Lezah Stenger and Stephanie Stenger

[00:01] LISA STENGER: My name is Lisa Stenger I'm almost 75. Today's date is Monday, May 2, 2022. We're in the Ozarks, Missouri. My interview partner is Stephanie Stenger and she is my oldest daughter.

[00:19] STEPHANIE STENGER: My name is Stephanie Stenger I'm 53. Today's date is Monday, May 2, 2022. The location is the Ozarks, Missouri. My interview partner is Lisa Stenger and she's my mother. So, mom?

[00:36] LISA STENGER: Yes.

[00:37] STEPHANIE STENGER: What interested you in joining the Junior League or how did you hear about it?

[00:43] LISA STENGER: Well, I heard about it from my sister in law, Beverly, and I was interested in joining because I, I'm not from Springfield and I just married your dad and we moved here and I didn't know anybody, I just knew Beverly. So it was a good opportunity for me to meet her friends and be a part of learning about the community.

[01:13] STEPHANIE STENGER: So what happened when you joined?

[01:16] LISA STENGER: I got really busy, that's for sure. There was so much going on back then. In the old days we had so many hours we had to perform on committees or in projects at the plaid door. We were regimented.

[01:41] STEPHANIE STENGER: What year was it?

[01:43] LISA STENGER: The year I joined was 1975.

[01:48] STEPHANIE STENGER: So you had three kids?

[01:51] LISA STENGER: Yeah, I had three kids. I was lucky to have a good housekeeper or I wouldn't have been able to do as much as I wanted to do. And gosh, I made so many friends that I wouldn't have made. I still keep making them. I love the organization. And when did you join?

[02:13] STEPHANIE STENGER: So after law school, I moved back to Springfield and started working with the family business. Dad. And which is residential real estate development. And most of my friends from high school didn't live in Springfield anymore. And my job was about construction, so I never met any women. I would just see men all day. So although I have to admit, growing up around the Junior league, I wasn't super excited about it. I thought maybe that I didn't want to do it just because I don't know, I don't know why, but I was, I didn't think I wanted to join. And so then when I realized I was only meeting other lawyers or men in construction which were not very interesting, I decided that it might be a good idea. So that was in 1999 and my college roommate Sarah Fraking was here and we decided to join together and we were both pregnant, which was kind of. I know. And then I met all these people, just tons of people that I never in a million years would have met.

[03:31] LISA STENGER: Oh, I understand. That's exactly how it happened with me. But it's interesting that you didn't want to join in the beginning. And as it turns out, we made history by being the first and only so far mother and daughter to be president of the league. So thanks for following in my footsteps.

[03:55] STEPHANIE STENGER: It worked out well for both of us.

[03:57] LISA STENGER: It did.

[04:00] STEPHANIE STENGER: So people, I think a lot of people have a misconception about the Junior League especially. I think they think of it as Southern or kind of the old fashioned things. But Springfield isn't really that way. You all started working on a big project when you were the head, when you were the president. Tell us about that.

[04:21] LISA STENGER: Yes, I was the president in 1986, or my term ended in 86. And I then joined an ad hoc committee to research the feasibility of having a hands on interactive children's museum. And this committee was not just Junior League members, but other community members and the Greene County Medical Auxiliary because they had a very small exhibit that they took around to schools, you know, about your eyes and your ears and that kind of thing. So they were interested in this children's museum. And that committee lasted until 1991. So I'm going to interrupt you.

[05:25] STEPHANIE STENGER: Okay. So in 1986, that's the year I graduated from high school.

[05:29] LISA STENGER: Right.

[05:30] STEPHANIE STENGER: And I'm the oldest of your four children.

[05:32] LISA STENGER: Yes.

[05:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: So. And my brother, the youngest one's eight years. So you would take us all around the country.

[05:37] LISA STENGER: Yes.

[05:38] STEPHANIE STENGER: Looking at children's museums.

[05:40] LISA STENGER: Right.

