Improving the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment This document contains the text and pictures from the electronic version of the newsletter. However, it does not contain information found in

the hyperlinks.

Issue 2, Nov., 2014 - In This Issue:

Governor Bobbi Shares Her Joy and Enthusiasm

Can We Talk...about name recognition

No Guilt Clubs

Fellowship: There's No Such Thing as Too Much Bling

16 New Fellows Named

Legislative Affairs Looks Ahead

Laws and Resolutions to Review Bylaws

Electronic Meetings???

Read Some Celebrating Success Award Applications

"Dream It, Be It": You May Already Have a Program

Education and Training Award Success Stories

Violet Richardson Award Lives!!

SI/Rio Vista Receives Raves for Membership Program

Making Conference Calls Effective

Using Social Media

A Culture of Philanthropy

Founder Region Link pdf

District and Club News

Time to Vote on Federation Issues

Corrections

Kudos!

Milestones

Welcome New Members

For Sale

Really Important Links

All of the links in the newsletter are important, but these are really,

really important!

Region Roster, Updated 10/14

Soroptimist Summary

Soroptimist International News and

Blog

Founder Region Link in pdf format

Soroptimist Celebrating Success Entry Form

Sample Club Bylaws

SIA 2014 Convention Highlights

Oops... That's my red face.

I personally find it difficult to believe that I am not perfect, but sadly, apparently I'm not. Here are the corrections to our last

edition:

SI/Mendocino - the Bingo Bash

Region News

Governor Bobbi Shares Her Joy and Enthusiasm with Members. I was thrilled to be able to visit with so many club members at the district meetings we just completed in October! I hope you were inspired to look inward at your ability to change your attitude, as well as look at your club activities and re-evaluate what you are doing so we can continue to shape the future of Soroptimist.Share with your club members the messages you heard at district meeting - why women and girls? And spread the news - we no longer want to be the best kept secret! If you spend some time on your club public awareness, it will go far to expose your club to more people. More exposure will attract more members, and more funds for your club projects. I was also excited to hear about the changes in store for our identifying project, "Founder Region Fellowship"! It will be exciting to see this in action at our upcoming conference in May. This program will change lives - honoring women in the last year

Governor Bobbi with SIA President Poco, who will be our official visitor at Region Conference

in May. Click on the picture for Governor Bobbi's Blog!

sponsored by SI/Mendocino is in February, not in October as previously reported

omg! look who's in the news.

A multiyear perspective of the club membership of Irene Heenan, Life Member of SI/Vallejo,was covered in the local newspaper recently. Clubs in Sonoma county were mentioned in a news article about anti-trafficking activities during a recent cross-country FBI sting. SI/Calistoga gets the best newspaper coverage! This time it is about their project with Read Aloud Partners. If you have news of a member whose accomplishments have been mentioned in the media, please send the information along with the appropriate e-link (if possible) to Founder Link .

Milestones

Welcome to the world Maxwell Brink Hoener, first grandson of Debbie Thompson, SI/Crescent City, born September 24. Mother and baby are doing great and dad is recovering nicely.

of their doctoral programs. There are many reasons to come to our region conference the first weekend in May - our Legislative Advocacy committee will again provide an insightful, impactful program on the subject of Sex Trafficking - and the impact on prostituted women in our area. We will also have our leadership workshops - so your newly elected officers for next year can find out about their responsibilities and learn tips for being successful club leaders. The SIA President, Poco Davis, will be our official visitor. And as always, we will have a fabulous awards program on Sunday morning. Lots of amazing women will be honored. Did I mention all the fun we will have throughout the weekend? Please come and stay so you can enjoy friendships with long time friends as well as lots of new people you will meet. Share the joy of Soroptimist as we lead change together!

Synopsis of 2014 Region Conference Business Conducted Now Available

The 2014 Region Conference Proceedings are now available. This document includes information on all business conducted at the Conference.

Can We Talk?

What do you think is the best way to gain recognition of the Soroptimist brand?

