2019: The Community of Lights

Inspired by a city view from an airplane window, the Junior League of Birmingham started a project to reflect their vision of a unified community. They created a five-year centennial fundraiser titled the Community of Lights. Their goal: to raise $1 million as a gift to the city of Birmingham in 2022. The funds will go to creating a home for the One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center, a collaborative initiative dedicated to improving the lives of domestic violence and sexual assault victims.

The Community of Lights has two objectives: to increase awareness and raise funds for the community. Birmingham’s approach has been to enlist a cross-section of the Birmingham community, independent of gender, sexual orientation, creed, ethnicity or status. They began by selecting 20 influential men and women to serve as Torchbearers for the Community of Lights. Each Torchbearer raises $10,000 and then passes their torch on to another member the following year. By 2021, the JLB will have 100 Torchbearers in total, thousands of new advocates and a substantial gift to the city they serve.

Within the first two years alone, the Community of Lights far exceeded the League’s goal raising $435,634 through 1,517 individual donors. That’s over 1,500 new advocates, supporters and friends of JLB, unifying their community in an unprecedented way, and in just two years they are almost halfway to building a new home for One Place Metro.

Congratulations Junior League of Birmingham for your fantastic work!