Starting a New Group
Margaret Robinson
Dublin OH USA
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 40 No. 6, December 2004 - January 2005, p. 133.
One of the many questions
I get about La Leche League is, "Why isn’t there a meeting
in my home town?" I asked this question myself several years ago,
and it changed my life.
The Birth of a New Group
I first attended La Leche
League Series Meetings in Illinois, USA and then in Ohio, USA. The meetings
in Ohio were in a neighboring suburb, but I wondered why there was not
a Group in my suburb. There had been a Group in my home town years before,
but the Leaders had retired and the Group disbanded. I decided at that
point that I would like to become a Leader in order to start a Group
(with a great deal of help!) in my own home town. I met with Martha
Crone, one of the Leaders of the neighboring Group, to discuss leadership
and starting a new Group. We decided that we could work on both things
simultaneously. Fortunately, the Group Martha was working with had four
Leaders at the time, so she was willing to work with me to start the
Group.
Over the next few months,
we located a meeting space, picked a date and time, set up the Treasury,
purchased books, created and distributed publicity flyers, and notified
local newspapers. After six months of preparation, we held our first
meeting. At the first meeting, we had four Leaders and one new mother,
who was a friend of mine. The next month there were four Leaders and
two new mothers. At the third meeting, there were no mothers. (How appropriate
for the topic—"Overcoming Difficulties.") But we continued
with the publicity and by summertime there were approximately five mothers
at each Series Meeting. We thought this was great! Since that time,
our numbers have increased, our Group has two Leader Applicants, three
Leaders, several mothers who are regular attendees, an expanded Library,
and best of all, many mothers and babies in the area who have been helped.
Challenges to Overcome
Meeting Space: We
needed a location that would not charge us a fee, would be available
during the time we wanted to have a meeting, and would be safe for curious
babies and toddlers. We initially met in a meeting room at the public
library, but later changed our location to a local church that had a
more comfortable and appropriate space. We had to change the day of
the week of our meeting, but it was well worth it given the upgrade
in space.
Finances: We were
fortunate to receive personal donations, an Area Chapter grant, and
donations from other local Groups.
Group Library: We
had a shoestring budget, but we also had dreams of a generous Library
for future members. One Leader Applicant took the responsibility of
finding reasonably priced books to purchase for the Library. We also
took advantage of the LLLI New Group Library Book Set (1445-22) to have
new books to lend as well as to sell. Several Groups in the Columbus,
Ohio, USA Area also donated books to us that were duplicates from their
own Libraries. We sent emails and made phone calls to friends and family
who had breastfed to see if anyone could donate any books to the Group.
Publicity: Word of
mouth seems to bring in the most new mothers, but how does one bring
in the first mothers who will spread the word? Our first mode of publicity
was a flyer promoting our Group. After getting the okay from our District
Advisor, we made 50 copies and placed them at doctor’s offices,
libraries, churches, and preschools. Next, we found the email addresses
of local newspapers and sent press releases about our Group starting
up in the area. Finally, we told our friends and neighbors about the
Group and waited for the mothers to arrive.
Learning Experiences
The most empowering lesson
to be learned is that we started this Group with one Leader and one
interested mother. We worked together and took advantage of our strengths
and abilities. Martha is an experienced Leader with an understanding
of the LLL network of support, so she knew what was required to begin
a new Group. I had the energy and interest to do the publicity and to
make arrangements for meeting space. We asked for help where we needed
it and found other Leaders happy to help.
A statement made by Marian
Tompson at the 2002 Ohio Area Conference illustrates what we learned.
I asked her what the biggest challenge is for La Leche League in the
next 50 years. Her answer was, "To meet breastfeeding mothers wherever
they are." I think this is a challenge we can meet.
Margaret Robinson leads
with two Groups, LLL of Dublin and LLL of Crosswoods, both located in
suburban Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was accredited in 2002 several months
after the Dublin Group was formed and is also working as an Associate
Coordinator of Leader Accreditation for Ohio, USA. Margaret lives with
her husband and three children, ages 9, 7, and 3 in Dublin, Ohio, USA.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:22 UTC 2007.