We don't want to be the "best kept secret." What do you think is the best way to gain wide recognition of the Soroptimist brand and for people to associate our mission with our name? Send your ideas here and we will publish as many of them as we can in our next edition--it can be anonymous if you like.

Clubs: The Foundation of Our Organization

Do You Have a No-Guilt Club? What a wonderful concept: a club where members do not feel guilty if they can't make every meeting or participate in every activity, but where they want to attend as frequently as possible and volunteer to do as much as they can! Welcome to the No Guilt Club. At SI/No Guilt, members are valued for what they can do and not judged on what they can't do; they are honored for what they contribute and not criticized for what they don't contribute. One club developed a set of principles for a No Guilt club and also looked to see how applying these principles helped the club. The

Welcome! Greetings to Our New Members

Sarah Parker was inducted into membership by her mother, Governor-

Elect Pam Parker at the District 3/4 District Meeting.

SI/Crescent City Jo Anne Van Valkenburgh

Vicki Baldwin

SI/Willits Linda Posner

SI/Benicia

Suzanne Castleman Kate Gibbs

Helen Flowers

SI/Marin County Siobhan Collopy

Daria Sievers

SI/The Delta Karen Kendall

Nina Koch

SI/Northern Mariana Islands Emma Perez

Marilyn N. Marron

SI/Honolulu Jennifer Gremms

Maria Reyes

SI/Maui Wendy MacDonald

SI/Rio Vista

Donna Hamilton

bottom line: the club members said they were happier with their membership and the club retained and attracted more members..

Fellowship: Unique to Us!

Fellowship Announces Program to Get Your Bling On! Fellowship announced at district meetings major changes in the Founder Region Fellow program. Fellows will now be awarded distinctive pins for being named a fellow more than one time. The first time a member is named a fellow, she will receive the traditional round pin with the scholar hand enameled on it. For the second award, the pin will be silver enameled in black, set on a book shaped, rectangular background. A sapphire will be added on the rectangular background for the third award. For the fourth award, the sapphire will be changed to a diamond, and additional diamonds will be added as a member is named a fellow five or more times.

The new pins will actually be in silver. You will note that the background is

shaped like a book.

$15,000 Raised, 17 New Region Fellows Named at District Meetings As a result of the basket raffle held at district meetings, over $15,000 was raised for Fellowship. Also, two fellows were paid for outright for a total of 17 new fellows named during District Meetings.. A new program was introduced for clubs who sold all of their tickets--and did it pay off! Each club that sold 100% of their

SI/Ukiah Noreen Evans

SI/Eureka

Analia (Ana) Martinez Andrea Ralph

Deborah (Debbie) Sanders Siobhan K. Ayers

Mary Huber Wallaker LeeAnn Lanning

Monica Hicks Denise Daskal

SI/ Waikiki Foundation Inc,

Theresa Ann Cusimano

SI/East Bay Jacqueline M. Jacobs

SI/Windsor

Rachael Rinaldi

SI/Calistoga Joan S. Heller Meg Haycraft

SI/St. Helena Sunrise

Sarah Parker

SI/Santa Rosa Pam Johnston

Sabrina Coyle-Johnson

SI/Ft. Bragg JoAnne Frazer

SI/Humboldt Bay

Marita Masante

SI/Central Oahu Evangeline Barney

SI/Oakland Andi Winters

...and a special welcome back to our newly reinstated members.

SI/The Delta Ginette Huot

SI/Eureka Lisa Hall

tickets received three free tickets in the raffle for fellows. If a club's ticket was pulled, they could choose to name a member as fellow or if the club is not yet a fellow, the club may become a fellow. Several of these tickets were pulled in the raffle. The Region Fellowship committee will again be holding a fundraiser at Region Conference. There will also be an upscale reception for fellows only at Conference where fellows will be able to personally meet the current fellowship recipients. Additionally, clubs are urged to have in club fundraiser during Fun for Fellowship month of February.