[05:41] STEPHANIE STENGER: And the thing that I remember the most about that is I must have been in college, maybe, I don't know. I was either in high school or college. I was pretty old. And you took us to the Baltimore.

[05:55] LISA STENGER: I remember that too.

[05:57] STEPHANIE STENGER: The Baltimore wasn't that funny. Was it the aquarium? Was it a children's museum?

[06:00] LISA STENGER: It's a children's museum.

[06:01] STEPHANIE STENGER: It is a children's museum.

[06:03] LISA STENGER: You were living in Washington.

[06:05] STEPHANIE STENGER: Oh, that's right.

[06:06] LISA STENGER: And then we came to visit you and then we went to that museum.

[06:09] STEPHANIE STENGER: So it must have been either the summer of me being in law school or a summer that I was in college. Anyway, so there was the coolest exhibit. I know I've told this before, but.

[06:21] LISA STENGER: No, which one was it?

[06:23] STEPHANIE STENGER: So there was an exhibit set up and Zach was here, was with us.

[06:27] LISA STENGER: Oh, I know which one it was.

[06:28] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. So we sat and it was for two people and you would sit on either side of a two way glass that was sort of a mirror. And they could change the way what you saw in that mirror, I don't know what they changed. Some kind of filter in between us. And so you would superimpose your face on the face of the person sitting across from you. And I've never thought of myself as looking like Zach, but we looked identical like you. The outlines of our face were exact. It was like a lightning bolt of, oh, my gosh, I look exactly like Zach.

[07:08] LISA STENGER: You all looked exactly like each other when we saw the bone structure. Yeah, yeah, that was. It's interesting that you remember that because I remember that too. And do you remember that same day we were in downtown Baltimore and there was a car on fire right in the middle of the street?

[07:28] STEPHANIE STENGER: No, I don't remember that.

[07:30] LISA STENGER: Well, Stu was with us.

[07:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[07:32] LISA STENGER: As I remember, he said, mom, there's a car on fire. I thought, well, there really is. It's right in the middle of the street. Weird, but I digest from what we were talking about.

[07:45] STEPHANIE STENGER: But anyway, go ahead with DCE.

[07:49] LISA STENGER: We decided in 1991 that it was feasible that it would be great for Springfield to have at Children's Museum. But we wanted to make sure. So before we started doing anything, we contracted to have the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit, it's a traveling exhibit come to Springfield for young children so the school age kids could go. We had it at the Vandervoort Center.

[08:22] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[08:23] LISA STENGER: And I think it was two or three days and school, the schools came and it was overwhelming how much everybody loved it. So we got a lot of community support to continue looking.

[08:38] STEPHANIE STENGER: Well, so let me ask you this, because what I think of about the Discovery center at the beginning is the Shackleton exhibit.

[08:45] LISA STENGER: Was that the same we had that? No, it was. We were in our building when we had Shackleton, we didn't have any buildings. And between 91 and 98, we bought the three buildings downtown. And you know, they were old and been empty for one was a motor, something.

[09:09] STEPHANIE STENGER: It was like it was a bus station. I remember going, well, one end was.

[09:13] LISA STENGER: A bus station and the other end was Martin's motor. They were all. It was all built like 1930s. So we bought these three buildings, but we renovated only the first two. The smaller part, not the Greyhound bus. And we spent those years building, renovating, bringing in exhibits, setting up programs, until we opened in 1998.

[09:51] STEPHANIE STENGER: So was it always a separate entity or did the Junior League own it or how did that work?

[09:58] LISA STENGER: Well, once we decided to have it, we made it our own. And so the board from then on, from 91, 92 was just junior League people.

[10:12] STEPHANIE STENGER: Okay. So you got rid of the community members, but it was only Junior League. But then was it the Junior League running It. Or was it a separate 501?

[10:23] LISA STENGER: Yes. The board was incorporated and we ran it.

