La Leche League is an international non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated to providing information, support, encouragement and education to women who want to breastfeed. We typically have two fundraisers per year, and we use the funds as follows:
1. Our favorite thing to do with our funds is to add to our lending library. Information is power, especially where breastfeeding is concerne
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2. Another key to successful breastfeeding is having an adequate support network. The AAP sites this as one of the main reasons breastfeeding is able to continue, and we feel our group provides this service to the community. Our leaders are volunteers, so it is a free alternative to paid breastfeeding help. Having the Mother-to-Mother support of other Moms (most often through group meetings and our closed facebook group page) is the heart of La Leche League. To keep our group as an official LLL group (and therefore, be covered by LLLI liability insurance) we pay group dues and leader dues to La Leche League International.
3. Another important use for our LLL of Meadville funds is to help Moms of our community attend the area La Leche League conference each year. We generally offer one need-based scholarship per year, and this is usually for a Mom who is interested in helping our group grow as a new group leader. More leaders means more meeting times and options, which means we can help more of our community to successfully breastfeed.
4. We also use our funds to pay for publicity materials (copy paper), postage to send books to Moms who can drive to meetings or letter postage for follow-up correspondence or invitations to events. These costs are often subsidized by leaders, since our group funds are limited at the moment.