Legislative Advocacy Committee

Legislative Advocacy Looks Ahead Toward Their Conference Presentation

Have you seen this woman? She is accompanied by a controlling person or boss; not speaking on her own behalf. She seems to lack of control over personal schedule, money, identification papers, travel documents. She's nearly always transported to or from work or lives and works in the same place. She has debts owed to employer/crew leader; because of debts or other obligations she is unable to leave the job. You notice her bruises, depression, fear and how overly submissive she is. Come learn more about her, her circumstances, and what you can do for her at the Legislative Advocacy presentation at Founder Region Conference, May 1- 3, 2015.

Laws and Resolutions Committee

Committee Sets Goals for Biennium The Laws and Resolutions committee met in early September by conference call. Our goal was to discuss Governor Bobbi's expectations that we review club by-laws to make sure all are in compliance with higher law, specifically SIA and Robert's Rules. Sample club bylaws are available on the SIA website. Clubs brought copies of their by-laws to the district meeting this fall with a copy given to each district's Laws and Resolutions Committee representative. Each committee representative will review these for her own district. If major discrepancies are found, these discrepancies may be brought to the committee as a whole for review.

We're Raising $$$'s.

SI/St Helena Sunrise is selling cookbooks for $20 each. The recipes are from their members and from other Soroptimist notables (read "Region officers"). 140 pages of recipes. There are just a few left, so get your order in now! SI/Ukiah still has some of the purse-style Soroptimist totes available. They are $25 each and a steal at that. Order your tote now! SI/Oakland is taking orders for those, oh so wicked bad lobster. See their brochure for all the details! Have you got your copy of Heart of Soroptimist, the book of heartwarming, funny, and moving true stories by and about Soroptimists? It is published bySI/Fort Bragg and is available on Amazon.

Clubs who are raising money by selling items or otherwise raising money for a project or for their general account, may list the item or items here. Please include a description and contact information. All items with the S logo must have paid their license fee. Raffles must have a valid raffle permit and include their permit number in the listing. This listing is not open to individuals or outside businesses unless at least 50% of the net proceeds are being donated to a Soroptimist club or other entity.Your listing may be sent to Founder Link.

Also, we review any by-laws changes requested by individual clubs or the region board for compliance which may require working with Parliamentarian Barbara and Governor Bobbi. After discussing these topics, the committee went on to discuss the desire of many clubs to move forward with using technology available for electronic meetings and voting. We will explore this in the future (see article by Parliamentarian Barbara). However, it was decided (but not required) that clubs may currently submit their rosters, by-laws and budgets by electronic means to their District Directors rather than present paper copies at the upcoming district meetings.

Parliamentarian Barbara Tells All...

Holding Meetings Electronically Is Possible (said with a caveat) It might seem so easy. You have a matter of business you need to conduct quickly and you don't want to wait until your next meeting. Why not just send out an email or have a conference call and take care of it. Well, as Parliamentarian Barbara explains, sometimes things that might seem easy can become parliamentary sink-holes. It is possible to have electronic meetings and to vote electronically, but it may require a change in your bylaws.

The Four Pillars

CELEBRATING SUCCESS:

A Sampling of Club Applications for Celebrating Success Awards Celebrating Success Awards are made in four areas which correspond to the Four Pillars of Success: Program, Membership, Fundraising, and Public Awareness. While there can be only one winner in each area, all of the written reports are worth reading and learning from. In each issue we will highlight a few of the applications presented the previous July. The winning application will be announced at Region Conference in May. This month we are highlighting: Empowering Underprivileged Youth,, public awareness entry showing how to use a program to increase your club's visibility; SI/The Delta; Expect Respect, a program entry on safe dating by

teens,SI/Waikiki Foundation, Inc.; FemPower, a program entry on leadership, SI/Eureka; Lobster Dinner, a fundraising program featuring everyone's favorite crustacean.SI/Vacaville; Promoting Soroptimist, a public awareness entry demonstrating how to use multiple outlets to increase name recognition, SI/Santa Rosa. Because many clubs included excellent samples and reference material, the link will provide the information exactly as transmitted by the club.

PROGRAM:

The New "Dream It, Be It" Girls' Program Does Not Require Reinventing the Wheel!

