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Alex Caisse Park Gazebo
For the past several years, members have decorated the Alex Caisse Park Gazebo located on Route 195 in Willimantic for Memorial Day and the Christmas holidays. In addition to the decorations, we have planted bushes and while there decorating, try to spruce up the area around the gazebo. Click here to see some pictures.

Camp Horizons
Several members have adopted a cabin, Elaine's Place,  at Camp Horizons which involves cleaning and setting up the beds. We also plant annuals, rake, mulch and keep the camp looking beautiful.
 

Domestic Violence Shelter
Our club has been actively involved with helping the Domestic Violence Shelter for over 20 years. Every year we make toiletry baskets for the shelter containing wash cloths, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush and other personal items women need when they leave an abusive situation. For the past several years, we have also made sure they had a food basket for the Thanksgiving holiday. In April, 2000 we awarded them the Advancing Women Into The New Millennium $2,000 grant. With this grant, they were able to produce and distribute an awareness video. In 2001 we again awarded them a $500 grant to continue with their awareness project. We have also paid for the printing of their awareness brochure which is printed in both English and Spanish. 

Food Baskets & Toiletry Baskets:
Every year, Soroptimists gather at a member's house to assemble Thanksgiving Baskets and toiletry baskets. The food baskets are donated to a family in the following towns: Chaplin, Coventry, Lebanon, Mansfield and Windham. A food basket and all the toiletry baskets were donated to the local Battered Women's Shelter. We also donated a basket to the Women's Recovery Center. In addition to all the canned goods, fruit, stuffing, coffee, biscuit mixes, pies, rolls and lots more, each food basket contained a gift certificate to a local supermarket. All the items for the food and toiletry baskets are donated by our members. Check out the Photo Albums Page to see pictures of this event.

Food Share:
Members bring canned goods and/or non-perishable items to our monthly business meetings for our food share service project. These items are donated to one of the local area food pantries each month.

Making Friends with Women in Recovery:
It can seem like a lofty goal to advance the status of women and girls and help them reach their full potential. But for five years Soroptimist International of Willimantic has taken on this task by giving a $2,000 grant to a project in the community that is working toward this goal.

In 2004, the project that received the grant really touched our hearts. We awarded our grant to the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery for a retreat for women in recovery. We met some of the women and decided that we would like to get to know them better. We wanted to do something "with them not just for them". Since gathering around food and having fun is a hallmark of our group, we decided to cook with them at their residence. Once a month three or four of our Soroptimist members plan and get supplies for a Sunday afternoon dinner in the Willimantic Women’s Sober House. We take turns since we don’t want to overwhelm the women. So far, about half of our members have taken part in the Sunday dinners.

Diane Potvin, past president and member of Soroptimist of Willimantic, manages the sober house and has been in recovery, herself for almost 18 years. She talked with the ladies that were living there at the time and they all agreed that they would like to see what we were all about…and that was more than 8 months ago. Usually the tenants change due to relapse but Diane says that that hasn’t been the case lately. She doesn’t know if it is solely because of the Soroptimist monthly visit but she does know that it does make a difference. Please click here for more pictures.

Relay for Life
For the past several years, our club has been a Bronze donor for the Relay for Life with a minimum $1,000 donation from our club each year. Members from our club participate on the planning committee and as a matter of fact, two of our members are the co-chairs of the Windham Area Relay for Life. Club members help to register survivors and we have a team of members and friends who walk for the entire 24 hours. Our team name is Soroptimist Friends. This is a wonderful and rewarding experience for all involved. For more information on the Windham Area Relay for Life, please visit their website at: www.windhamrelayforlife.org

Safe Choices for Girls Workshop
Soroptimist International of Willimantic held an all day workshop for girls on April 10, 2007 at the Burton Levitt Theater in Willimantic. The workshop was designed to help young women make safe choices in their everyday lives. One hundred twenty young women came from Coventry, E.O.Smith, Lyman, Parish Hill, Windham Tech and Windham High Schools. This is the second year that Soroptimist organized this important workshop for high school girls. Buses transported the girls from their high schools to the Burton Levitt Theater, where after a light breakfast snack, the girls were provided with informational packets on contemporary teen issues. Beginning at 9;15, the girls were treated to speakers on topics including healthy behaviors, finance, Internet safety, nutrition, drugs and alcohol and personal safety. A pizza and salad lunch was provided, and the day ended with 6 lucky girls leaving with door prizes.

