For over 80 years, members of Richmond Soroptimist have worked to help women and girls in our community and beyond, while building lifelong friendships and having fun.
We invite you to give us a hand by joining us as an active member, a one-time volunteer, a guest at one of our events or as a donor.
We have made adjustments after the changes that have occurred over the last few years, emphasizing our theme: WIN-what's important now. Our group meets twice a month, on the first and third Thursday of the month at noon. We are now meeting in person at the Richmond Golf Club. Our business meeting for members is on the first Thursday of each month. The second meeting of the month is for a program or event planning.
Our yearly fundraiser has been reimagined and called the Spring Culinary Event, chef show with wine and beer tasting. The funds raised by this event will be distributed to local community groups through a grant application process. In addition, annual awards are given to a woman who is sole support of her family and is furthering her education, a young woman who volunteers in the community and high school graduates who are heading to college.
We are excited to invite you to our
2024 Spring Culinary Event.
The success of this year’s culinary event will enable us to continue our work in the local area where needs are ever greater, and funds are scarce. We hope you will support us in this endeavor. As always, proceeds will benefit Soroptimist Service projects including programs for youth, the elderly, the disabled , the underserved and those pursuing college scholarships among others.
Over the years our fundraising efforts have allowed us to give grants to local community organizations that help people in need. Some of the groups which have recently received service grants from us are: Early Childhood Mental Health, Jelly's Place, Quinan Street Project, Rosie's Service Corps (Rosie the Riveter Trust), Ujima Family Recovery Services, Weigh of LIfe, West Country Salesian Youth Club, Writer Coach Connection (Alliance for Learning).
In addition to the grants we give out to community groups, there are two individual awards.
VIOLET RICHARDSON AWARD
A teenager (14-18 ) is honored for community service. The award is $500.
LIVE YOUR DREAM
This award, given by the SI/Richmond Club, assists a woman who has the primary financial responsibility for her family to obtain the skills, training and education necessary to improve her employment status and standard of living. Two $2,500 awards will be given.
HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS
In the spring, we will give two $5,000 scholarships to a local high school graduating senior who will be heading to college.
On November 16, 2024 we were able to resume our tradition of having a luncheon to recognize the agencies receive a service grants from SI Richmond. During the pandemic, we held Zoom meetings with the recipients to announce the grant recipients. We met at Richmond Golf Club. it was a grand afternoon. The eight agencies were inspiring as they told us about their work in our community .
Soroptimist International of Richmond was chartered on March 23, 1939. Our club was sponsored by Soroptimist of Berkeley and led by Charter President Christina Cameron, who was the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. There were 18 charter members. Currently we have 29 members. Our club is part of Founder Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas.
This year, 2024, we are
celebrating our 85th anniversary!