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June 2001
Volume 1, Number 1 |
Soroptimists Celebrate Success
St. Helena Sunrise
President Margaret Friedrich
St. Helena Sunrise is a young club, chartered in 1995. Over the years, we have listened to local needs and as a result, we have been able to touch all segments of our community: young and old, groups and individuals.
Soroptimist "The Best For Women" is illustrated by our sponsorship of the St. Helena High School girls' soccer team. Seeing a need and desire, we hosted a dinner and raised $12,000 to begin this program. We continue this support by providing uniforms and an annual scholarship to a graduating senior soccer player.
The other hands-on and monetary support we give our community, both separately and in cooperation with other service organizations, include:
- Creative Living Senior Christmas Dinner
- Breakfast With Santa
- We Care Animal Shelter
- High School Academic Scholarships
- Community Pool Free Swim Day
- Napa Emergency Women's Shelter
- Fire Department Annual Open House
- Sponsor Fire Department Training Trailer
- Christmas In April
- Harvest Festival Annual Fun Run
The annual Crab Feed, held jointly with Soroptimist International of St. Helena, is our biggest fund-raising event which supports all of our community service projects. This year's event was our most successful ever, netting over $45,000! This is a good example of the community helping us help the community.
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Vacaville
President Tara Baumann
Martha Stewart coins this phrase "IT'S A GOOD THING" time and time again. It amazes me how she makes something beautiful out of everyday objects. Well, that's what we did this year. Soroptimist International of Vacaville, a small ordinary club, with extraordinary women, made this year truly beautiful. We tied into each other's talents, coordinated the vision and the mission of Soroptimist International, and accomplished tasks of which a club our size should be really proud.
We celebrated our 40th year of service, shopped 'til we dropped at Mervyn's child spree, painted the town purple to raise awareness for domestic violence, collected and turned in over 100 cell phones for Cell to Cell, raised an armload of money for breast cancer, assisted other community projects along the way, and managed to have fun and become better friends.
Our outstanding SOLT program was honored at the Regional Conference by receiving the Eloise B. Cushing Award. With the publication of Soroptimist International of Vacaville, Inc. -- Four Decades of Service, Vacaville's SOLT committee has documented the club's 40 year history in a publication featuring a time line of events since the club's charter in August of 1960. The whole thing started when one of the new members, asked, "So, what is it that you women do?" The project involved locating and examining boxes and boxes of club documents and gathering as many Past Presidents' Books as possible. Besides being able to view the past accomplishments of the club, there is now a central "resource center" of information for new and old members alike.
District IV
Editor's Note: Thanks District IV. Every club in District IV submitted the following articles for the newsletter through your District Director Kay Ritter.
Cloverdale
President Ann Silva
2001 marks Cloverdale's 20th Birthday of serving our community from the young to the senior citizens. We hope all of you will join us in our celebration! Fifteen years ago, our club formed the Cloverdale Boys and Girls Club that benefits approximately 400 local youth. After finding other community sponsors for this project, we continue to serve on the center's Board of Directors and support its programs with funds and supplies. For the past 13 years our members, together with several other local organizations, prepare and serve Thanksgiving dinner for up to 350 people.
We also purchase and collect new blankets and warm clothing to all who attend. Throughout the year our members sponsor a girls' softball team, adopt a school classroom, and support the following: a school reading program, a school music programs, the Cloverdale Family Service, Boy's and Girl's Shoe Fund, Project Graduation, Sonoma County Humane Society, Cloverdale's Children's Halloween Party, Youth in Action, a center for abused children, and the new Senior Center. We DO make a difference!
