October 2015

Issue: 25

Soroptimist October 28 Program Meeting Given by Mary Kerrigan from Step Up Ventura

The Ventura Soroptimist Club welcomes Mary Kerrigan, Executive Director of Step Up Ventura, as our program speaker for our luncheon meeting on October 28 at 12 noon at the Ventura Marriott Beach Hotel on Harbor Blvd in Ventura. Below is some background information about this new non-profit organization. If you are interested in attending this meeting please call Cindy Daly at 701-0882 to RSVP by Monday, October 26. The cost is $15.

Step Up Ventura is a new non-profit organization in Ventura. Their vision is a community where the safety and well-being of children is not compromised by their parent's circumstances or instability. These children do not have to live with repeated traumas, disrupted attachments, or neglect. It is a program where all children have a chance to form healthy relationships and have access to early childhood education that supports them in realizing their potential.

The program will offer nurturing, calming and appropriately stimulating activities throughout the day with specially trained childhood educators, caregivers and mental health workers. The program also requires parental involvement so parents can learn to understand and care for their children with interventions specifically targeted to early childhood brain development and healthy parent-child attachments.

Executive Director Mary Kerrigan will give us an overview of the program and outline opportunities in which our Soroptimist club may be of help.

SI Ventura To Participate in WOMENTUM! on Saturday, Oct. 24

On Saturday, October 24, we will be participating in the WOMENTUM! conference presented by the Women's Economic Roundtable. SI Ventura will have a table displaying information about our club and programs at the event. See the flier below for more information.

The event is will be held at CSU Channel Islands Grand Salon on Saturday, October 24 from 8 am - 2:30 pm. If you are interested in helping man the table please call or email Cindy Daly at 701-0882 or cmdaly@pacbell.net.

Camino Real Region Fall Workshop

By Ann Hewitt

Kay Armstrong and Ann Hewitt attended the Soroptimist International of the Americas Camino Real Region 2015 Fall Workshop in Bellflower, California on Saturday, October 3, 2015. Sherri Cash, a member of our Club, also attended as a Board member, representing District 1.

What a great venue! Governor Dora focused on regional issues: the morning centered on presentations by clubs from across the region. Locally, the Oxnard club told the audience about our exemplary collaborative efforts to STOP Human Trafficking & Sexual Slavery. Two of the clubs (including Santa Clarita) provided guidance on how to implement the new Dream It, Be It program - career support for girls.

After a tasty lunch hosted by the Bellflower Club, Cathy Standiford, SIA Past President, gave some history on how and how not to maintain club membership and talked about how all voluntary organizations need to change in order to retain dedicated members and to recruit new members, across the generations.

The dates, location and theme for the Spring Conference were announced: May 13-15, in Pasadena, with the theme: Dreams on Parade: Change Makes it Happen.

More information to follow!

SIV Members Attend Tender Life Maternity Home's 30th Celebration

Members Kay Armstrong, Lorie Balzer and Cyndi Damron helped Tender Life Maternity Home celebrate 30 years of building new lives. The event was held on Wednesday, September 30. The Home was opened in 1985 to serve homeless pregnant women in our community.

Since its inception, Tender Life has changed the lives of over 2500 women and children! Some of the babies who resided at the home with their moms returned to visit and share their success stories which include high school and college graduations! If you would like more information on Tender Life or information on volunteer opportunities, please call Karen Johnson at (805) 653-7474.

Applications for the
Live Your Dream
Scholarship are Due Nov. 15, 2015

The Violet Richardson Award Application Deadline is
Jan. 15, 2016

Applications and information about Live Your Dream (formerly called the Women's Opportunity Award)

and the Violet Richardson Award are now available on our website at

www.soroptimistventura.org

Live Your Dream is a scholarship awarded to a local woman who is the primary wage earner in her family to assist with meeting career/educational goals. Click here to download the application.

Live Your Dream also requires two reference forms. Click here to download the reference form.

The deadline for the

Live Your Dream application is

November 15, 2015.

The Violet Richardson Award is a scholarship awarded to a local young woman, age 14-17, recognizing her commitment to the betterment of our community through her volunteer efforts. This scholarship is shared with the volunteer organization she has volunteered for. Click here to download the application.

The deadline for the Violet Richardson Award application is January 15, 2016.

The minimal award to be given is $1500 per winner. Completed applications and reference forms can be emailed to siventura@soroptimist.net or mailed to Sherri Tarpchinoff Bennett, PO Box 6133, Ventura, CA 93006. For questions, please contact Sherri at 805-910-9620.

FORK IT OVER - Benefiting Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast

Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - 6 pm to 9 pm

The Palm Garden Hotel - 495 Ventu Park Road, Thousand Oaks, CA

This cookie culinary competition and fundraiser will feature recipes by noted chefs from some of your favorite restaurants, caterers, and food trucks! Come enjoy sampling some of the offerings from local wine and spirit purveyors.

Tickets are $40 each, or 2 for $75, or $50 at the door. All proceeds benefit the modernization at Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast Camp Arnaz Program Center near Ojai.

