Welcome to
Greater Hartford Soroptimist Club

            Email Address:
            sigreaterhartford@soroptimist.net

            Club Officers:

            Committees and Chairs:

Past News:

Our first Dream It, Be It was held on May 21, 2018 at CREC Aerospace and Engineering School. Fifteen 10th grade girls attended the all day event. The program featured Architect Michele Beaulieu, Lawyer Karen Demeloa, Dean UConn Law School, Nurse Martha Hein, Project Manager Danielle Morin & Theater Carpenter & Event Manager Janet Hayes.

 

Our club was awarded our Federations' Soroptimist Club Grant for Women and Girls for 2013-2014. Our project "SOAR" will allow the Girls Forum to bring 6 hands-on science programs to our 5th grade girls. We will also invite 6 women in the field of science to discuss their career paths.
 

We have also been awarded the Janet Pfeiler Region Club Award. "Empowering Girls by engaging them in Service" will heighten their awareness of issues Soroptimists' engage in. Among them Domestic Abuse, Bullying, Trafficking and Homelessness of women and girls.
 

On November 18, 2013, our club had a Thanksgiving Dinner at Soromundi Commons, Chrysalis Center. This is our 12th year doing this special dinner.The turkey was graciously donated by our President, Heidi McNamar of Krause Caterers of East Hartford. Sides and desserts were provided by our members. We enjoyed breaking bread with the ladies and a wonderful time was had by all.

Thank you all for making our 75th Anniversary Party on November 19th a wonderful and memorable event. Soroptimists from near and far traveled to celebrate this milestone in the Greater Hartford history, just as the women did 75 years ago.

Service Projects:
Our club has on going service projects that support the following organizations:
Freshplace
Network Against Domestic Abuse
Chrysalis Center/Soromundi Commons

Soroptimist Girls’ Forum at Washington Media Arts Magnet School ~
Click on pictures to enlarge.

Soroptimist Girls’ Forum at Washington School Media Arts Magnet School was established in 2007, bringing together thirteen 6^th grade girls for a year of fun, friendship and mentoring.  The school chooses the girls for their leadership abilities.   

During our first year we completed many fun and charitable activities. The “Girls’” made cards for soldiers in Iraq, along with “Ginger Girl” ornaments and flower arrangements for the women at the Y shelter in Hartford.  

Our signature project for the year was a car washing and bake sale benefiting The Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. We had almost 100% participation on a gloomy Saturday morning! The girls worked hard and raised $370.00. They presented the check to the CCMC Program Director, Regina Boza at our final meeting on June 11th!
        
        

2012-2013
Sept. Special guest speaker Charlotte Hunter, CEO of A Pocket full of Joy. She supports and builds schools for children in Tanzania, Africa. The girls were very touched and collected flip tops from cans the children use for counting and music making.
December: They also made Christmas bags with ornaments, cards and buttons for the ladies at Soromundi Commons, which were received with blessings and tears.
Feb: The girls made care packages for our troops overseas.

2011-2012 School Year
Anti-Bullying Campaign
The girls won the Martin Luther King Jr. Day competition sponsored by the Manchester youth program. The prize money was used to but a button-making machine to make anti-bullying buttons to give to fellow students that excelled in being nice to their classmates.

2010-2011
The girls made Thanksgiving and Christmas cards and placemats for the women at Soromundi Commons, a program supported by Chrysalis Center in Hartford.

2009-2010 brought us 15-22 eager 5th grade girls.
The girls sold dog biscuits to buy toiletry items and necessities for the women and children at the shelter for The Network Against Domestic Abuse.

Throughout the year we were fortunate to gain the trust and friendship of the young ladies. Our proudest moment was having 7 girls offer to come back to “mentor” our new group of eleven energetic 5^th grade girls for the 2008-2009 school year.

On June 10th the Soroptimist Girls' Forum at Washington Media Arts Magnet School (Cedar Street, Manchester) presented a check in the amount of $971.80 to Manchester Animal Control Officer Elease McConnell to help abandoned, neglected and abused animals.  The Soroptimist Girls' Forum is made up of 5th grade girls and is sponsored by Soroptimist International of Greater Hartford, an international women's service organization (www.soroptimist.org).  The girls raised the money by baking and selling dog biscuits at various events throughout the school year.


Front row: Jerrilynn Wagon, Michaela Gouche, Christina Foley, Jelisa Garcia 
Middle row: Valerie Majewski, Elease McConnell - Animal Control Officer, Britney McFarlane, Tamia Brooks, Natalia Morales, MaryClaire Comeau, Savannah Marccano, Jasmine Cruz, Kaitlynn Cassidy
Back row: Captain Prawl, Gladys Dieppa, Janyra Wallace, Kendall Niamke, Mia Medoza, Kendra VanLinter, Chief James Berry
 

The Dream It, Be It Award: Career Support for Girls will help girls grow up to be strong, successful, happy adults. Dream It, Be It targets girls in secondary school who face obstacles to their future success. It provides girls with access to professional role models, career education and the resources to live their dreams. Soroptimist clubs will work in partnership with girls in small groups or a conference setting to provide them with the information and resources they want and need to be successful. The topics covered include career opportunities, setting and achieving goals, overcoming obstacles to success and how to move forward after setbacks or failures.

The Dorothy & Vernita Hayes Art Award, is unique to the Greater Hartford Club. Dorothy, an artist by profession and sister of Vernita, a former member of the Greater Hartford Soroptimist Club, bequeathed a sum of money to the club. She requested that $1,000 of the funds be awarded annually to a woman artist.

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Club #101005

Chartered
Nov. 19, 1938

Meeting Date:
2nd Monday
of each Month
Location to be Determined

Our Club Brochure
(PDF Format)

Club Meeting
Oct. 16, 2019
6:00pm to 8:00pm
South Windsor Library
Seminar Room
1550 Sullivan Avenue
South Windsor, CT 06074
Special Guest Speaker: Joan Merritt
Girls Mentoring Session:
How to inspire girls 13-18 -  to envision her future and be empowered to believe in her capacity to make her dreams a reality.