Healdsburg
President Lisa Schaffner
As part of making the community a better place to live in all ways, Healdsburg members donate hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each year to a variety of projects designed to improve the quality of lives of women and children, teen, and seniors. From providing shoes to less fortunate teens, toys and grocery certificates to needs children and their families at our annual Christmas Celebration of Giving party, encouraging scholarship and volunteerism with awards that recognize outstanding students in high school, teaching students the responsibilities of parenting with the Baby Think It Over dolls, to renovating the living area of the Battered Women's Shelter and supporting Home Hospice and Senior Citizen Programs, Soroptimist members are involved in all aspects of our community. Our annual fund-raiser in the Healdsburg Town Square is welcomed by the local merchants as a stimulus to their business and promotes community involvement. This year our club has grown by five new members.
Marin County
President Jane Brennan
Marin County members have made significant contributions to their community and Soroptimist organization projects since 1952. In recent years, the club has supported MAWS (Marin Abused Women's Shelter), Whistlestop Senior Center, Rotary Manor for seniors, a hearing test van for children, Marin Family Literacy Program, and Jeannette Prandi Abused Children's Center. The club selected its Violet Richardson Award nominee and plans to continue its youth scholarship programs next year.
Mendocino-Sonoma Coast
President Anne Decker
Since 1979, Mendocino-Sonoma Coast members have helped shape our community through projects designed to address specific needs such as E.S.C.A.P.E.S. which assists local victims of domestic violence, the Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Awareness campaign and the Healing Well, a women's wellness center which is operated by one of our members, Dr. Mona Khanna, a gynecologist. We also contribute funds for medical treatment for victims of life threatening diseases, educational grants to deserving women and scholarship awards for youth: Making a Difference for Women Award, the Women's Opportunity Award and the Violet Richardson Award.
In addition to sponsoring children's reading and character building programs, student yearbook camps and Take Your Daughters to Work Day, our members also work with other service organizations in the community to promote health and safety and a cleaner environment. Through our members' enthusiasm and hard work, our ways and means eve3nts that support these projects have been more successful every year. Last year our annual Architectural Tour and Wine Tasting event netted $12,000, and our Fashion Show and Lobster Sale raised over $4,000. We are all committed to improving the quality of life for the people in our community and to helping create a better world through service.
The North Bay
President Robin Bailie
From our Women's Opportunity Award recipient to the Violet Richardson Award, gifts to the Miss Marin scholarship program, the Novato Theater Restoration, the Novato Human Needs Center and Marin County Friends of the Library, Soroptimist International of the North Bay touches the lives of many in our community.
Novato
President Karen Nathanson
Our club has increased the public's awareness on many of the most important and controversial issues facing our community as well as support many of its programs for women and children: Human Needs, the Children's Reading Room and children's recreation. For the past two years, we have sponsored a public forum on domestic violence, featuring speakers from the judicial system, law enforcement and victims. We have long supported the Marin Abused Women's Shelter. The club hosts a bi-monthly public television program that covers a variety of issues from health education and environment to political debates.
Santa Rosa
President Helen Sager
It is notable that during is 56-year history, the Santa Rosa club has produced several Region governors, Federation officers including treasurer and president, and an International president, Patricia D. Daniels. recently, Patsy was among the honorees of the Women of Distinction awards brunch hosted by the Santa Rosa club, which included Superior Court Judge Cerena Wong and the five women who started the National Women's History Project in Sonoma County.
Last year the club sponsored a timely public forum: Domestic Violence: How It Affects the Workplace, moderated by the Chief of Police. Speakers included the District Attorney, Judge Wong and the director of the Abused Women's Shelter. Over the years members have innovated many other important projects in the community, a number of which have subsequently received public funds from local and state government. Some of these projects include Visiting Nurses, Aid to Infant Development, literacy programs, educational scholarships for youth, retraining assistance for women re-entering the workforce, sponsorship of rooms at the Senior Center and the Family Support Center, the YWCA Domestic Violence Program, and purchasing over 3000 pairs of new shoes for needy school children.
In addition, members recently refurbished a room at the Abused Women's Shelter dedicating it to the memory of one of our former presidents, Josephine Deyo. Ten years after purchasing and donating the Fire Safety House to the Sonoma County Fire Chief's Association, members are raising funds to replace the original that has been toured by 35,000 elementary school children. The house is electronically equipped to demonstrate fire safety and prevention.
