On April 27, we honored our awards winners with a beautiful tea and luncheon event at the Quarry House in Orinda. President Kenya Broadnax opened the event, Secretary Felicie Standley gave an inspiration, and Vice President Quise Rodriquez introduced the awards program. Awardees Live Your Dream (presented by Carolyn Bolton) 1st Place - Marquita Andrews $2500 2nd Place - Stephanie Mata-Castro $1500. Community Grants (presented by Joyce Hooks and Jan Medina) 1st Place - Cinnamon Girls - $2500 (Accepted by Laura Jennings) 2nd Place - Building Futures with Women and Children - $2000 (Accepted by Daisy Richardson) The Violet Richardson (presented by Jacquie Cisneros) 1st Place - Sara Topete- $1500 2nd Place - Anna Kristina Evangelista Garcia - $1000 3rd Place - Raquel Chavez - $500 Ruby Award (presented by Patricia Costello) Louise Lovewell, $500 for donation to her favored charity, Building Futures with Woman and Children Many thanks to key organizers Patricia Costello, Pat Walker, and Sheila Wang.
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Girls from Oakland's Madison Park Academy Primary School and Horace Mann Elementary School participating in our annual "Steps to Success" day of mentoring and career inspiration selected books of their choice to take home from an inspiring array. Special thanks to the generous donation by Soroptimist Kay Taylor, and to volunteers Soroptimists Portia Stewart and Notara Lum for the awesome collection.
Olwyn Brown, Soroptimist and Carpenter with Carpenter's Local 713 demonstrated the construction of planter platforms and provided soil, seeds, and decorations for this elementary school girls project.
Art projects for our Shoe Project participants organized by Soroptimists Pat Walker and Jillian Rudin.
Mentors at our annual Shoe Project-Steps to Success Event were professional women encouraging the girls to consider aiming for exciting careers. Here are Karen Dawkins-Sergeant with the Alameda Sheriff's Department, Carolina Wallin-Civil Engineer, and Isha Brown-Forensic Criminalist. Soroptimist Carol Dippel shared the value of volunteering.
Volunteers at our annual Shoe Project on Saturday, April 13. This is SI Oakland's signature activity, offering low-income elementary school girls "steps to success."
The Shoe Project 2024: Almost 20 years ago, Soroptimists of Oakland took a class of school girls from a low-income elementary school out shopping for new shoes. Over the years, the shopping program grew into "Steps to Success" -- providing girls with role models to help them find the path that will help them to live their dreams and take steps forward in life to success. (And yes, we still go shopping for new shoes!) This year's girls came from Madison Park Academy Primary School and Horace Mann Elementary.
Portia Stewart delivered lots of toiletries and reusable plastic bags to the Women's Daytime Drop-in Center in Berkeley on behalf of our club. WDDC provides homeless women a safe place to relax, shower, and eat lunch during the day. Thank you to WDDC Executive Director Leslie Berkler (right) for your service. And thank you to Oakland Soroptimists for contributing these much needed supplies!
Our annual holiday social on Dec 2 was a huge success and great fun. President Kenya Broadnax presided, Secretary Felicie Standley gave the Inspiration, and Portia Stewart led a Santa-themed trivia contest Carolyn Bolton, auctioneer extraordinaire, incited bidding wars for the wrapped gifts, and we raised close to $2000.
This weekend several of our members including Cynthia McNair, below, volunteered to prepare and deliver Thanksgiving meal groceries to 350 needy senior citizens. The Day of Service was sponsored by Deacon Carolyn Bolton at St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Oakland.
Members Elaine, Patricia W, Carolyn, and Cynthia were among the volunteers on November 18 to distribute 127 beautiful 1 1/2 lb. lobsters for our fundraiser. Thank you to members and friends who purchased lobsters and made this fundraiser a success.
Thanks also to St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Oakland for sharing your patio.