The new global Soroptimist program Dream It, Be It: Career Support for Girls, launched this summer in Vancouver, aims to provide secondary school age girls with tools and resources to live their dreams. The Founder Region Committee for Dream It, Be It met recently to learn more about the new program and share ideas for helping individual clubs make it a success. Right away the team discovered that many clubs were already conducting events and activities that met the goals of Dream It, Be It. The first goal of the committee was apparent--curate all the successful ideas already underway and share them across the region. Founder Region has some wonderful programs already in place which meet the Dream It, Be It criteria. More information about each of these and similar programs will soon be available. All clubs are encouraged to form a Dream It, Be It committee to begin the first steps toward creating their own project. Visit the SIA website for tools, resources and timelines as well contact information for your District Chair.

Live Your Dream: Education and Training Award Success Stories The Live Your Dream: Education and Training Awards (formerly known as Women's Opportunity Award) are frequently life changing for the recipients. The committee has gathered the personal stories of some of the past winners to share with the region membership. To protect their privacy the names of the winners have been changed.

Violet Richardson Award is Alive and Living in Founder Region The reports of the demise of the Violet Richardson Award have been greatly exaggerated! No--this award is not going away. For at least this biennium we will be granting the award to girls who volunteer in their communities. Clubs may grant the award and there will be a Region winner selected and announced at Region Conference. Region chairman Honore McIlhattan ofSI/Vallejo describes the details of the programhere . Applications and other ancillary material are available on the SIA website.

MEMBERSHIP:

Using Live Your Dream to Build Membership and Gain Supporters SI/Rio Vista has developed a way of using the Live Your Dream program to gain attention and supporters. SIA membership division was so impressed by their efforts that the description of the program has been published and distributed throughout the federation. The club has developed a group of supporters called "Dreamers" who while not full blown members supports the club in fundraising, service projects, and in getting the Soroptimist word out. The program allows women to get their toes wet and try out membership before becoming full fledged members.

PUBLIC AWARENESS:

Conference Calls Take Planning But Are Worth the Trouble Conference calls can be a great tool for holding a meeting involving people across a geographical area, saving members both money and time. However, unless they are well planned and well led, the calls can sink into something resembling an old-fashioned telephone party line where a lot is said, but nothing is communicated. Katharine Miller, SI/Oakland, has had a great deal of experience leading conference calls and gives us some tips on effective conference calls. Be aware that if you need to take an official vote on an item you should read Parliamentarian Barbara

Lanier's article on electronic meetings also.

#GettingTheWordOut on Social Media Keep up the amazing work, clubs! You are really increasing your presence on social media! Our guru of all things having to do with social media, Traci Silva of SI/Maui, has some more hints for you on how to maximize your presence and gain recognition through social media.

FUNDRAISING:

Creating a Culture of Philanthropy "Our club give 10%???? Are you kidding? Our members would never go for that! " How many have heard that anthem? However, for clubs with a culture of philanthropy not only is it possible, it is expected and accepted. When a club accepts that being a nonprofit organization means providing programs which are fully as important and helpful as those of other organizations and that money sent to headquarters comes back to in support and grants, members begin to understand what a culture of philanthropy adds to a club. President-Elect Sam Buchenau uses her experience as a past fundraising council member to fully explain creating a culture of philanthropy within a club.

District and Club News

News from the clubs in the Region.

District 1 SI/Oakland's PINCC walk went off without a hitch and with lots of Soroptimist participation. This annual event raises money to combat cervical cancer among women in Africa. At their next fundraiser, their lobster sale, SI/Oakland is also doing a food pantry drive, requesting that when people pick up their lobsters on November 22nd they bring hygiene items and non-perishable food items to donate to the St. Paul's Food Pantry - which serves many low-income seniors and families with children. SI/San Ramon Valley held a fun raiser at Gianni's Italian Bistro.

Berkeley Marina

In addition to the wonderful Italian food they had cake-pop favors with the S logo drawn on them. The fun and food fundraiser attracted Soroptimist members from many surrounding clubs.

SI/San Ramon Valley fundraiser brought out the Directors! District 1 Director Gloria Bragg, District 2 Director Bev Gomer,

and District 3 Director Helene Bowles

If you have news about a District 1 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and e-link (if possible)

to Founder Link .

