Our History

The National Association of Junior Auxiliaries (NAJA) as we know it today was the result of the work of a small group of determined and dedicated women.  In November of 1941, 100 women representing organizations from 10 towns in Mississippi and Arkansas met in Greenville, Mississippi.  Each group had been assisting their respective communities in the care and welfare of underprivileged children and in civic endeavors arising from the poverty and suffering as a result of the economic depression beginning in 1929. The purpose was simple--to unite these 10 groups into a strong national organization that fostered interest among its members in the social, economic, educational, civic, and cultural conditions around them, to encourage its members to render special volunteer service, particularly to children, and to coordinate with other organizations rendering similar services.  Less than two weeks later, the constitution was ratified and NAJA was born.

26 years after that initial meeting, the charter membership of the Junior Auxilary of Picayune was formed in 1967.