2009: Kathy Barenbrugge

The Junior League of Dayton

Rising Star Kathy Barenbrugge is a woman who has the special ability to utilize her personal and corporate connections to make a difference in her community. For the past three years, her family has prepared up to 200 sack lunches per month for the residents of the St. Frances DePaul homeless shelter. To meet the upsurge in need, she accepted the responsibility of providing the meals year round, mobilizing league volunteers to help.

Seeing an opportunity for volunteerism, Barenbrugge lead the way for the League to participate in Service Nation Day, for which the League joined a coalition of almost 200 national and local nonprofits. Another example of her sharp eye for opportunities is when she learned about an Air Force base moving to Dayton. She formed a team and came up with a plan to utilize the League’s ‘Causing A Stir’ cookbook to help attract new members and to welcome relocated military families to the community.