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Awards & Grants...

Women's Opportunity Awards are
designed to give women heads of household, who provide the primary
source of financial support for their families, the opportunity to
achieve their career goals—an opportunity they have not previously
had, whether because of economic or social barriers, or personal
circumstances. These awards are for women who are attending, or have
been accepted to, a vocational/skills training program, or an
undergraduate degree program.
Women's Opportunity Awards are cash awards that recipients may use for
any expenses related to their educational pursuits. These include
tuition and books, housing, child care and transportation. These
awards are not scholarships. The program begins at the club level. Our
Willimantic club annually awards the first place winner a cash award
of $599. Our local winner is then eligible for consideration of the
Northeastern Region award which is $5,000. The winner of the Region award is then
eligible to receive one of three $10,000 finalist awards from
Soroptimist International of the Americas.
Applications are received by our club from
October 1st to December 15th. Applications received after the December
15th deadline, will not be considered. To receive an application by
mail, please
email us. To download an application,
please
click here.
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...Mail the application to: Soroptimist International of
Willimantic, P. O. Box 485, Mansfield Center, CT 06250
The Violet Richardson
Award....Honoring Young
WomenSoroptimist is
concerned with the special challenges facing girls and young women
today. The organization launched the Violet Richardson Award program
in 2000 as a way to recognize girls for their volunteer service to
their communities. The program honors young women between the ages of
14 and 17 whose volunteer efforts include: helping other disadvantaged
girls; fighting drugs, crime and violence; cleaning up the
environment; and working to end discrimination and poverty. The
program begins at the club level. Soroptimist International of
Willimantic annually awards a $500 cash award to the recipient and a
matching $500 to the organization where she volunteers. Club level
recipients then become eligible for a $1,000 cash award, with a
matching $1,000 cash award for the charitable organization of the
recipient’s choosing. The Soroptimist organization grants one finalist
$2,500 award to the recipient’s volunteer organization.
The program is named after Violet Richardson Ward,
the first president of the first Soroptimist club in 1921. Richardson
Ward was committed to creating opportunities for girls and young women
through her affiliations with Soroptimist, the Girl Scout Council and
the American Association of University Women. Her passion for
community service, particularly as it affected women and girls, has
been an inspiration to Soroptimists throughout the years.
Applications
are received by our club from October 1st to December 15th.
Applications received after the December 15th deadline, will not be
considered. To obtain an application, please
contact us.
The Marion Schultheiss
Advancing Women Grant...
is a local grant
that our club first began in 2000. The first grant was named
"Advancing Women Into The New Millenium" and was designed to provide a
$2,000 grant to an organization to start or continue a project in our
local community that benefits women. In honor of one of our members,
Marion Schultheiss, who passed away, the grant was renamed The Marion
Schultheiss Advancing Women Grant in 2002. The picture at right is
Marion Schultheiss (center) with her daughters, Lynn (left) and Brook
(right).
Any established service organization
promoting the welfare of women may apply. One grant of $2,000 is
awarded annually. To be eligible for consideration, the proposed
project must benefit women by improving their social/economic status
and opportunity or quality of life and address a demonstrated need in
our community. Grant applications
are received by our club from January 1st to March 10th. Applications
received after the March 10th deadline, will not be considered. In
addition, the grant recipient must give our club a written summary of
the results of the project on a semi-annual and annual basis. To
receive an application by mail, please
email us. To download an application,
please click
here. 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...

Making a
Difference for Women
The Making a Difference for Women
Award acknowledges women who, through their personal or professional
activities, are working to improve the lives of women and girls. The
work of these women helps to promote the issues that are important to
the Soroptimist organization. Honorees are ordinary women who have
worked in extraordinary ways to benefit women and girls. Examples of
the type of work honored include: spearheading an effort to open a
domestic violence shelter, starting a mentoring program for at-risk
girls, or lobbying companies to provide on-site child care. The
program enables local Soroptimist clubs and the Soroptimist
organization to thank these women and encourage others to explore ways
to assist women and girls. The program begins on the club level, where
the type of recognition varies. Award winners at the club level are
eligible for additional awards at other levels of the organization.
The Federation finalist receives a $5,000 donation to the charity of her choice.
Recipients of all of the above awards are
recognized at our annual Anniversary and Awards Dinner normally held
in April of each year.
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Send mail to
webmaster@soroptimistwillimantic.org
with any questions or comments about this web site. Last
modified
09/13/2007
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