District 2

SI/24-680 has really been busy! This summer the club's identifying project, Transition Fund, held a baby shower for a young woman, formerly foster care/group home and supported her for her immediate needs. We had an informational table at Lafayette Art and Wine Festival. Most members are involved in the District's Get Real Academy. We have 2 candidates for Ruby Award. The fundraisers planned are "Grease" Sing-a-Long November 1, Spaghetti Bowl dinner and Super Bowl event January 24, and Chocolate/Wine event April 18. At the October meeting, SI/24-680 vice president, Mary Hanson, introduced a new program to present our club mission, our work and events to guests and prospective new members, as a handout with color photos and creative diagrams. It included ongoing support to our Ruby Award winner, Amy Lynch, Director of ARM of Care, to connect with SIA and SI efforts to fight Human Trafficking; Violet Richardson Award description; Live Your Dream ( Women's Opportunity) Award description; Transition Fund; Founder Region Fellowship, the PhD "Home Stretch" grants; Get Real Academy photos and a letter from a participant, and flier of next fundraising event.The

The Delta.

evening's focus impressed our guests and already produced one new member. It also gave us a summary of accomplishments on which to reflect and be proud. SI/The Delta held a hugely successful Texas Hold 'Em night, featuring raffles, gift baskets, and a 10 gal. grand prize hat worth $250. They had 81 players attending.

SI/The Delta Treasurer Ginette Huot and Lill Pierce getting the payouts together for first, second, and third prize winners.

Have you noticed a whirling Dervish on the eastern side of the Region? That is SI/Pittsburg with all they are doing and have planned for the year! Just take a look at this sampling (and believe it or not, this is just a sampling!): August 2 was our annual back-to-school event designed to help underprivileged children get ready for school by supplying 98 children with $150 worth of clothing and shoes, plus a backpack full of school supplies. We had approximately 100 volunteer shoppers helping the children shop at Target Store, Pittsburg. This is our "signature" service project with over $18,000 in contributions annually. August 21 was our first club social..."SI/Pittsburg Night at the Pittsburg Mettle's Baseball" game at Pittsburg City Park. President Margie threw out the first pitch and she said "thank goodness I made it to the

plate!" As true Soroptimist they strive to keep up with the times and technology. SI/Pittsburg's newsletter will soon be quarterly and connected directly with our new website. It will feature information in an "all in one place" format. Thank you to our Public Awareness Chair, Sharon Sobel-Idul, for working hard at this new venture! They've been busy...here's a glance at SI/Pittsburg events the past couple months as reported by their President Margie Rognlien: May 31st we held our first annual Golfing Fore A Cause charitable golf tournament partnering with SI/Antioch. In

Soroptimist lingo this joint effort is called "collective impact"...Soroptimist members working together for a common cause. MARK YOUR CALENDAR for Saturday, June 13, 2015, 8:00 am Shotgun start for our second annual Golfing Fore A Cause tournament at Lone Tree Golf & Event Center. We'll be working with SI/Antioch again! July 13 was our Installation of Officers at the Pittsburg Art & Community Foundation's Art Shack. It was a beautiful evening on the patio overlooking the Sacramento River. Our "Soroptimisters" lent a hand in queuing up some burgers & hot dogs and much fun was had by all. Festa Italiana 2014 is scheduled for Saturday evening, November 1, 5:30 pm at Church of the Good Shepherd Hall. We'll be cooking up a storm in the next couple weeks prepping meatballs, sauce, sausage, peppers, onions, antipasti, appetizers & dessert. If you've never been...you're missing out!!! This year we're honoring a very deserving woman, Sandra Valle of the Michael Valle Foundation. It will be a memorable evening. For more information, please call Chair Gwynne Davi at 925-200-8715. That's it for now. SI/Pittsburg's next newsletter will be available in late December. We are "women strong in service in our community!"

If you have news about a District 2 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and e-link (if possible) to Founder Link .

