The Marlton Chapter of Girl Talk, Inc. is a free, safe space for its members to meet weekly at The Gibson House Community Center in Evesham, a space where maybe they never would have had the chance to meet before.
“They all get along and my job mainly is to keep them on the right ball,” said Mary Beth Iannarella, Marlton chapter founder and president, of the group’s members. “I let them be themselves and express themselves … That’s the main job is to listen to them, let them talk to each other and talk to them.”
Iannarella moved to Marlton from Philadelphia in 2001 to seek a better life for her children. She currently works for nonprofit RapRoom Parent To Parent, an organization that advocates for families and their loved ones struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, and she also serves as the municipal alliance coordinator for Evesham Township, coordinating local drug and alcohol prevention programs. As a proud mother of two kids and a stepmom of two, she started the Marlton chapter in 2013 in need to bring community girls together in a safe space where they don’t have to worry about anything and they can just hang out.
Girl Talk, founded by Haley Kilpatrick, is a nonprofit that provides a framework where teenage girls can meet to find strength, learn new skills and create a network of support. High school girls develop leadership skills as they guide weekly meetings for middle school girls, and middle school girls learn vital skills during their most formative years. Back in 2012, Iannarella met the founder of Girl Talk, Inc. at a conference in Las Vegas. Soon after, she put out a social media post asking if anyone would be interested in forming a Girl Talk group for Marlton. It wasn’t long before people mentioned their interest and it grew from there, with more than 100 members excited to meet, chat and participate in activities. Now that it has seen so much success, Girl Talk Marlton continues to thrive, but it’s also looking for group leaders. The leaders plan a lot of the organization’s meetings with Iannarella and most of the meeting themes, whether there’s a speaker or not, is left up to the leaders.
This summer Girl Talk Marlton will do something different with its junk journaling series, where participants will create handmade books from recycled, repurposed and secondhand materials to express themselves freely. Supplies will be included, but non-members must RSVP through email at girltalkmarlton@gmail.com.
Girl Talk Marlton is a baby of Iannarella’s. Seeing the lifelong relationships developed between the girls is positive for her but the main thing that she loves about it is that when the girls come, by the end of the first meeting they relax and notice that it wasn’t what they expected. By participating in meetings and activities it’s what the girls want to do, Iannarella said, and she loves to see everyone be themselves and break out of their shells.
“The girls that look down constantly and are shy, they look up,” Iannarella said. “ … What it does for me is watching them grow into the person that they are. The confidence that they gain, the friendships they make … It gives me chills because I’ve seen it so many times … The feeling that it gives me is why I want to keep doing it because maybe a girl will join that doesn’t look up (that) needs us, that needs these other girls that they’ve never met before to talk to and it makes such a difference in their lives.”
All that Iannarella can ask for is for the girls to want to come to the weekly Tuesday meetings and feel safe and happy. Potential members of Girl Talk Marlton must be aged 10 to 18 and can contact Iannarella through email. More information is also available at www.girltalkmarlton.org or the organization’s social media.
Members of Girl Talk Marlton on the grass outside of The Gibson House Community Center in Evesham earlier this year. Whenever it’s nice outside with a beautiful sunset, the group goes outside to run around and play games.
The group gathers weekly to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for those in need.
