By McKenna Beery
Staff Writer
From their seventh grade to senior years, girls from all over the South Bay have been giving back to the community through the National Charity League.
NCL held a dinner on March 14 to commemorate the ending of the current Manhattan and Hermosa Beach NCL chapters for the class of 2014.
NCL is a national mother-daughter organization dedicated to serving the community. Each community chapter contains 30 girls who are selected by lottery and legacy. If a seventh grader who would like to join a chapter has a mother, sister or younger sister that has been a part of NCL, she is automatically allowed into the program. If the seventh grader does not have legacy, she must have at least two sponsors who write letters of recommendation to help them enter the league.
The goal of NCL is to promote a sense of community responsibility for the daughters and to strengthen the mother-daughter bond as they grow together and improve the community. The mothers and daughters participate in a six-year educational program of philanthropic work, leadership training, educational activities and cultural events.
“I started NCL because I thought it would be a good experience to help others,” senior member Makena McCarroll said. “I also grew much closer with my mom.”
This year, seniors Lane Bissett, Hannah Daly, Alex Daniels, Makena McCarroll, Erica Miller, Sam Resin and Emma Salzman all graduated from the National Charity League program.
“These girls are all so hardworking, and I am glad I got to experience NCL with all of them,” Miller said. “A lot of them are my closest friends, and it was nice spending time with them while doing things for other people.”
All of the NCL members participate in philanthropic work throughout their six years. NCL holds philanthropic partnerships with the Children’s Dental Health Clinic, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, 1736 House Family Crisis Center, Adopt-A-Family, Any Soldier and The Jimmy Miller Foundation.
“I liked helping the organizations because you are giving back to the community,” Miller said. “It is crazy how packing food for people at the Los Angeles Food Bank makes a difference. Watching the faces of the elderly people when you gave them their food made it one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.”
The girls and their mothers ran their own monthly meetings, which consisted of discussing budgets, new service opportunities and reviewing cultural events planned for the future.
Every member is required to have a job within the chapter: being on the board, introducing speakers, organizing events or being a photographer. These jobs, as well as the people in charge of them, change every year.
“I enjoyed every minute of my NCL experience serving as the senior recognition chair,” McCarroll said. “I was able to coordinate with my fellow partners and the event planners to ensure that everyone enjoyed a great graduation night.”
Resin says that she is thankful for NCL because of the opportunities in which she could interact with people and could see the gratification she brought to their lives. At The Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation, she helped teach surf classes to veterans who were struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. She helped the soldiers to mentally reintegrate back into society after their tours.
“Many of the veterans had lost limbs and could not exercise daily, so it was amazing to see them benefit from a simple surf instruction,” Resin said.
Bissett also worked with a variety of organizations. However, she says her favorite was PressFriends, an organization that works with elementary students in higher need areas produce school newspapers. Bissett would help the students develop school newspapers. She loved the opportunity to mentor the children and develop a close personal connection with the students. Each workshop she helped with was two hours long, but she spent extra time editing the children’s articles.
“The elementary reporters take a lot of pride in their paper, and seeing them proud of their accomplishments is very heartwarming,” Bissett said.
Daly’s favorite event in NCL was P.S. I Love You Day, which she has participated in every year with her mother. P.S. I Love You Day is an event at the beach where kids who are rarely exposed to the ocean get the opportunity to come enjoy the beach for the day. Daly worked with her mother as a mentor for the event, and they both spent time with one specific child each year.
“What is cool about this event is that you get to bond and really focus on just one child throughout the whole entire day, while showing them the beach,” Daly said. “It is really a lot of fun and makes me realize how lucky we are to live near the ocean.”
The seniors were all recognized at a dinner at the Manhattan Beach Marriott on March 16, where they celebrated their NCL journey with their friends and family. At the dinner, photos from throughout the girls’ NCL experience were displayed in a video montage, while voice overs of their mothers saying a message to each of them played in the background.
The commissioner of the Manhattan and Hermosa Beach chapter of NCL acknowledged each girl for everything she accomplished throughout her years participating in NCL, and all of the seniors received a certificate of competition.
“I thought the dinner was very well-done and elegant,” Resin said. “It was a nice recognition and send-off to college, and I could tell that everyone enjoyed it. Throughout my whole NCL journey, I gave back to my community, created everlasting friendships with the other girls in NCL, and created a stronger bond with my mom. I am very thankful for it all.”
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