District 3 According to President Mary Lou Batchelor, SI/Dixon had a busy September after being off July and August. They began with a "glad we're back" luncheon meeting, celebrating the hard work of our 4th of July team that sold fireworks. They also thanked the audit committee which worked to be sure the finances were in order. The club has long been involved with Project Linus and this year rather than certificates, President Mary Lou has decided to make blankets and give them to committee members on the completion of their work and they can decide whether to donate to a special person or

donate to Project Linus......a great way to pay it forward. They honored their Young Woman of the Month--a very deserving senior from Dixon High School. The Editor from our local paper attended the luncheon and did a Front Page article about the event. SI/Central Solano County and SI/Rio Vista have upcoming LunaFest Film Festivals in November. Central Solano's event is scheduled for November 13th at 6 PM in Fairfield; and the SI Rio Vista event will be held November 22nd at 6:30 PM. LUNAFEST is a traveling film festival of award-winning short films by, for and about women - but enjoyed by everyone! This 14th season includes 9 films featuring a variety of stories of hope and humor. Fairfield and Rio Vista are two of over 150 cities hosting the LUNAFEST Film Festival this year. LUNAFEST'S mission is to support and nurture the inspiring and often unsung work of talented women filmmakers. Their goal is to raise funds and awareness for causes that help, empower and give a voice to women from all walks of life. Proceeds will benefit the local Soroptimist club, as well and LunaFest's selected charity, the Breast Cancer Fund. For more information contact SI/Central Solano Lunafest or SI/Rio Vista Lunafest .

Napa Valley in Fall

As part of SI/Vacaville's STEPS program, Colleen Berumen helps students at the Mad Money Mall buy clothes within their budget..

SI/Vacaville has re-launched their Dream It-Be It girls program- STEPS - Soroptimists Teaching and Empowering for Personal Success. This outreach program is the brainchild of Vice President Desiree Ramos. The program provides skills training and mentoring to at risk girls at the local continuation high school. The sessions are bi-monthly luncheon meetings where SI-Vacaville provides the food and a guest speaker . For example, recently there was a wonderful presentation on interviewing skills, what to wear and what to say. All the girls seemed very engaged with the topic and appreciative of the help. Travis Credit Union helped put on a life skills game called Mad City Money. Each participant was given an identity and was challenged to balance their money after visiting all of the vendors. This past month they were off on their first field trip to Kaiser Hospital in Vacaville. Kaiser hires many entry level workers, not just trained medical professionals. The girls were very excited about this excursion. Read more about STEPS here!

SI/Vallejo celebrated their seventy-fifth anniversary with the City of Vallejo proclaiming October 20 (the actual anniversary date) as Soroptimist International of Vallejo day. The Solano County Board of Supervisors and the State Assembly also issued proclamations expressing their appreciation for all that the club had done in the county and region. The club's celebration culminated on October 25 with a gala event at which they honored the directors of two organizations who share our commitment of improving the lives of women and girls, Jim Kern of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum and Sisters Claire and Lorraine of the De Paul Women's Resource Center. Also honored were their sponsoring clubSI/Oakland and their three legacy clubs, SI/Benicia, Si/Vallejo Gateway, and SI/Central Solano County for working to Increase the Collective Impact within Founder Region and Solano County. A historical display

featuring past presidents' scrapbooks was a very popular venue. It was fun to see what everyone looked like "back in the day." Governor Bobbi and Secretary Charlene put on a clever skit, representing the Region Board of 1939.

SI/Vallejo President Kathy Hahn assisted by past presidents Glenda

Goode and Helen Intintoli blow out the 75 candles on the cake. SI/Benicia held their annual Bewitching Tea Fundraiser on October 26, They earned just a tad over $1,600--now that's what you call a treat! It made for a wonderfully fun ghoul's day out!

SI/Benicia members and their guests enjoy dressing up for a delightfully

special treat at the Camelia Tea Room in Benicia. SI/Vallejo held their annual Wine and Dine fundraiser on September 7 with over 100 people attending the dinner. They raised (drum roll please) $40,000 at the dinner featuring wines by the woman-owned vineyard Ceja Wines, and including a live and silent auction. If you have news about a District 3 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and e-link (if possible) to Founder Link .