[10:27] STEPHANIE STENGER: Okay. But they were all Junior League members.

[10:30] LISA STENGER: Yeah. And then, you know, later on it, once we got into the building, we had new community partners come on board.

[10:40] STEPHANIE STENGER: So what year did they open? Did you say?

[10:44] LISA STENGER: 1998.

[10:45] STEPHANIE STENGER: And it's 22 right now.

[10:48] LISA STENGER: Yeah.

[10:48] STEPHANIE STENGER: So, gosh, you're coming up on the 25th anniversary.

[10:51] LISA STENGER: I know. It's really unbelievable how it has transformed from the beginning.

[11:00] STEPHANIE STENGER: Do you think it's weird that the Junior League doesn't. It's not automatic. Like, if you go into the Discovery center, you don't see Junior League.

[11:12] LISA STENGER: No, but, you know, that's what the Junior League has always wanted to do. We bring projects to the community, and once they're on their own, once they're on their sustainable.

[11:25] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[11:25] LISA STENGER: We give it to the community.

[11:28] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. I think that's cool.

[11:30] LISA STENGER: Yeah, I think we've done that with lots of projects. Kozk number one. We brought that public tv.

[11:38] STEPHANIE STENGER: So what you said, the Traveling Nurses.

[11:42] LISA STENGER: Was that like, Traveling Nurses?

[11:44] STEPHANIE STENGER: For some reason, I think I've read that somewhere that they were the first project.

[11:48] LISA STENGER: They were. Jan Horton.

[11:50] STEPHANIE STENGER: Oh.

[11:50] LISA STENGER: Brought that as the first one. And the Boys and Girls Clubs. Only it was Girls Clubs then.

[11:56] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[11:58] LISA STENGER: And Webster said, you know, there are so many underprivileged kids, Girls that don't have a place to go. And that's how the Girls Club started. And then 10 or 15 years later, they combined the two.

[12:13] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[12:14] LISA STENGER: And it's still going strong.

[12:17] STEPHANIE STENGER: Did I have swim lessons in the Girls Club?

[12:20] LISA STENGER: You had swim lessons at the Y.

[12:22] STEPHANIE STENGER: At the Y. Okay. Because somebody else said that they remember having swimming lessons at the Girls, because it was across the street. Is that from the Y?

[12:31] LISA STENGER: Yeah. Yeah, the Girls Club.

[12:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: I remember going to the Y.

[12:33] LISA STENGER: You were going to the Y. Yeah. You didn't go to the Girls Club, but it was good that they were right across the street from each other for parents bringing their children.

[12:46] STEPHANIE STENGER: So we had. So that. I know you keep saying this, and I guess I'm not listening. Say it again. 98. Is that what you said? Yeah, 98. So you. Discovery center opened in 98. That's amazing.

[12:59] LISA STENGER: I know. And it was totally run by volunteers. There were no paid people, and it was difficult. I know your brother. Your little brother Stu would go down there with me. You know, it's not perfect condition. And he'd go on Saturdays with me, and we'd have to clean up this or, you know, put the supplies in. He'd say, we going to that place down there again, Mom? I said, yeah, we are. Come on, you got to help me. We had a lot of garage sales there.

[13:36] STEPHANIE STENGER: Oh, yeah.

[13:38] LISA STENGER: Just to get people to come in. But one of the things we did. You said Shackelford. We had Bob Ballard, you know, who found the Titanic. Well, he has a project, and he still has it. It's a project called Jason's Project.

[13:54] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[13:55] LISA STENGER: It's a submarine and Argonaut. And you could. We had two kids from Springfield chosen to go on the real thing.

[14:04] STEPHANIE STENGER: That's cool.

[14:05] LISA STENGER: And then it was all interactive in the school room by video.

[14:13] STEPHANIE STENGER: That's cool. They had him at MSU in the, you know, the series they have of Public affairs. Public Affairs. That was just a couple of years ago.

[14:23] LISA STENGER: I was gonna say that wasn't very long ago.

