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Welcome to
Farmington Valley Soroptimist Club
Email Address:
sifarmingtonvalley@soroptimist.net Club Officers:
Committees:
Next Club Meeting:
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Date: Monday, February 6, 2012
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Time: Business Meeting 6:00pm to 6:45pm;
refreshments; guest speaker program starts 7:00pm to 8:00pm. Meeting
closes at 8:30pm
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Location: Simsbury Public Library, Program Room 2,
725 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT 06070
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Club Meeting of Soroptimist International of
Farmington Valley
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Open to Soroptimist members and prospective members
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Space is limited. Please contact Tracy Scala at
tracyscala@sbcglobal.net
if you are interested in attending as a guest.
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Guest Speaker is Kate Emery
About the guest speaker, Kate Emery:
 Beyond
Business as Usual
with guest speaker Kate Emery,
founder of Social Entrepreise
Trust Reset Foundation.
If you're in it for the money,
you're short changing yourself.
Kate will be talking about a new
business model that allows you to
mingle purpose and profit.
Business can be a engine for
positive social change. And it's
a model made for a woman's way of
thinking!
For more information, visit
http://www.socialenterprisetrust.org/index.html
Kate Emery is
founder and CEO of Walker Systems
Support, one of Connecticut’s
largest IT Services firms.
Walker provides a comprehensive
range of information technology
services from systems support to
virtualization. The Walker team
offers knowledge and expertise to
CT businesses in all industry
sectors and consults in network
management, IT security, web
design, and technology planning.
This year, Walker will celebrate
its 30th anniversary
and its ability to adapt to the
changing demands of technology
needs over the past three
decades.
Several years ago,
Kate restructured Walker as a
social enterprise, transforming
its mission from maximizing
shareholder profits to maximizing
social contribution. Among other
commitments, any profits
distributed by Walker must be
divided equally between employees,
the community, and shareholders.
Kate is also the
founder of reSET, the Social
Enterprise Trust, a nonprofit
whose mission is to promote,
preserve, and protect social
enterprise as a new, more
sustainable and satisfying way of
doing business. reSET is
actively engaged in making CT a
hub of social enterprise through
its educational and advocacy work.
After graduating Magna Cum Laude
from The University of
Connecticut’s Business School,
Kate went on to earn her Master’s
Degree in Management Information
Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute.
Kate serves on the Board of the
Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford
and reSET and often speaks
passionately to entrepreneurs and
innovative business leaders on the
subject of social enterprise. She
lives in Farmington with her
husband, Steve Silk and son David,
and enjoys figure and abstract oil
painting.
For more
information:
Katherine Hope Emery
Walker Systems Support
20 Waterside Drive
Farmington, CT 06032
(860) 678-3530 x304
KEmery@WalkerSystemsSupport.com
http://kate-emery.blogspot.com |
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Fundraisers:
Fall - Wreath Selling
Spring - Fundraising Event (TBD)
Ongoing - Women's Self-Defense Workshops
Our club strives to hold one fundraising event in the Fall & Spring
of each club year (Sept. to June) to raise awareness about
Soroptimist and financially support our service projects.
Service Projects:
Grace Academy, Hartford, CT ~
Grace Academy is an independent school dedicated to providing a
quality, tuition-free education to girls of all faiths from
low-income families residing in Hartford’s inner city neighborhoods.
Since opening in September 2010, SIFV has provided financial,
in-kind and service assistance to the school. SIFV members provide
workshops and help organize clubs for the girls to participate in.
We find this to be personally gratifying and the organization
greatly appreciates our assistance.
Prudence Crandall Center (PCC), New Britain, CT ~
Over the last few years, SIFV has assisted PCC, the oldest domestic
violence program in the State of Connecticut in several ways:
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Assistance for the region's Janet Pfeiler
Advancing the Status of Women 2009 grant application. PCC received this $2,000
award in April 2009 and used it to establish a computer resource room for
residents.
- In 2009, received a $7,000
Soroptimist Club Grant for Women and Girls from SIA Federation to
help support its "SIFV & PCC Partners to Eradicate Domestic
Violence" project. SIFV was able to purchase beds, bedding,
linens, etc. to outfit the new Emergency Shelter (see photos
below).
- In 2009, donated $5,000 to PCC
from fundraising events to name a two bedroom emergency shelter
residence.
- In 2010, received a $2,500
Soroptimist Club Grant for Women and Girls from SIA Federation to
help support its "Welcome to a New Hope...a New Beginning"
project. With these funds, the club purchases items for,
assembles and delivers "welcome" kits containing personal
care/hygiene items for women and infants coming to PCC's Emergency
Shelter without these necessary items (see photos below).
- In 2011, received a $500 Janet
Pfeiler Advancing the Status of Women club award from the
Northeastern Region to help support its "Helping Young Hearts
Heal" project. With these funds, the club purchased items such as
paint/paint supplies, tables/chairs, bookcases and other supplies
to help establish a Child/Teen Resource Center at PCC's Rose Hill
facility. This resource center created a bright, safe place to
aid PCC's child/teen population in its healing process.
