Media Release: LA LECHE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATES WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH BY SPONSORING ESSAY CONTEST

This contest is over, but you can read some of the winning essays here!

Schaumburg, IL (March, 2003) La Leche League International (LLLI) is celebrating Women's History Month by sponsoring an essay contest to recognize the achievements of the Founders of La Leche League International. The first-place winner of the contest entitled "How the Seven Founders of La Leche League Have Inspired Me to be a Breastfeeding Pioneer" will receive a $100 gift certificate for the purchase of items in the La Leche League International catalogue. Two runners up will receive copies of the book, SEVEN VOICES, ONE DREAM, which tells the story of the seven LLLI Founders.

Send your 250 words or less essay to Mary Hurt at PRAssociate at llli.org , fax your entry to Mary Lofton at 847-519-0035, or mail your entry to: Essay Contest, La Leche League International, 957 N. Plum Grove Road, Schaumburg, IL 60173-5194. Entries must be postmarked or received by March 31, 2003. Winners will be personally notified and announced on our website April 20, 2003. If you would like your entry returned please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. For complete contest rules visit the Web page at http://www.lalecheleague.org/Release/essayrules.html.

LLLI's Founders demonstrated how a handful of dedicated women changed the world by changing a culture's perception about breastfeeding. In 1956 the value of breastfeeding was greatly underestimated and this womanly art seemed out of the reach of the average woman. Relying upon extraordinary common sense and intelligence, LLLI's Founders set out to help a handful of women in the western suburbs of Chicago and in the process set in motion a movement that resulted in La Leche League International, recognized as the world's foremost authority on mother-to-mother support and breastfeeding.

Today LLLI boasts a Medical Advisory Board, a comprehensive website with millions of visitors a year, and a headquarters that houses the most extensive library of breastfeeding research in the world. LLLI has a network of local Groups that reaches women in over 60 countries, has publications in 32 separate languages, and offers continuing medical education credits to physicians, Lactation Consultants, Registered Nurses, and Registered Dieticians through an annual Physician Seminars, an international Conference and Lactation Specialist Workshops. THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING, published by LLLI and now in its sixth revised edition, has been published in eight languages and in Braille, and has sold over two million copies.

The seven extraordinary LLLI Founders told mothers about the advantages of breastfeeding to mother and child and taught simply but profoundly the womanly art of breastfeeding. LLLI carries on this mission today. LLLI is a non-sectarian, non-profit organization whose mission is to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and the mother.

If you would like more information about breastfeeding or LLLI's programs, visit LLLI's extensive website at www.lalecheleague.org , call LLLI at the above-listed numbers, or email as stated above. LLLI's catalogue contains the latest books on breastfeeding, parenting, and nutrition. It also features pamphlets and tear-off sheets that can be helpful in assisting breastfeeding mothers and other breastfeeding aids.