Sometimes something small can have a great impact.
Our club was blessed with a member who has since passed away but left a small trust fund for us. Her name was Dolly Wakeham and from what I have been told; she was a spitfire. I don’t know much about her except that she worked for Douglas Aircraft in Downey, CA. In any case, our club receives the interest from that trust fund which we augment with our own funds. The monies are used for our Dolly Wakeham Memorial Grant which is really not a cash grant but more of a financial assistance, mentoring and moral support program.
We adopt two single moms who are enrolled in an undergraduate program for our year, July 1 – June 30, and help out with some expenses as well as make sure every holiday and occasion is a joyous one for them and for their children.
As I just mentioned, we only adopt 2 moms for this program but…this year, many more applied so, we sent each one a $50 grocery card to help out with those non perishable items, like toilet paper and paper towels, that their food stamps don’t cover.
We expected nothing in return but,we were wrong. We got much more than we gave…validation, in the form of a thank you note, that whatever we do to help a single mom who is going school to improve her life and the lives of her children does make a difference.
“Thank you so much for the generous gift card to Albertson’s. I also want to thank you for all that you do for our community.”
– Myramay
Our club also gave 3 small scholarships to our 3 local community colleges this year: Golden West College, Orange Coast College and Coastline College…again, expecting nothing in return and again…we were wrong.
“I simply cannot express enough my sincere gratitude and absolute honor in being selected to receive the Soroptimist International of Huntington Beach Scholarship. The kindness and generosity of the scholarship will help me enormously in pursuit of my dreams and alleviate the immense pressures I face in following this path….I am truly honored and deeply grateful for your support. Attaining higher education is of utmost importance to my life ambitions. However, to realize it took me well over ten years after graduating from high school. I am the eldest in my family, first to attend college and come from a family of Salvadoran refugees. Born and raised into a low socioeconomic community by a single mother of three, I knew my family could never afford higher education for us….Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your gracious generosity and support me on this journey. Thanks to your organization, women and girls facing various forms of adversities have a chance to a brighter future. Your kind and thoughtful gift has inspired me to continue working hard and someday be able to motivate others to achieve their goals, just as you have motivated me.
– Jenny
These determined and resilient women are our “why”.
“The empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and beautiful beyond description.”
-Author Unknown