On September 16, SI Oakland was honored by the visit of Soujanya Obulapu, first time President of a relatively young club -- SI Hyderabad, India. Soujanya is a chef who has been running a healthy cafe in Hyderabad "Soups n' Salads" for 10 years. A Soroptimist member for 10 years, Soujanya was excited to meet members of the "Founder Club" and we were excited to meet her. We exchanged tips, gifts, and contact information and marveled at the vast vintage Barbie display at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville, CA. We are happy to have a new friend in India.
Thank you to A Sista’s Touch for organizing the sixth successful “We Run Oakland: For Our Children.” an annual family/community event designed to focus on our collective responsibility to STOP human trafficking. Held on September 16 at Oakland Technical High School, SI of Oakland was one of the dozens of sponsors of the event. We had an information table and met scores of interesting and devoted community members, enjoyed our comradery, and were smiling from the time we stretched in the warmup exercises until we crossed the finish line. President Kenya addressed the audience with warmth and enthusiasm.
April 15, 2023 - The Soroptimist Club of Oakland celebrating young girls in our community with a day of friendship, play, and empowerment, and of course a new pair of shoes! The girls had a chance to meet with different club members who talked about their career paths all while the girls enjoyed art projects, connecting with one another and just enjoying being girls! Thirty-five girls participate from two Oakland Schools, Madison Park Academy and Horace Mann Elementary. Fifteen Soroptimist members particated as mentors.
We’re pleased to announce our new member, Nahid Aria, installed on Thursday by Membership Chair Portia Stewart and witnessed by President Kay Taylor. Nahid chairs the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Diversity Committee and is a tireless advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan. Welcome, Nahid!
Our annual Holiday Party and Gift Auction Fundraiser on December 10 was beautiful, festive, cozy, and fun. We raised close to $2000 to support our programs. Over 30 members and friends, and special region guests Billie Knight, Elise Balgley, Lenore Coloruso, and Lydia Justice attended. Auctioneer Carolyn Bolton was in top form! Our long-term member Cheryl Poncini was honored for her years of work on the Region’s Fellowship program, and our club handed over our annual $1000 donation to the Fellowship Program.
SIO Secretary Kenya Broadnax (left/first) spearheaded SIO’s two-hour mentoring session for women ages 12-19 at a local human trafficking diversion program last Saturday. Members Kenya, Sheila Wang (center/second), and Clarissa Jackson (right/third) led the workshop that included a presentation and resume writing session. SIO members were joined by two women from A Sista’s Touch, a local group supporting women and girls that co-sponsored Oakland’s “walk against human trafficking” in August.
Sheila relayed how several ambitious high school and early college age participants were looking forward to learning about job opportunities and internships. “The resume workshop is just the session they need.“ Kenya noted that the workshop gave the younger age group "a head start to evaluate themselves and identify skills and qualities they can incorporate into their resume for the future." Clarissa met several potential candidates for the Soroptimist's Live Your Dream Award that she chairs. Congratulations for the very successful mentorship event! SIO members were a proud team in yesterday's 5th Annual 5K Run/Walk for Human Trafficking Awareness. The spirited event at Oakland's Lake Merritt had over 200 participants and featured remarkable women community activists. SIO was one of the many sponsors, and our information table helped spread our vision.
Soroptimists added spice to this year's awards program by modeling their fashion choices. Who'd of thought it would be so much fun?
Our generous donors made possible generous awards this year. Live Your Dream Award: First Place: Tinah Namitala, Second Place: Marlo Ornelas. Violet Richardson Award: First Place: Ravynne Oliver, Second Place: Gabrielle Goncalves Third Place: Harper Valentine. Ruby Award Adamaka Adaelo, Self-E-STEM. Community Award: Self - E-STEM, Emerge , and Cinnamon Girls..
Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you for telling your stories at the May 7th Awards Event! On April 16, thirty-five Oakland grade school girls attended our annual Steps to Success event, a fun and inspiring career day for low-income elementary school girls. Also known as the Shoe Project, this is our club’s signature event. Here are some of the girls with their new pair of very popular Vans shoes to remind them to continue their steps to success.
City of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf honored SI Oakland with a Proclamation of Recognition for our 100th Anniversary. Thank you, City of Oakland!
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