Sonoma Sunrise
President Conni Wilson
From ecology to education, health to parenting, Sonoma Sunrise members have provided many services that have impacted our community and contributed to improving the lives of our residents. Our club supplies newspapers to classrooms for innovative curriculum projects, provides volunteers and financial support for the Teen Parent Program that helps young mothers graduated high school, helps fund the YWCA Sheriff's Department Counseling Project for victims of Domestic Violence, the Ecology Center that educates the public on managing resources and safeguarding the environment, Relay for Life fund-raiser for cancer research, and Unity Day that promotes equality and the status of women.
We are especially proud of the financial and hands on support we have given over the last few years to the Teen Parent Program. In February, we held a professional dental examination/cleaning and education workshop for the youth mothers and their children along with providing classes on nutrition and overall health. Our club also sponsors the Women's Opportunity Awards and the Violet Richardson Award. These efforts are funded through our annual fashion show that is held the first Saturday in November.
Sonoma Valley
President Jo Ann Chase
The second annual Hit the Road Jane life skills seminar was another outstanding success. This daylong program was held at the Embassy Suites conference rooms on February 7, 2001, and was attended by over 80% of the graduating senior girls from the two high schools in Sonoma. Along with ideas from motivational speakers during breakfast and lunch, the girls received critical information and materials on how to apply for and keep a job, workplace issues, women's legal issues, health and personal safety, bank accounts, charge cards and how to maintain credit, and renting an apartment. The cost for the day is $18,000, which is funded by an endowment established for this purpose.
In addition to this laudable project, the club continues to fund the Youth Citizenship Awards as well as participating in the Violet Richardson Award and Women's Opportunity Awards. Members also provide hot chocolate to the community for Santa's arrival at City Hall and sponsor an annual Easter Egg Hunt in Sonoma Plaza. Sonoma Sunrise has welcomed two new members this year.
Ukiah
President Sharon Barker
Celebrating 52 years of service to our community, the Ukiah club is purchasing our first Fire Safety House to educate children about fire prevention, and more importantly, survival. We will donate this specially equipped house on wheels to the Fire Chiefs of Mendocino County in June of 2001. Throughout the past half century, our members have dedicated their time and money to filling the needs of the community through projects such as aiding the homeless, supplying clothing for women returning to work, providing Christmas dinner with toys for every child in approximately 700 families for the past 20 years, donating suitcases and toiletries to children in foster care, granting annual scholarships for students and continuing education for women retraining for new careers and distributing 35 Baby Think It Over dolls for middle school students (as a deterrent to early parenthood. For the past 44 years, we have sponsored an annual swim meet and help provide funds for students to attend other athletic competitions. We also maintain a Disaster Relief Fund for immediate disasters. Because of our many years of very visible service to our community, our fund-raising efforts are well supported.
Yokayo Sunrise
President Mary Rowland
The members of the Yokayo Sunrise club have not only warmed the hearts of the people living in Ukiah and the surrounding area, but their feet as well! In partnership with the local WalMart, we distributed over a mile of socks to the homeless, to senior citizens, to men and children escaping abusive homes, to impoverished families, and to those in crisis being assisted by the Red Cross. Hospice received the proceeds of our Dessert-a-Month club raffle.
A young woman volunteer and her Ukiah High School Interact Club were honored for their service to the community with a Violet Richardson Award. A single mother was encouraged to continue on her pathway to a better life in our community with our largest Women's Opportunity Award ever. Children received Christmas gifts, and foster children were treated to a movie in partnership with Washington Mutual Bank. The babies and toddlers of Ukiah's High School young parents all received homemade afghans and quilts for Christmas. Ten more American flags will grace the streets of Ukiah with the help of the VFW, and senior citizens will have their meals delivered in new containers we provided. We Soroptimists have made Ukiah a better place for us all.
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