Spreading good will is something the Lake Highlands Women’s League has taken to heart. The 27-year-old organization has sent hundreds of neighborhood teens off to college with scholarship funds over the years. The group also has supported elementary tutorials to help point students on the path to college.
Last year, the all-women group presented more than $30,000 in scholarships to graduating Lake Highlands seniors, thanks to the League’s annual Holidays in the Highlands home tour fund-raiser.
This year’s home tour is scheduled Dec. 6. Tickets for the home tour are $7; the tour features four Lake Highlands homes decorated for the holidays.
“It’s kind and caring people who will let 1,000 people tromp through their homes,” says Julie Noble, the president of the organization.
As part of the fund-raiser, the league also sponsors a bazaar and luncheon (tickets are $7 for the luncheon) and dessert party. The home tour begins at 10 a.m. and extends until 7 p.m.
The Lake Highlands Women’s League was founded in 1969 after 20 Lake Highlands women decided they wanted a service group focused solely on our neighborhood.
Dallas, Richardson and other surrounding communities had service groups such as the Junior League of Dallas because they were cities, Noble says.
“We didn’t really belong to any particular place,” says Noble, who has lived in Lake Highlands for the past 30 years. “We wanted to maintain our identity.”
The League’s designation as a charitable organization in 1991 helped the group extend more services to our community because the money raised by the group is now tax-deductible, Noble says.
The organization is made up of 75 members and 115 sustaining members. There is a waiting list for new members – 75 active members is the group’s limit, Noble says.
The holiday home tour isn’t the League’s only project. This spring, members plan to visit Northlake Elementary twice a week to tutor children, Noble says.
“Sometimes, just to sit down with a child and read to them is the most fantastic thing you can do for a child’s day,” Noble says.
And at Easter, the League will distribute to needy neighborhood children care baskets filled with underwear, socks and, of course, Easter candy.
The League also sponsors a luncheon and fashion show for residents of Doctor’s Healthcare retirement home. And this spring, the League has decided to start a monthly Bingo night for the elderly.
“We’ve tried to help both spectrums,” Noble says. “The membership is in the middle.”
For information about Holiday in the Highlands and other League projects, call 214-341-0047 or 214-343-4676.
