Kimberly Burrows works full time for DePaul Family Services as the marketing director, but she was also the co-chair of this past weekend’s Stocked Market, a Junior League of Roanoke Valley fundraiser that Burrows said was expected to attract 10,000 or more to the Roanoke Civic Center. Vendors came from as far away as California. Many use the Stocked Market as the kickoff to their holiday season shopping.
The Junior League, 83 years old in Roanoke, has put on the Stocked Market for 22 years – the last three in Roanoke after a run at the Salem Civic Center. “The money that we’ve raised …will be used for community grants that we give out,” said Burrows. Vendor fees, ticket sales and corporate sponsorships of the Stocked Market help fill the coffers.
The money dispersed from proceeds includes larger project development grants, supporting three organizations this year: DePaul Community Resources, CHIP and the Roanoke Adolescent Health partnership. Smaller grants are used for after school programs. The grants doled out also come with donated volunteer time by Junior League members.
Another grant this year is funding parenting classes for parents that have had their children removed by social service agencies. (See the Heart Gallery story elsewhere in this issue.) “To [possibly] get their children back, they have to go through these parenting classes,” noted Burrows.
An organization focused on woman of all ages, Burrows said the mission “is to promote volunteerism, enhance the leadership [skills] of women and improve our community.” Those shopping at the Stocked Market may not have been thinking about the fundraising aspect as they scurried to and fro looking for gifts and other items for themselves, but the annual bazaar is a major component of the Junior League’s revenue stream.
