Home Page About Our Club Membership Club Officers Club Calendar Service Projects Fundraising Awards & Grants Pledge & Emblem Photo Album Contact Us Community Links

About Our Club... Soroptimist International of Willimantic was chartered March 26, 1966. The territorial limits of our club are the following towns in Connecticut: Willimantic, Windham, Willington, Mansfield, Columbia, Lebanon, Canterbury, Scotland, Hampton, Chaplin, Ashford, Coventry, Andover, Hebron, Eastford, Woodstock, Pomfret and Brooklyn. Our regular club meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month. They are being rotated every other month between the Nathan Hale Inn and Conference Center, 885 Bolton Road, Storrs, CT which is on the University of Connecticut campus and Uncle D's Log Cabin in Lebanon.  We do have a couple of meetings that are held elsewhere such as our holiday party in December and a pot luck dinner in May held at Camp Horizons. Our club calendar will have all that information. In addition to our regular meetings, members work on various fundraising and service projects through out the year. Members also volunteer to help with other organizations such as the Relay for Life and the Special Olympics Swim Meet to name just a couple. We are a very active club in our local community and participate in many varied and interesting activities. Go here to read our Club Bylaws. This form is in PDF format. To view and print it, you will need to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader, if you do not already have it installed. Click the graphic below to go to Adobe’s web site for the free download... The following is a brief history of how our club got its start: (as told by Terry Case, President 1966-1968) In the fall of 1965, Alice Darling and a small group of women worked together to formulate plans for chartering a Soroptimist Club of Willimantic. We received eighty names, and sent invitations to these business and professional women to meet with us at the Nathan Hale Hotel, for the purpose of establishing an affiliated branch of Soroptimist International of the Americas in Willimantic. Two such meetings were held with Alice Darling explaining the aims and objectives of the Soroptimist Clubs. By the January 28th organizational meeting, we had 22 eligible women. Eighteen were required to charter. The nominating committee appointed by Terry Case, temporary Chairs were: Marjorie Thompson, Laurie Hauschild and Gladys Perfetto. At the February meeting, the following slate of officers were presented for the ensuing year: President, Terry Case; Vice-President, Joyce Sands; Corresponding Secretary, Janice Clarke; Recording Secretary, Helen Gurnack; Members at Large were Lillian Ahern and M. Phyllis Blair. Our charter night on March 26th, 1966 was a memorable evening with about eighty people in attendance. All of the New England Regional Board was present with the exception of one. Many of the New England Regional Clubs were represented; and a representative from each of the local men's service organizations. The Mayor and First Selectman were guests and the Rev. L. Linden gave the invocation. Several Lions Clubs members attended and presented us with a floral centerpiece for the head table. Our New England Regional Governor, Mary K. Connors, presented the President with the Charter. The Hartford Club, our sponsoring club presented us with our President's pin. Lower Connecticut River Valley gave us our Guest Book. The Boston Club presented our scrap Book and the Manchester Club our gavel. The Middletown Club, who worked so diligently with us during the organizing, furnished corsages and flowers for the sub-head tables. We received several monetary gifts, telegrams and congratulatory letters from Federation Officers and governors of other regions. Our Federation President, Ethel Lord in her congratulatory letter added, "I don't know what your destiny will be, but the only ones among you who will find happiness are those who have sought and found a way to serve." (Dr. Sweitzer) The Seoul, Korea Club was chartered on this same night and a letter was sent to them from our club expressing success and good wishes in all their future endeavors. A charming letter in return from President-Elect, Mrs. Chinge K. Cook thanking us for "the warmth of fellowship from your kind letter which was very encouraging. Thanks for your good wishes and we look forward to many years of association with your club." We had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Cook at the Federation Convention in Boston in 1976. Go here to read our complete club history.  This form is in PDF format. To view and print it, you will need to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader, if you do not already have it installed. Click the graphic below to go to Adobe’s web site for the download... Back to Top Send mail to webmaster@soroptimistwillimantic.org with any questions or comments about this web site.  Last modified 08/05/2007