- Ongoing - financially via proceeds from our fundraisers and
through procured grants.
PCC Emergency Kit Photos:
SIFV members with
final delivery of "Welcome" (Emergency) Kits to PCC - June 2011.
Originally the budget was to deliver 150 of these kits, but we were
able to deliver 170 of them throughout the club year as well as
additional diapers, pull-ups, wipes, basic medicines, first-aid kits
and other needed supplies.
Delivery of 50 "Welcome" (Emergency) Kits to PCC in December 2010.
There were 40 for women and 10 for infants delivered as well as
additional supplies of diapers, pull-ups, etc. The money for these
kits comes from a $2,500 Soroptimist Club Grant for Women and Girls
and will enable our club to deliver 150 of these kits in club year
2010-2011.
The photos below are the 26 Women's Emergency Kits
and 8 Infant's Kits that SIFV made in February 2010 for the victims
of domestic violence that arrive Prudence Crandall Center's
Emergency Shelter with no personal care items.
The women's kits
contain items such as deodorant, shampoo, soap, toothbrush,
toothpaste, etc. The infant's kits contain diapers, baby wipes, baby
wash, lotion and diaper rash cream. The goal is to provide 2-3 days
of personal care items to these clients.
PCC - Twin Bed Delivery Photos
In November 2009, SIFV purchased 21 twin beds for Prudence
Crandall Center. This purchase was made possible as part of the
Federation grant awarded for our project "SIFV & PCC...Partners to
Eradicate Domestic Violence". These are photos of the delivery truck
and beds being delivered.
Thanks to Bedding Barn for their
cooperation in helping us get these much needed items to PCC and for
arranging for free delivery & setup!
Self-Defense Workshops, Canton CT
This community service project, sponsored by the women of SIFV and
members of
Yu's Academy for Martial Arts, is free of charge. However,
attendees have generously donated money and helped us raise over
$1000 to date to help our service projects which improve the lives
of women and girls in our local community and throughout the
world.
Photo of students and teachers at
Yu's Academy
for Martial Arts in one of our Self-Defense Workshops for women. The
men were very brave to get suited up so we could really hit them
hard! Thanks to Yu's Academy in Canton, CT for allowing us to
conduct these vital workshops to help women learn basic skills to
protect themselves!
For
more information and photos about the self-defense workshops, please
visit
www.bestforwomenselfdefense.com
ESL to Burmese Refugee
Population, Hartford, CT
Members teach English to this population and
help families move into apartments,
get people connected with government or nonprofit programs and
take a group trick-or-treating on Halloween. Recently the Simsbury
Rotary assisted SIFV by purchasing the Rosetta Stone software
to aid in teaching English to this population.
SI Friendship Link,
Pakistan
SIFV has created a "friendship link" with an SI club in
Karachi, Pakistan. We provide correspondence and are in the process
of providing some financial assistance to this club to help them put
girls through school. It costs approximately $40 to sponsor one
girl. We sponsored ten girls in 2010 and plan to grow our
relationship with this club with future support.
Women's Opportunity Award
Each
year SIFV awards a female head of household pursuing higher
education to improve her employment opportunities a monetary award
that she may use as she wishes while she is enrolled in school.
This is a signature project of Soroptimist. Our club winner then
proceeds to the Regional level and, if declared winner there,
proceeds to the Federation level for judging.
Violet Richardson Award
Each
year SIFV presents a young woman between the ages of 14 & 17 a
monetary award for her outstanding community service. A monetary
award is also given to the institution she volunteers with. In
prior years, we've also had a runner-up for this award. Again,
this is one of the Soroptimist signature projects.
Ruby Award
Another Soroptimist signature
project, SIFV presents a community-minded, professional woman an
award for her outstanding community service. Our 2010-2011 winner
is Shaleen Silva, Executive Director of the Paul & Lisa Program,
Inc. This non-profit agency's mission is "to provide prevention,
early intervention, and advocacy for children, teens, and adults
who have been sexually victimized through commercial exploitation
and to assist them in redirecting their lives in a self-sufficient
and meaningful manner." For more information about the Paul & Lisa
Program, please visit
www.paulandlisa.org
Membership
Do you live in the Farmington Valley
and want to learn more about our club? Then contact us! We'd love
to have you as a guest at an upcoming meeting or event!
Membership Chair:
Kathleen Oyanadel,
(860) 614-5676
President:
Tracy Scala, (860)
299-5113
Back to Top
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Chartered Nov. 17, 2004
Meeting Date:
First Monday of each month except on holidays.
6:30pm
Follow us on:
Download or view our
Club Brochure
(PDF Document)
Press Release for "Welcome Kits" for the Prudence Crandall Center
Click
here to read an article about how SIFV helps PCC
Watch this
video from
Soroptimist member
Kathy McAfee
Club Meeting with
Guest Speaker
Kate Emery
Monday, Feb. 6, 2012
Simsbury Public Library
725 Hopmeadow Street
Simsbury, CT
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