For more information http://forkitovergsccc.com/

The September Program Meeting Welcomed Damsel in Defense

September 23 program meeting feature Suz-Anne Shoblom of Damsel in Defense. Suz-Anne spoke to us about how to protect yourself. She showed us several products that could be usefull for this purpose. She also gave us facts about women including the following:

* 1 in 3 women experience domestic violence from their partners

* 1 in 5 women are survivors of rape.

Suz-Anne spoke about the mission of Damsel in Defense and encouraged us to be aware of our surroundings and take the necessary steps to protect ourselves.

Ventura Soroptimists Participate in the AmazonSmile Program

What is AmazonSmile?

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to our Soroptimist International of Ventura.

How do I select a charitable organization to support when shopping on AmazonSmile?

On your first visit to AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com ), you need to select Soroptimist International of Ventura to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. Amazon will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.

How much of my purchase does Amazon donate?

The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. The purchase price is the amount paid for the item minus any rebates and excluding shipping & handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes, or service charges. From time to time, there may be special, limited time promotions that increase the donation amount on one or more products or services or provide for additional donations to charitable organizations.

AmazonSmile Donations to Charitable Organizations

100% of the donation amount generated from your eligible purchase on AmazonSmile will be donated. The donation amounts generated by your purchases are combined with the donation amounts from all other customers that selected the same organization, and each quarter the AmazonSmile Foundation makes donations to registered charitable organizations by electronic funds transfer. Donations are generally transferred approximately 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter.

Please tell all your family and friends to choose Soroptimist International of Ventura to support in their Amazon online purchases through the AmazonSmile program.

Advertise in Our E-Newsletter and Help Support Our Community Service Fund

For a donation of $100 to our community service fund, we will advertise your business in our e-newsletter every month for a year. That is a $20 dollar savings over the monthly rate of of $10 per month.

Or, donate $50 to our community service fund and we will advertise your business in our e-newsletter every month for six months.

Mail your donation check to: Soroptimist, P.O.Box 6133, Ventura, CA 93066 -- Include your ad information and email contact -- or contact us at siventura@soroptimist.net. We will contact you to finalize the ad copy.

2015 Pledge & Inspiration Schedule

October 14 Meeting:

Pledge - Trevor Summerlin

Inspiration - Kellye Patterson

October 28 Meeting:

Pledge - Yvonne Nino

Inspiration - Kay Armstrong

Please email Karen Flock at kflock@sbcglobal.net if you would like to lead the pledge or inspire us at a meeting.

Upcoming

Events

October 14 - Business Meeting - Noon

Oct. 20 - Nov. 10
Life Skills Program - 6:15 - 7:30 pm

Salvation Army Transitional Living Center, 155 S. Oak Street

October 24 - WOMENTUM -

8 am - 2:30 pm

CSU Channel Islands Grand Salon,
Camarillo

October 28 - Program Meeting - Noon

October 29 - Children's Reading Program -

3:30 - 5:30 pm

Snapdragon Place, 11094 Snapdragon Street, Ventura

November 4 - Urbane Cafe Fundraiser
4 - 9 pm
4960 Telephone Rd, Ventura

SIV to Help Children's Reading Program on Oct. 29

Ventura Soroptimists will participate in a children's reading program at Snapdragon Place in east Ventura on Thursday, October 29, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.

Up to five volunteers are needed to read to children; if you want to participate contact Karen Flock at kflock@cabrilloedc.org or (805) 407-2716.

This is part of a program by the Ventura County Library system. They will provide a small library for the community room and teach parents how to read to children. Snapdragon Place, at 11094 Snapdragon Street, Ventura, includes 28 affordable apartments, most for farmworkers, was developed by and is owned and managed by Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation, where Karen Flock is the Real Estate Development Director.

Tender Life 30 Year Birthday Bingo Bash FUNdraiser!!

October 23rd 6-9 pm Ventura Elks Lodge

2126 Knoll Dr. Ventura

SI Ventura is 85 Years old!!!

Coming this fall we will be kicking off the holiday season with an 85th anniversary celebration and fundraising event.

If you would like to help in the planning of this event please contact Cyndi Damron at 216-4728 or email her at damroncyndi@
gmail.com.

Presidents Message

"Small but mighty"?

Our club is smallish but that does not mean we can not accomplish our goal of helping to enable women and girls economically and educationally.

How can we be mighty?

First we need to discover what it is that energizes each of us about SIV and what our particular dream is for the club.

Next comes the work of how to put these individual goals together so we can indeed be mighty.

This is all about how we work for change. Change can be a scary word but we also know nothing can grow without it! Change can be threatening to the status quo, our likes and comfort. I guess the most important aspects of this are communicating and listening.

So I am asking you what are your dreams for SIV? What needs to change to accommodate that and what gets in our way for change?

I really want to know!

Kay Armstrong

President

SI Ventura 2015-2016

SIV to Help Provide Food for Holiday Meal Baskets

We have committed to helping Project Understanding provide Thanksgiving Baskets to local families in need.

Service will pass around a sign up sheet with a list of specific food items needed to complete 2 baskets for our donation. Sign up for an item, or two at the October business or program meetings, secure the item and bring it to the business meeting on November 11 for delivery to Project Understanding.

Please help us provide a Thanksgiving meal to a family in need!

Contact Lorie Balzer for more information at 805-443-8757.