Soroptimist International President's Appeal

Each year, SI of Pasco-Kennewick supports the President's Appeal. This year we will be sending $130 to Soroptimist International in support of the following cause:

From the Soroptimist International website:

Every year, on Human Rights Day (December 10) the President of Soroptimist International selects a project that provides direct assistance to women in extreme need. Past projects have provided: aid for refugees in camps in Malaysia; protection and help for women AIDS sufferers in Uganda and the Ukraine; scholarships for girls in Mongolia and Rwanda; vocational training programmes and shelter for vulnerable women and children in Paraguay; education and nutrition for abandoned children in Vietnam; malaria protection for pregnant women and young children in Benin, West Africa; enhanced access to education for girls in impoverished areas of Pakistan and support for long term patients at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.

President's Appeal 2009

'Hopes and Dreams for Everyone'
Prevent human trafficking from Moldova by providing life-skill education and sustainable living conditions for vulnerable children.

For the 2009 Appeal, President Hanne Jensbo has chosen to adopt a highly successful anti-trafficking project run by the SI Union of Norway with SI clubs in Moldova for the last 4 years. Further funding is urgently needed for the project to continue.


The Need
Moldova is small republic with a population of only 3.5 million, bordered by Romania and the Ukraine. It remains one of the poorest countries in Europe despite recent slight progress in its economy. 2005 statistics showed that 29.5% of the population lived below the poverty line.

Largely owing to poverty, Moldova is a major source and, to a lesser extent, a transit country for women and girls trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; Moldovan women are trafficked to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe; girls and young women are trafficked within the country from rural areas to Chisinau; children are also trafficked to neighbouring countries for forced labour and begging.

Young girls living in boarding schools are particularly exposed to the dangers of trafficking. Some are there because their parents are among the half million Moldavians who have gone abroad to find work. By the age of 16 they have left school, have no support and often, nowhere to live.


Project Aim

To work with 4 of the 68 boarding schools in Moldova to help:
Girls aged between 13 and 16 while they are in school
Girls aged between 16 and 18 after they have left school
Further – to support victims of trafficking who have managed to go back to their home country and need support to return to a normal life.

Project Activities
Life skill education programme, including career guidance, health care, dealing with violence at home, communication with public offices.
Higher education support programme: career counselling, housing allowances during education, mentoring and support from social assistants.


Project Partners
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the leading inter-governmental migration organization, working in Moldova since 2001.
The Child Rights Information Center (CRIC) Moldova. The mission of this well-established NGO is to contribute to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Moldova.

For a printable brochure and more information, click here: http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/PresidentsAppeal09.pdf

SIPK Awards Information

SIPK is currently accepting applications for the following awards.

Ruby Award: The Soroptimist Ruby Award is designed to honor women working to improve the lives of women and girls through their personal, volunteer, or professional efforts. Although not Soroptimists, their work helps promote the issues that are important to Soroptimists and offers inspirational stories about how to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.

Examples of women who would qualify for this award would be one who helped to establish a domestic violence shelter, a woman who starts a mentoring program for at-risk girls, or a woman who lobbies her company to provide on-site childcare. This award program gives our clubs and our organization the opportunity to say “thank you,” and encourages others to explore ways to assist women and girls. Winners at the club level are eligible for a region award and the region winner has the opportunity to be selected to receive a $5,000 donation to her favorite charitable organization. The application deadline is December 1, 2009.

Violet Richardson Award: This award is intended to honor girls for their volunteer service in the community. Girls between the ages of 14-17, who are actively involved in volunteer work, can apply for this award. The winner selected from the applications will receive an award in the amount of $400. Deadline for applications is December 1, 2009.

Women's Opportunity Award: The Women’s Opportunity Awards program, Soroptimist’s major service project, aids women seeking to improve their economic status by gaining additional skills, training and education. The program helps women who, as the primary wage earners for their families, must improve their employment status by entering or returning to the work force. Applicants for this award must be the head-of-household and also pursuing a degree. First place is $2,000, second place is $1,000. The deadline for applications is December 15, 2009. First place winners will be submitted to District for further consideration.

Pro-Tech Award: This award is for a woman who is working on a vocational certificate or degree from an accredited school. First place is $1,500, second place is $1,000. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2010.

Northwest Region Fellowship Award: This award supports women in the Northwestern Region who are returning to school for post-graduate study in an accredited college or university, leading to an advanced degree (master’s or doctorate). The award amount is $1,500. The application deadline is January 15, 2010.

Helen Cox Award: Named after our longtime member and supporter, Helen Cox, this award is unique to SIPK and is Helen's legacy to our club. Applicants for this award should be a junior or senior woman pursuing a degree in business or accounting. The award amount is $2,000. The application deadline is January 15, 2010.