[14:26] STEPHANIE STENGER: And he's still doing the same thing.

[14:27] LISA STENGER: He's still going. Yeah, he's. It's good. Great project. And it really got a lot of people into Discovery Center. School system has been very supportive. And in return, I think the Discovery center has been supportive to it. This year, the Discovery center, during the pandemic closed to people and opened for 200,000 free hours to the kids of healthcare workers and rescue workers so that they would be able to go to their jobs. They served 50,000 meals during that time. So the center for Education Reform, who's backed by Forbes, decided to have a competition. And I don't know if it. I don't know how that started, but they did. It was this year only for educational institutions. What you had done for the underprivileged, your community, to help. Throughout the pandemic, Discovery sent their history in. They won the million dollar award.

[16:04] STEPHANIE STENGER: No, I can't believe that.

[16:06] LISA STENGER: And everybody was so surprised because they expected a school.

[16:10] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[16:11] LISA STENGER: To win it. And then this museum, you know, I think it's. You know, it shows you how great this Discovery center is.

[16:21] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[16:21] LISA STENGER: And Rob Blevins, the director who thinks up all these wonderful opportunities to help our community.

[16:30] STEPHANIE STENGER: He has more energy than anyone I ever seen. He's awesome.

[16:33] LISA STENGER: Yeah. He's a hero of mine.

[16:35] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. And I think Steve Edwards and Steve Edwards, the two of them that had epoxy.

[16:41] LISA STENGER: Yes. I think they work together. I think it's great. I don't think any organization or any project or any agency can survive and succeed without having partners. So tell me about your big project.

[17:01] STEPHANIE STENGER: So after the Discovery center, it was such a big project, and the Junior League spent so much time that for a while, they didn't do large projects, they were just doing small ones each year. Then they got a large donation from the Mahaffeys, the Mahaffey family, in the fall of 1999, $40,000. And so they started thinking they didn't want to just spend it on small projects, so they set it aside and decided to start looking to see what was their next Discovery center, basically. So that was in 99, in December. So the AJLI has. They call it ODI. They have all these ridiculous letters, Organizational Development. I don't know. It's their Leadership conference every year. So in the budget, usually they would send two or three people to the leadership conference, but it was in St. Louis set that year. So in 2001, we sent like a dozen people because we didn't have to fly them or. And I was one of the people that went to that. And so they were talking about, in AJLI language, a signature project. And so we all started talking. Well, that's exactly what we want a signature project to, you know.

[18:34] LISA STENGER: Right.

[18:34] STEPHANIE STENGER: And so that was in December of 01. Then we took basically the whole year of 02, talking to the membership and asking them about what did you have.

[18:46] LISA STENGER: A community survey about what was needed.

[18:48] STEPHANIE STENGER: So that's what I was going to say. So they have. I think they call it the red flags, the red blue ribbons and red flags, but it's called the Community Impact.

[18:58] LISA STENGER: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

[19:01] STEPHANIE STENGER: And one of the issues that was listed was child abuse and neglect. And so throughout 2002, 3 and 4, we were looking at all these issues and asking all our members and having meetings where they went to people's homes, small group meetings, and everyone talking about what we thought was the biggest issues that we wanted to talk about. Then we decided, let's see. So then we got it down to a Crisis Nursery in 2004, 2005, 2005. So then we found out. So then we started talking to the Sustainers and they said they brought us all this information. Joyce Blades had it, that they had looked at doing a Crisis Nursery, like 20 years before that.

[20:04] LISA STENGER: Yes. And she was in charge of that.

[20:07] STEPHANIE STENGER: And so we saw all of their information and the reason why they didn't do it is because they didn't feel like they had enough expertise in the Junior League members themselves. So at this point in 2005, we are mostly, and I don't know the numbers, I didn't look them up, but we're. I'd say 75% are women who work outside the home.

[20:31] LISA STENGER: And it was probably 25% when I was.

