Born of tragedy. Built on purpose.
The Love You Girl Foundation is a New Jersey 501(c)(3) dedicated to the memory and legacy of Alice M. Jenkins.
Alice
1962 – 2011Alice Michelle Jenkins was born in East Orange, New Jersey, on 18 April 1962, the fourth of Marion and Charles Jenkins' children. The people who loved her called her AJ.
She went to school in East Orange, then to Rutgers in Newark, where she earned a degree in business administration in 1985. Three years later she took an MBA at Penn State. She built a career across finance and technology, and she was, by the account of everyone who knew her, a mother first. She had three daughters.
She and Betty Neal-Mantion were friends for thirty years. They ended every phone call the same way, one saying "Love you, girl" and the other answering "Love you back."
In February 2011 they talked for nearly an hour before the line dropped. They reconnected later that evening, but Betty was at a friend's house, so she said goodbye and hung up without their usual exchange. They agreed to speak the next day. The call that came the next day was from Alice's brother. She had been killed by her husband. She was 48.
What followed was not a campaign or a plan. It was a group of Alice's friends refusing to let her name become a statistic. Betty founded the Love You Girl Foundation with the support of her family, her friends, and her Allstate colleagues, joined by Mattie Crowley, who co-founded it with her, and Delores Mae. Both had been Alice's friends too.
We believe violence is wrong no matter where it comes from, and it should never be tolerated or accepted. From the foundation's mission
Betty Neal-Mantion
Betty is the Founder and Executive Officer of the Love You Girl Foundation and a retired long-time employee of Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company. In 2012 she was named volunteer of the year for her local claim service area, then chosen as Allstate's volunteer of the year across all thirteen claim service areas. In 2013 she received the Jefferson Award for Public Service and represented Allstate at the award ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
The first fundraiser was a gala she held on her fiftieth birthday in July 2012. It raised two thousand dollars for Purple Reign, and it was where the Love You Girl T-shirts first appeared, designed by a friend's daughter, showing two women and the three words.
Essex County Board of County Commissioners, March 2024
The Board formally commended Betty Neal-Mantion for her advocacy against domestic violence, on the occasion of her recognition by the East Orange Senior Volunteer Corporation during its Women's History Month celebration.
How the work has grown
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February 2011
Alice M. Jenkins is killed
Her friends resolve that her name will stand for something.
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March 2012
Allstate Helping Hands Volunteer of the Year
Betty is chosen from across all thirteen claim service areas, and the award carries a five thousand dollar grant for a nonprofit of her choosing.
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July 2012
The first gala
Held on Betty's fiftieth birthday, raising two thousand dollars for Purple Reign. Music, noisemakers, and deliberate applause, made to break the silence around the crime. The Love You Girl T-shirts appear for the first time.
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2013
The Jefferson Award for Public Service
Betty represents Allstate at the award ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
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2016 to 2019
The community says, “Love you back”
Eight community service awards in four years, from the Vashti School of Future Leaders, the NJCEDV Women of Color Task Force, the Order of the Eastern Stars, the Northern New Jersey Black Nurses Association, Harambe Social Services, the St. Matthew Women's Day Committee, and the Community Improvement Association of the Oranges.
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October 2023
The boutique opens
Love You Girl Foundation Boutique Events & More opens at 76 South Orange Avenue, South Orange.
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2024
Workforce readiness begins
Workforce readiness and financial literacy training launches specifically for domestic violence survivors, with a clothing voucher on completion.
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March 2024
Commended by Essex County
The Essex County Board of County Commissioners formally commends the founder's work.
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2026
The boutique moves online
The South Orange Avenue storefront closed on 31 August. The shop moved to online listings, and event planning continues on location, at the client's venue or one secured for them.
The people behind the foundation
Founded by friends, and still run by them. Mattie Crowley and Delores Mae were Alice's friends alongside Betty, and both serve the foundation to this day.
Executive Board
- Betty Neal-MantionFounder and Executive Officer
- Mattie CrowleyCo-Founder and Executive Officer
Board of Trustees
- Jeffrey Jenkins
- Eva Knight
- Sheila Isom
- Delores Mae
- Versie McNeil
- Tammy Nunn-Haynie
- Jennifer Peaks
- Gladys Tonsul
- Gussie NealEmeritus
Good Hands Committee
- Tamara Clark
- Marquita Neal
- Nikkia Neal
- Nicole Neal-Rogers
- Leila Rogers
- Tauron Mantion
- Randy Mantion