Surf City Soroptimists of Huntington Beach – Working In The Digital Age

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected all of our lives in ways we never imagined…not even in our worst nightmares but, the Soroptimists of Huntington Beach has not let it deter us from moving forward and continuing our work to improve the lives of women and girls and improving our club and how it does business.

We jumped…enthusiastically and with both feet into the digital world and maintain communication with the women we support and each other via Zoom, text and email.  Zoom has allowed us to see each other which helps to keep us all connected.

Via Zoom, we held a face-to-face “catching up” meeting with the 3 Dolly Wakeham, “adopt-a-mom”, Memorial Grant moms and our 2 “Dream Beyond”, aka Going Beyond the Cash Award, moms.  It was so much fun catching up and being able to see them again. We are holding our 2nd “catching up” meeting on Friday, May 15, and the moms had so much fun that they asked if we would invite more people to join us. 

Also via Zoom, we held our May board meeting and will be holding our May business meeting on May 14th.  Although we can’t reach out and hug each other, we can see everyone’s smiling faces and know that they are well.

Additionally, we have a small team, led by Cathy Standiford, working on updating our club’s By-laws and creating, the first time in our club’s history, written Procedures.

Our work to help victims of human trafficking has not missed a beat.  Our club’s Stop Human Trafficking Team, led by Mary Chiappetta, continues to stay in touch electronically, by phone and by offering words of encouragement through cards donated by our members.  Plus, team member and creative genius, Georgette Sleeth, has sewn over 50 masks so that the women who have been trafficked and their counselors have protection.

Although we will miss attending our Desert Coast Region Conference this month in person, we look forward to the shortened version that will be presented digitally in May and to the actual event which is currently planned for early October.

We look forward to our May program meeting via Zoom where we will present 6 current and former Live Your Dream honorees with small gifts commemorating their college graduations.  Stay tuned for more on that meeting!

We hope you and your loved ones remain safe, sane and in good health.
Last but certainly not least, don’t forget May 5th!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  

Happy Mother’s Day!