[20:35] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. So at that point we had lawyers, we had people in construction, we had. We had all the things that they didn't have in our membership. But once we decided that, we got together and told people what it was we were going to do. So we went out and did what you did with the Discovery center, which was go to community groups. The first people we went to was Cox Hospital and Mercy Hospital and they agreed to be on board. And then Burl Mental, what's it called, center, they have a lot of grant. They get a lot of grants through the federal government. So they were a really good partner to find out how to get. In the 70s, the US government created these crisis nurseries. And so it's a category that has existed that the federal government has funded in the past, but also because of that, they have statistics that show it's an effective thing.

[21:36] LISA STENGER: I didn't know they'd had these grants for so long. They're setting up their own.

[21:41] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. So that was another reason why we chose it, because they had data that backed up the fact that they were. It was effective. Let's see.

[21:52] LISA STENGER: So you could go to the community and prove the need.

[21:56] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yes. So. And also we started hosting a Child Abuse and Neglect Roundtable and which they still do now. And the whole city, it's like a whole day conference with Cox, Mercy United Way, Community Partnership with the Ozarks, maybe some others. But to your point of you can't do anything alone, so you just can't. We didn't want to do anything. That was something that other people were doing. And so we. In fact, before we set up the 501C3, we had all these people who are. This is actually how it started, the child. Child Abuse and Neglect Roundtable. All of those people helped us. They were on our original ad hoc committee deciding. Originally, we thought, oh, we'll buy an old house and refit it. And you know, we went through all the steps of figuring out that that wasn't the most cost effective way to do it or all these things. So we had a lot of partners who in the end really helped us go through finding out the need and finding out what it is we exactly wanted to do. But we.

[23:09] LISA STENGER: Well, you built a beautiful building.

[23:12] STEPHANIE STENGER: Well, and that's another thing. So it's on the Springfield Park Board property that we have a lease with. So the city of Springfield supports us because we're on their property. But we ended up. We went on. We had a $3.6 million campaign and we Got federal money, we got state money, we got local money and that we got to put our building right. So it's interesting because I honestly doing all that lobbying and talking to people and raising the money, I learned more just as in my real job, by doing all these things. It was really something that we all were new at doing and we all. It was certainly part of the Junior League is training volunteers and training women in general to be leaders in the community. And just doing the project itself.

[24:21] LISA STENGER: It really worked.

[24:23] STEPHANIE STENGER: It really worked. I mean, just doing it was fulfilling the mission.

[24:28] LISA STENGER: Well, it's certainly been a success.

[24:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: So it did. It opened in 07. So it's called Isabel's House and named after Isabella O'Reilly, the mother of Rosalie. Rosalie, Charlie, Larry and David.

[24:51] LISA STENGER: Right. Nice tribute to them.

[24:55] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. So they. They have a. Well, so they've been open 15 years.

[25:03] LISA STENGER: Now and seems like it was just yesterday when we were going over there I know.

[25:09] STEPHANIE STENGER: To look at it and I found out the Junior League has supported Isabel's House financially and with volunteers every year up till this is the first year that they are not doing it.

[25:23] LISA STENGER: So the Junior League giving it over to the community.

[25:26] STEPHANIE STENGER: The Junior League has really supported them the whole way.

[25:30] LISA STENGER: That's great.

[25:31] STEPHANIE STENGER: But. So you're still involved in the Junior League? Why? What do you do?

[25:37] LISA STENGER: Well, I'm. They call me to give the history. There aren't very many of us left. So we're trying to make sure that the young people understand where we came from and how things got started. Which makes me think about the new fund. We have Founders Fund now. You were instrumental in starting that.

[26:05] STEPHANIE STENGER: No, that's not true.

[26:06] LISA STENGER: Well, you came to me. You were instrumental in talking to me.

[26:13] STEPHANIE STENGER: But yeah. Maury Mecklin and Cynthia.

