual meeting part only takes up to 5 minutes, so often meetings will have a group bonding activity, or a guest speaker. Sometimes, meetings can be the class meeting up and doing group philanthropy, like picking up trash along the Brazos river! At one of the class meetings of the Fort Worth Trailblazers class of 2027, we went on a ropes course at Camp Carter.

Payton Shaffer, the Parliamentarian of the Fort Worth Trailblazers class of 2027 says her favorite part of NCL is “The chairs (jobs you have) and what we do.  I think it’s a super great way to get philanthropy hours. You feel really good after, because you got to help out your community”!

The biggest event for the women of NCL is the annual tea. The annual tea is where every girl in the chapter will go to a big tea party, where they serve food, you get to see your friends from all classes, but most importantly, they honor seniors. The tea party is the last event of the NCL year, so it’s a big deal for seniors. They call out each seniors name, the what college they’re going to. Then there is a slideshow showing each seniors baby picture, then showing the same senior’s senior picture. The tea is a very formal event, with a certain theme and dress code. Last year, the theme was “Tea at Tiffanys”.

This organization has helped over 6,000 charities in the U.S., and volunteers over 3 million hours annually! It is truly an amazing organization that provides such an amazing community to help your community through, and every girl that joins loves it!

Would you join?