Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach truly supports our global mission of improving the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social & economic empowerment.
We know empowered women & girls can and will change the world for good!
Here is what we accomplished this year:
PROGRAMS
Goal: Strongly encouraged to participate in SIA’s Dream Programs: Live Your Dream, Training & Education Awards for Women and Dream It, Be It, career support for girls who face obstacles to success.
Live Your Dream…we awarded 8 deserving women, who are heads of household enrolled in an undergraduate program, with a total of $12,500. Our club received 12 applications, sharing the ones we did not choose with other clubs who needed applicants. The 4 we shared were chosen by those clubs as awardees. One of our honorees advanced to the region level and received an additional grant.
In addition, we took this program a little further and adopted our first Beyond the Cash Award recipient, Allison Cuff.
Dream It, Be It...in the summer, when most clubs go dark, our club presented the program to 6 teenage girls at Olive Crest’s Transitional Housing Program. These foster youths will not be reunited with their families. We also delivered this program, in partnership with SI Newport Harbor Area, to female students at Back Bay High School in the fall. As a club, we invested 120 hours in mentoring the girls.
MEMBERSHIP
Goal: To have a net change in membership of not more than -1%.
Our club grew 13.2%. We added 15 new members for a total of 60 members. These members contributed to our club by being part of the board and joining one of our 18 committees. From the region, we received the Governor’s Cup for the largest number of new members in the region for the club year. 12 members attended the Winter District meeting, and 3 members attended the Desert Coast Region 2019 Spring Conference.
FUNDRAISING
Goal: To focus on fundraising events that will help to maximize the number of women and girls that we serve.
Through various events such as Wine Tasting, Bunco’s, Paint Night, Derby Day, Walk to Make a Difference and the Holiday Fundraiser as well as donations made by many of our generous members and organizations in our community like AES, HB Auto Dealers, Walmart, Baci Restaurant and Jersey Mike’s, we raised approximately $38,000 to fund our programs.
PUBLIC AWARENESS
Goal: To increase recognition in the community
SIHB a website with a blog, FB page and a Twitter account. We have partnered with the Assistance League of Huntington Beach, who not only supported us but also helped us promote our Day of Empowerment. We were featured on HB News, a local channel, regarding our Day of Empowerment. We reached out to community organizations for grants and in-kind donations, creating awareness as well as donations. For the second year in a row, we received a badge from Great Non-Profits as people gave testimonials about our club. We secured our first local corporate sponsor, AES.
We would like to thank everyone for helping us make this year a success!
Marcelle Capps, President