[26:22] LISA STENGER: Oh, Cynthia Cooper.

[26:23] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah, but I wasn't sure. Well, yeah, so.

[26:26] LISA STENGER: Oh, yeah.

[26:27] STEPHANIE STENGER: Well, anyway, there were the first founders. We only have a few left. And so the Junior League of Springfield wanted to be sure that we were. Had a way to honor them, the founders and the first. I think there are 40 or something like that.

[26:51] LISA STENGER: Charter members.

[26:52] STEPHANIE STENGER: Charter members, yeah. Of which one, Cynthia is one. And so she was on the ad hoc committee to look at what the Founders Fund would be. And it will be an endowment fund at the Community foundation of the Ozarks and it will fund scholarships and programs and basically just it's a. Supporting the Junior League in the future and honoring those founding.

[27:23] LISA STENGER: And that's going to be announced.

[27:25] STEPHANIE STENGER: And it's going to be announced tomorrow. Tomorrow?

[27:28] LISA STENGER: Yes, yes, tomorrow. Well, that'll be Wonderful.

[27:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: I think they were gonna try to raise an initial $200,000.

[27:37] LISA STENGER: And did they do it?

[27:39] STEPHANIE STENGER: I think they're more than halfway there.

[27:41] LISA STENGER: Oh, perfect.

[27:42] STEPHANIE STENGER: Just as the announcement. So hopefully.

[27:45] LISA STENGER: That's great. I think it's a wonderful tribute and a great way to honor those ladies who had the foresight to bring this to Springfield.

[27:58] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[28:00] LISA STENGER: Community service League. And then they found their way into Junior League.

[28:07] STEPHANIE STENGER: So you. So what do you think? The Junior League. So, Ashley, your granddaughter joined.

[28:13] LISA STENGER: Yes.

[28:13] STEPHANIE STENGER: So what did you say to her when she was talking about it?

[28:16] LISA STENGER: Oh, I. She was very excited. She wanted to join here in Springfield, but she wasn't old enough.

[28:22] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[28:23] LISA STENGER: And then now that she lives in Kansas City, she said, well, I'm gonna. She's very excited to be a part of the community, but also, you know, her personality. She wants to jump in and do a project and likes to see things happening. And she didn't live in Kansas City, so it's helping her make new friends just as we did.

[28:51] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah. I was going to look. Go ahead.

[28:59] LISA STENGER: And she has started in committee work, and I don't think she's chosen a project to work on.

[29:10] STEPHANIE STENGER: Did she join during the pandemic?

[29:13] LISA STENGER: No, she joined before that because she had meetings. And then she started having virtual meetings.

[29:23] STEPHANIE STENGER: And how'd that go?

[29:25] LISA STENGER: She likes it. I think everybody's happy that we can all get together and have roundtable discussions rather than zooming from our offices or homes or wherever.

[29:43] STEPHANIE STENGER: I was trying to find. I feel like we haven't. I haven't given the details of the Founders Fund that I was supposed to give.

[29:51] LISA STENGER: So I'm trying.

[29:53] STEPHANIE STENGER: I'm trying to find more. He's gonna be unhappy if I don't say it, but I can't seem to find it. I guess I didn't print it out. So anyway, what else?

[30:11] LISA STENGER: There are just so many stories to be told from the time I have been in the league. The charity ball, it's still going on 70 years now.

[30:31] STEPHANIE STENGER: 70?

[30:32] LISA STENGER: Yeah, I think.

[30:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: So tell your Martha Stewart story about the Junior League.

[30:38] LISA STENGER: Oh, we had Martha Stewart come to help us decorate for the charity ball, which is an annual event.

[30:48] STEPHANIE STENGER: In what year?

[30:50] LISA STENGER: I don't remember what year it was in. I think it was 87. No, I wasn't president yet. So it was before that, maybe 85, 84. And we all did go out and gather up twigs and leaves and moss and wildflowers. We have it in April, so we did have some things. And Martha Stewart put all of this stuff together and the decorations were gorgeous. The only problem was she was a kind of a prima donna, and we had a little trouble working with her. But I'm not going to speak ill. Of course not.