Most applications are available in the financial aid offices of CBC and WSU-Tri-Cities. Or please contact the Awards chair or an SIPK member for emailable applications.

Fundraisers Fast Approaching!

We have two fundraisers scheduled for this month. On Monday, November 16th we are hosting a product sales party at 6:00 pm at the Tri-Cities Regional Business & Visitors Center conference room (7130 W Grandridge Blvd, Kennewick). Sales reps from Creative Memories (scrapbooking), Miche purses (the magnetic cover handbags), and Scentsy Candles will be there with displays and products available to order in time for the Holidays. The sales reps are generously donating a portion of their proceeds back to our club. So bring your friends and coworkers to this party, and support SIPK while getting your shopping done early!

On Friday and Saturday (November 20th and 21st) we are having a bake sale at GESA at 825 Goethals Dr., Richland. A signup sheet will be going around the next 2 Tuesdays for people to work the booth at GESA, but most importantly, we need everyone to start baking baking BAKING so we'll have product to sell! Baked goods should be wrapped and ready for sale by Thursday, 11/19. More details to come!

Bunco Party a Success!

The hard work everyone put in on the Bunco party has yielded big results! Sales and donations were over $3,100, with 106 tickets sold! 96 people attended the party...we may need to book a bigger room next year! After expenses, including the 10% to help support club administration, there will be almost $2700 to fund our service projects, which of course includes supporting several more students attending school in Bangladesh. We are truly making a difference!

Bunco for Bangladesh!

Don't forget that this Thursday is SIPK's "Bunco for Bangladesh" party/fundraiser! Tickets are $20 each, and will call is available--but they are going fast. If you've never played bunco, that is ok. It is easy to learn and is quick paced and just plain old fun, plus there will be lots of people there to help you! There will also be prizes and even...chocolate!

The Bunco for Bangladesh event helps SIPK raise funds to support our club and our many service projects, but most importantly, the majority of these funds will go to support girls' education in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, families have to pay for children to go to school. If funds are limited, the boys are sent, and the daughters are married off. Our fundraiser allows several girls to attend school. And since our involvement in this project 3 years ago, we have had 2 girls finish their education and open their own tailor shop and market shop! Now that is making a difference for women and girls!

So don't forget: Bunco for Bangladesh is this Thursday, October 22, 5:30 pm-9:00 pm at the Hampton Inn in Richland. See you there!

District 3 Meeting

The District 3 Meeting was such a wonderful event. A special thanks to everyone that worked so hard to make the weekend seem to go by so smoothly!

At the meeting we had opportunities to increase our leadership abilities and learn more about fulfilling our club positions. But best of all, we heard about the many successes that have been achieved throughout the world thanks to each and every member's help. We are making a difference!

We collected boxes and boxes of items to donate to the Domestic Violence Shelter. They were very grateful for the generosity everyone showed to them and wished to express their thanks to our group for thinking of them and their needs.

We all made new friends during the D3 weekend, and we laughed, cried, celebrated, and even did a little singing and dancing together! Everyone went away feeling uplifted and energized and ready to continue on our mission to improve the lives of women and girls.

Fiesta Was Fabulous!

A big thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make last night's Membership Recruitment Event such a success! We all had a great time! There were several prospective members there, which hopefully will be joining our ranks soon. Ole'!

Fall Membership Recruitment Fiesta!

Tuesday, September 29th will be our Fall Membership Recruitment Event! We'll be having a Fiesta that will include a taco bar and an ice cream sundae bar for dessert! Bring a friend or associate to this fun event so they can learn more about Soroptimist and what we are doing to improve the lives of women and girls! Maybe they will want to join our fabulous group!

Details: Gathering time is 5:30 pm. Location is at the Parkview Estates Community Room which is on the second floor of 7820 W. 6th Ave.

Directions from the Mall: Take Columbia Center Blvd. south. Turn right on W 4th Ave at the light. Turn left on W 6th Place. Follow until you see Parkview Estates.

RSVP requested by 9/25. See you there!

Food Booth Fundraiser This Weekend!

Don't forget about our food booth fundraiser at the Country Nester's Antique show this weekend! Shifts are still available:

Saturday morning (9/19) 8 am-11 am, 11 am-2 pm, 2 pm-6 pm
Sunday from Noon to 4:00 pm

Contact the treasurer if you can help out on any of these shifts!

Call to District 3 Meeting!

We have received the District 3 Call! Dates are Oct. 9th-11th at the Red Lion in Kennewick. The theme this year is "Be the Difference-Shine On". The agenda is full of fantastic classes and seminars that will help increase your understanding of everything Soroptimist from the club level to the Federation level! Not to mention, it will be just plain FUN!

