As the League entered the 1980's, many projects flourished, but none quite as successful as the ISAIAH HOUSE, an emergency family shelter set in our service area. In 1986, JLOSH formed a coalition with the United Way of Essex and West Hudson to gather support for such a shelter. The group formed a board of directors, and this shelter for homeless families was incorporated. Volunteers found, secured and renovated a site and provided relocation services for families. As a result of these efforts, JLOSH was the recipient of $10,000 and the BMW Community Impact Award's "Grand Award" for its Isaiah House project in 1989-1990.

Other projects in the 1980's included  Board Member Institute (BMI), where League monies were used to help fund BMI with the National Council of Jewish Women, with the slated goal of enhancing skills of non-profit boards to deliver more effective community service. Safe Rides was a program launched in 1983 for township students to be given a safe ride home if that student is not in a position to drive him or herself.

Caring Kids and Kids on the Block came about locally in the early 1980's as a puppet show intended to educate school children about the personal side of having physical disabilities, such as blindness or being in a wheelchair. League volunteers trouped to third grade classes throughout the school system providing Caring Kidsshows.

Chemo-Care was a program designed for former chemotherapy patients to offer support to new chemotherapy patients through the Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Also, Friendly Visitors worked with the office of Older Adult Services of the City of Orange to visit homebound elderly people.

The Durand-Hedden House in 1980 received League attention when members helped restore this pre-Revolutionary home in Maplewood. Educational and historical pamphlets were published to promote the home.

Family Violence Center was established in cooperation with the Montclair-Newark League to establish counseling and therapeutic services with the Essex County Family Violence Shelter in 1983. The program incorporated counseling and therapeutic services to provide family members with a safe haven from violence in their lives. Along those lines, in 1987 "Parenting" was set forth as a conference, to help community parents prepare their children for the 1990's. Follow-up conferences were held and newsletters were published to continue the goals of the conference. Project Climb-On was a wilderness course pioneered by Outward Bound, that the League offered to community children and their parents for a weekend to emphasize the connection between challenges faced on the wilderness experience and everyday relationships.

WHO (We Help Ourselves) was organized in 1988 to provide an educational program for local school systems to help children in grades K-6 avoid victimization.Children's Specialized Hospital received statewide League support in providing funds and volunteers for this unique hospital specializing in rehabilitating children.FAR (Families Are Reading) grew out of our efforts at Isaiah House to better enable clients there to be independent citizens by increasing their reading skills. 

In the 1990's, JLOSH continued to respond to the urgent needs of our country, as well as our state and local communities. Project Operation Desert Support was established in response to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when JLOSH initiated an intensive support campaign for military personnel involved in the war. Projects involving all League members included a large scale letter writing campaign to hundreds of military personnel; adoption of the 3rd Marine Battalion, with over 800 Marines stationed on the Saudi Arabia/Kuwait border; preparation of videotapes for local military families; and coordination of an area-wide food drive, which generated over $3,300 and 750 grocery bags donated to local military families.

In 1992, the League adopted a new project in collaboration with the Junior League of Montclair-Newark and the  New Community Corporation in Newark. The purpose of this project, called Children Together, was to house sibling groups together, instead of having brothers and sisters split up into different foster homes.

In July 1992, several League members began helping, individually, at  Our Lady of the Valley Soup Kitchen in Orange, by preparing and serving hot meals once a month on Saturdays. Given strong support, this pilot project, Project Food Harvest, was adopted in early 1993. League volunteers and friends fed more than 100 women, children and men, per month on average through this program. We added several food and personal care product drives, and we delivered prepared food to shut-ins in our community. In March 1994, we began a special program of picking up donated food twice a week from Sodexho USA Inc., the independent food contractor for Saint Barnabas Medical Center, and delivering it directly to Our Lady of the Valley Soup Kitchen, St. Rocco's Family Center and Mother Teresa's Soup Kitchen in Newark, Children Together, Isaiah House, and other groups in need. In 1999, the League served its last meal at the soup kitchen as part of Project Food Harvest.

Rocking the Babies was a community project initiated to address the statewide crisis of "Boarder Babies," who were left in hospitals for extended periods, because of the problems of their families. From 1994-96, JLOSH assisted Newark Beth Israel Hospital staff by actively cuddling, rocking, feeding and caring for boarder babies on a regular basis. 

In 1994, the League began a cooperative effort with  Student/Partner Alliance to provide economically disadvantaged but determined youth with an opportunity to earn their high school diploma in an alternative private school through a combination of financial and personal support. Since 1994, JLOSH has provided more than $50,000 in tuition assistance as well as group mentoring, cultural activities and community service opportunities to teenage girls attending The Chad Science Academy in Newark. 

In the late 1990's, the League developed its  Pink Ribbon program, a breast cancer education and screening program for lower-income minority women in Orange. The high cost of mammography was identified as the most significant barrier to early breast cancer detection for these women. To meet this need, the Junior League collaborated with the American Cancer Society, the Saint Barnabus Medical Center, the City of Orange Health Department and the North Jersey Affiliate of Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to provide education, free mammograms and free treatment for the women in Orange until 2002. In 2000, the JLOSH received the BMW Community Impact Award's "Merit Award" for its Pink Ribbon program.