[31:41] STEPHANIE STENGER: She helped you raise money.

[31:42] LISA STENGER: She did. She definitely did.

[31:44] STEPHANIE STENGER: Okay, So I am going to say who the founders were.

[31:46] LISA STENGER: Okay.

[31:47] STEPHANIE STENGER: Okay. So there were five founders. Suzanne Tynes, Ann waichman, Jan Kanauer Horton, Patty Brooks and Cynthia Hollander.

[31:55] LISA STENGER: Great.

[31:55] STEPHANIE STENGER: So, yeah. So we owe a huge debt of gratitude.

[32:01] LISA STENGER: We do. And for them to work so hard to get it done. And Annie Bentley, she was part of the charter.

[32:11] STEPHANIE STENGER: I think she was a charter member.

[32:12] LISA STENGER: She was a charter member, but she was the one determined to turn our community service league into a Junior League.

[32:19] STEPHANIE STENGER: Oh, was she?

[32:20] LISA STENGER: Oh, yes. That was her major goal. Have you not heard this story? But when we found out we were Junior League.

[32:28] STEPHANIE STENGER: Oh, she was in New York.

[32:29] LISA STENGER: She was in New York. And, you know, that's where the headquarters are. And she was president of the league at the time.

[32:35] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah.

[32:36] LISA STENGER: And she had told. I've forgotten who. One of her brothers? No, the vice president of the league. When you get the call, you call me because I'm going to be in New York at the wedding of my brother. Jan Horton, her sister was with her. And so they called while she was there, said, we're in. We got in. We got approved. So she and Jan took a taxi over to the Junior League headquarters in New York and introduced themselves as the new Junior League in Springfield, Missouri. And they were like, oh, that's so nice. Well, then they. The president of ajl, whatever they call it now, was in a meeting, but they called her out, and when they introduced themselves, she said, you mean you got here from Springfield already? And he explained, no, I was here for my brother's wedding, but we thought we'd rush right over.

[33:46] STEPHANIE STENGER: I do think there's still that excitement there that. Oh, sure, it's certainly changed. And they have different. You know, they've changed with the times, but I think they still have everyone, you know, all excited about projects and they're getting ready to look at their next project and.

[34:06] LISA STENGER: Which will be interesting because it's, you know, been kind of laying low and doing done it a day projects. So I'm interested to see what's going to be next for us. It'll be exciting.

[34:23] STEPHANIE STENGER: Yeah, it will.

[34:24] LISA STENGER: And as exciting as our fundraiser. Plaid door still going strong?

[34:32] STEPHANIE STENGER: I can. Yeah. I mean, I can remember going to the plaid door as a kid over on Commercial Street.

[34:37] LISA STENGER: Yeah, that's where it was.

[34:39] STEPHANIE STENGER: Take all that stuff over there the other thing I guess we should say is that my sister Shannon is also a junior league.

[34:45] LISA STENGER: Oh, yes. She's not as gung ho as we are.

[34:47] STEPHANIE STENGER: No, but she's.

[34:48] LISA STENGER: But she is a done in a day person and she loves it.

[34:52] STEPHANIE STENGER: She is. And that's where she met all of her friends that are still her friends today.

[34:56] LISA STENGER: Yes, it is.

[34:57] STEPHANIE STENGER: So it's cool.

[34:58] LISA STENGER: Yeah. Just passing along anyway.

[35:02] STEPHANIE STENGER: Hopefully we've done what Maury wanted us to do.

[35:05] LISA STENGER: Yeah. I think we.

[35:08] STEPHANIE STENGER: This has been fun.

[35:09] LISA STENGER: It has been fun.

[35:11] STEPHANIE STENGER: All right.

[35:14] LISA STENGER: It.