The cost is $20 for the registration and $80 for the full meal deal. Meals can also be purchased on a per meeting basis if you can only attend certain ones.

Registration deadline for our club is Tuesday Sept. 22 which is our next program meeting. Please contact the treasurer to sign up and arrange payment. This is a wonderful opportunity to attend the District meeting in our own backyard! Don't miss it!

To see the full Call and detailed schedule go to http://www.soroptimistnwr.com/ and log in.

Press Release

Soroptimist International of Pasco-Kennewick is the ONLY U.S. Club to Win Soroptimist International Best Practice Recognition

August 11, 2009: At the Soroptimist International summer meeting in Denmark, 16 clubs worldwide were recognized for projects focusing on

1) Eliminating poverty and gender discrimination through ensuring women’s full social and economic rights;

2) Ending human trafficking and all forms of violence against women and girls;

3) Ensuring access to health care for women and girls;

4) Supporting programs that eliminate HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and other major diseases.

Soroptimist International of Pasco-Kennewick (SIPK) Club was the ONLY U.S. Club of 16 recognitions world-wide to receive an honor. Other countries included Brazil, Philippines, Japan, Italy, Norway, France, Italy, Bangladesh, UK, S. Africa, Malaysia, and Australia.

SIPK recognition was for “Ensuring Access to Health Care for Women and Girls”—for their Restorative Dental Services for Uninsured Women project. The objective of this project is to provide dental restoration and career mentoring to uninsured, low-income women with poor oral health in order to enhance self esteem and employability. SIPK partnered with Grace Clinic, Columbia Basin College (Please Don’t Quit Program), and local hairdressers to complete the makeover process.

Soroptimist International is an international organization of business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls. In more than 120 countries throughout the world, almost 100,000 Soroptimist members help women and girls live their dreams each and every day.

Soroptimist International of Pasco-Kennewick was chartered August 19, 1948. On that day, sixteen professional women from a wide array of backgrounds joined together to foster community service. SIPK was the first women's service club to be organized in the Tri-Cities.

SIPK has grown significantly over the years and continues to foster the ideals of service and support for women and children in our community. For over 60 years, these women have come together and led service projects throughout our region and across the globe to help better the lives of women.

Don't forget the Retreat this Thursday!

The retreat is Thursday, August 20th, at 5:30 pm at the Tri-Cities Business & Visitor Center building (where TRIDEC's office is located) right next to the Convention Center in Kennewick. We'll be discussing everything from our meeting schedule, to our past service projects, to how the FNO money should be divided (or should it be divided at all????) We'll also be presenting the survey results.

If you can, bring a potluck item to share, but please come even if you can't bring anything. Your participation in helping shape our 2009-2010 year is most important!

Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday, SIPK!

August 19th is the club's 61st birthday! Wow!!!

SIPK Wins the Federation Best Practices Award!

We just received official notification from SI that our project "Restorative Dental Services for Uninsured Women" was the winner for our Federation for Objective 3 "Ensure access to health care for women and girls." You may recall that our club won the Region Celebrating Success award last April. This is an award on the international level!

For those of you that are new to the club, the dental grant was originally awarded to the club by SIA. During 2007-2008, SIPK partnered with Grace Clinic to provide restorative dental services to women that had severe dental problems that were preventing them from gaining employment. Together, SIPK, PDQ and Grace Clinic provided mentoring, counseling and of course, the dental services necessary to help the women continue their life in a positive direction. It was a true team effort that had a major impact on improving the lives of the women that participated and completed the program. Congratulations to everyone!

The SIPK Blog

Welcome to the official blog of the SIPK club! The club voted at the business meeting on July 14th to create a new website and to maintain a blog. The website will be for people searching for more information about SIPK and what we do. This blog, on the other hand, is intended for members of the club to keep up to date on current activities that the club is involved in.

On July 28th we'll have a program meeting at Noon at the Clover Island Inn. The Young Professionals of the Tri-Cities will be giving a presentation about the results of a recent brainstorming session ("charrette") they had regarding the way they hope the Tri-Cities might look in the future. I've been lucky enough to see this presentation previously, and you won't want to miss it!

Also coming up on August 20th is the club retreat. Look for a survey to arrive in your email box soon. The board felt that the retreat should focus on reviewing our service projects from 2008 and deciding which ones to continue. If there is time, we'll also discuss Ways and Means projects. And hopefully we'll decide what to do with that TV! :) We'd also like to review our current meeting schedule and see if moving the meetings to the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, with Board on the 4th Tuesday, works better (or not) in our schedules. Decisions will be made at the retreat that will impact the club for the year, so I hope you'll attend!

Site Under Construction

Welcome to the SIPK blog site! Our hope is that SIPK members will be able to easily access the latest club information here!