Thank You to our Sponsors for their generous donations of door prizes, food, and gift certificates:

•   Alan S. Goodman, Incorporated, East Hartford
•   Big Y, 141B Storrs Road, Mansfield
•   Burton Levitt Theatre, 779 Main Street, Willimantic, CT (860)423-2245
•   Fashion Bug, East Brook Mall, 95 Storrs Road, Storrs, Mansfield
•   Fred’s Brick House Café, 1681 W Main Street, Willimantic (860) 423-2615
    http://www.nearhome.com/needfoodnow/ct/willimantic/freds/
•   Hosmer Mountain Bottling Company, 217 Mountain Street, Willimantic
    (860) 423-1555 http://www.hosmersoda.com/sec/cds/index.php
•   J. C. Penney, East Brook Mall, 95 Storrs Road, Storrs, Mansfield
•   Kohls, East Brook Mall, 95 Storrs Road, Storrs, Mansfield
•   Pleasant Pizza, 413 Pleasant Street, Willimantic (860) 423-5442
•   Price Chopper, 35 Talcottville Road, Vernon
•   Shaw’s, 60 Cantor Drive, Willimantic
•   Sun on 6 Tanning Salon, Darcy Richard, 351 Boston Post Road,
    North Windham (860) 456-0446 http://www.sunon6.com
•   Szafarek Dental, Bernice Szafarek, 187 Rt. 66E , Columbia (860) 228-8492
    http://www.szafarekdental.com
•   TC Nails, 361 Boston Post Road, North Windham (860) 423-1241
•   Village Springs, 136 Pinney Hill Road, Willington (860) 429-2837

Thank you to the participating High Schools for caring about the Future of Women:
Coventry High School:
E. O. Smith High School
Lyman Memorial High School
Parish Hill High School
Windham Tech High School
Windham High School

And special thanks to our speakers, for giving their time and energy to make our workshop a success:

• Debra L. Hill, Customer Service Representative, Liberty Bank
• Shoshana Levinson, M.S., CDN, Nutritionist & Wellness Coach,
  370 Gurleyville Road Storrs (860) 429-4624  www.eatwellusa.com
• Christina Parent, United Services
• Jaimie Breden, CCARCT Coalition for Addiction & Recovery
• Detective Louise Wright, ECSU Police Department

Special Olympics
Several members volunteer for the Special Olympics Swim Meet held annually in March. On the evening before the swim meet, members help with set-up and on the morning of the event, members are responsible for the registration of volunteers. We also pay for sponsorship and our logo is on the volunteer shirts and in the ads.

Walk of Life
The first Walk of Life for breast cancer in the nation, sponsored by the Northeastern Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas is located at Walnut Hill Park, New Britain, CT. This location was chosen because it is the site of the Connecticut Race in the Park. There are many walkways in Walnut Hill Park but none more beautiful than the Walk of Life. The 780 foot brick walkway is a commemoration to breast cancer victims, survivors and their families. Some simply reveal a name, others a message.

Members of Soroptimist International of the Northeastern Region initiated the project in 1996 through the efforts of past Soroptimist Governor Rosemarie Burton, a breast cancer survivor herself. So far, the northeastern region of Soroptimist International has contributed $50,000 to breast cancer research and programs. When the walkway is completed, the northeastern region will have contributed $200,000.

The walkway, which is six feet wide, is located behind the park's Darius Miller music shell and follows the finish line for the Connecticut Race in the Park.

Area businesses and the bricklayers union have donated many of the services needed to complete the project.

There are three sizes of bricks that people can choose from: 4x8 inches, 8x8 inches and 12x12 inches. Each brick can be engraved with up to two lines. Bricks can be engraved with living and memorial tributes. All proceeds from this project will be directed to The Connecticut Breast Health Initiative, Inc. Bricks can be obtained by calling (860) 224-9113 or you can download an order form by clicking 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 free download...

• Access Agency
• Alex Caisse Park
• American Cancer Society/Relay for Life
• American Red Cross
• Artists in the Country
• Camp Horizons
• Community Baby Shower
• Covenant Soup Kitchen
• Department of Families and Children
• Domestic Violence Shelter
• Holy Family Shelter
• McSweeney Senior Center
• Safe Graduations
• Safe Havens
• Salvation Army
• Special Olympics Swim Meet
• Susan G. Koman Foundation
• Wadsworth Athenaeum
• Willimantic Girls Softball Team
• Willimantic Police & Fire Departments
• Windham Area Interfaith Ministry
• Windham Hospital
• Windham Recreation Department
• Windham Textile Museum
  

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Send mail to webmaster@soroptimistwillimantic.org with any questions or comments about this web site.  Last modified 08/05/2007