JL Foundation:
We were extremely disappointed after receiving calls from our sponsors regarding the article published about Fête la Vie in your September issue of St. Charles Avenue Magazine. The article inaccurately identified the ladies of the Junior League Foundationof Greater Covington, their volunteers and guests as responsible for coordinating, putting on and attending the Fête la Vie for leukemia that was held at the Covington Country Club on May 3, 2008. The Junior League Foundation of Greater Covington had absolutely nothing to do with the fundraiser, as it was coordinated solely by The JL Foundation, a non-profit corporation that raises money to help leukemia patients with out of pocket expenses for gas, meals, hotels and air fare. Despite the foregoing, your magazine never identified The JL Foundation in any part of the article.
Upon learning of the article, The JL Foundation immediately contacted Morgan Packard, editor of the magazine, and was promised that your magazine would run a corrected article as written by The JL Foundation in the October issue of your magazine. Unfortunately, your magazine failed to deliver on its promise to run the article submitted by The JL Foundation.
The JL Foundation works extremely hard raising money and taking care of its patients and it was very disturbing to us and our supporters that The JL Foundation was not correctly identified by your magazine. An accurate article of the Fête la Vie and the mission and work of The JL Foundation would have included the following information:
The JL Foundation was established by Bob & Janet Leslie in March of 2002. Thanks to the generosity of Grants, Corporate Partners, Sponsors and Supporters The JL Foundation has been honored to help 135 patients with out of pocket expenses for gas, meals, hotels and air fare. The JL Foundation is now assisting more than ninety leukemia patients and over the last six years has given more than $252,000.00 in assistance. Unfortunately forty-two patients have been lost. The Foundation has been able to provide assistance to each and every individual who has requested it. The JL Foundation is a complete volunteer organization with everyone involved donating their time and services. 100% of all funds raised go directly to the patients.
On Saturday, May 3, The JL Foundation and its guests celebrated Fête la Vie at Covington Country Club. Parents of the Foundation’s beneficiaries like the Bertrauts and Jenkins came to show their gratitude and enjoy a wonderful night of entertainment by Four Unplugged. Everyone enjoyed a variety of comestibles provided by Louisiana Grill, Sweet Daddy’s of Covington, Gerard Cheramie and Outback Steakhouse. The usual array of drinks was accented by Abita Beer, Champagne Beverage, Jim Carey Distributors, Mr. Margarita, Saia’s and Acquistapace’s.
While funds were being raised to help leukemia patients, Mr. David Garrett won the $10,000.00 grand prize. The JL Foundation is seeking ACorporate Partners@. For more information go to www.jlfoundation.org.
Robert P. Leslie – Founder/
Vice-President
Janet C. Leslie – Executive Director/Treasurer
The JL Foundation
Maurepas, La.
Ed. Note:
The article in question was a pictorial of a JL Foundation fundraiser. The event was misidentified as being an activity of the Junior League of Covington. Immediately after discovering the error, the article, as it appeared on our Web site, was changed to show the correct information. A correction announcement, acknowledging and expressing regret for the error was included in the Editor’s column on page 1 of this publication’s October issue. While we did invite the Foundation’s officers to submit background information, no promise was ever made to run “a corrected article as written by The JL Foundation.” We do not allow editorial subjects to write their own content. We do wish the JL Foundation continued success with its important mission.