District 4 SI/Ukiah participated in the recent free Children's Health Fair, Wild About Health, where they donated bike helmets to the lucky children. They were also mentioned in thenewspaper account of the event.

A future Soroptimist receives a helmet from SI/Ukiah.

It's been a busy Fall so far for SI/Novato. After a successful club Garage Sale in late September, which brought us over $1700, we followed up with our annual Lobster Sale. This year, we tried two pickup dates, resulting in 419 lobsters sold and netting $3307. This is just a bit over last year's totals, and we are evaluating the benefits of two pickups vs just the one. We also held our Annual Membership Luncheon, and some of our attendees indicated an interest in joining our group. We'll be following up with them to see if they will follow through on their interest. After a short breather in early November, we'll be back at it, gathering Christmas gifts for our families at Gilead House. This is one of the most enjoyable projects of the year, and our members really come through! SI/Windsor held its 20th Bunco event on October 23rd. More than 65 people participated in this semi-annual fund-raiser, making this a record night for the Club. And it was a fun evening overall.

Sonoma County Coast

Do these look like a couple of prime Bunco players or what???

SI/Mendocino-Sonoma Coast will be holding their annual Project Santa again this year. In Project Santa gifts are prebought and set up on tables labeled by gender and age and for adults. The club also shops for individual families.provided Christmas for 162 families, (638 people) and sent out 160 food boxes. Open shopping and wrapping will be December 15pm Monday through Friday and 12 - 5pm Saturday, NO SUNDAYS at the Sea Ranch White Barn. Soroptimist dedicated days for shopping and wrapping with lunch provided is on December 2nd and 9th. We invite you to join us on one of those days. If you can't make one of those days, come to join us on any other day but call for directions and to make sure the barn is open the day you chose to come.Dress in layers, bring warm clothes. If you have news about a District 4 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and eto Founder Link . District 5 SI/The Redwoods gave a pink carnation to everyone who had or scheduled a mammogram during the month of October. District 5 had an outstanding District Meeting! All 11 clubs were represented at the meeting!SI/Humboldt Bay kicked off the morning with an enthusiastic rendition of a special Soroptimist song, composed to the tune of M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-UBay club members entered the meeting wearing white Mickey Mouse ears, with the Soroptimist "S". They marched around the tables singing their special version of the Micanthem. After the flag salute and introductions, Supervisor Virginia Bass shared information on the people, places, and events that makes Humboldt County a special place to live and

Do these look like a couple of prime Bunco players or what???.

will be holding their annual In Project Santa gifts are pre-

bought and set up on tables labeled by gender and age and for adults. The club also shops for individual families. Last year they

s, (638 people) and sent out

Open shopping and wrapping will be December 1-16. 10am to 5pm Saturday, NO

Soroptimist dedicated days for shopping and wrapping with and 9th. We invite you to

If you can't make one of those days, come to join us on any other day but call for directions and to make sure the barn is open the day you chose to come.

If you have news about a District 4 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and e-link (if possible)

to

had an outstanding District Meeting! All 11 clubs were represented at the meeting!

kicked off the morning with special Soroptimist song,

U-S-E. All Humboldt Bay club members entered the meeting wearing white Mickey

They marched around the tables singing their special version of the Mickey Mouse

After the flag salute and introductions, Supervisor Virginia Bass shared information on the people, places, and events that makes Humboldt County a special place to live and

Redwood Forest

visit. She acknowledged the important role Soroptimist plays in local communities. Tina Martin, president of SI/Humboldt Bay provided a brief history of District V Soroptimist clubs. First-time attendees were honored and Governor Bobbi inducted two new members, for SI/Humboldt Bay and SI/Fort Bragg. Region Officers gave their reports and Director Kris led the discussion on the impact education, economics, physical abuse and human rights has on the lives of women and girls. Members shared ideas and completed a Barriers and Solutions worksheet and a Why Women and Girls activity worksheet. Club awards were presented and five clubs from District V were acknowledged for giving 10% to club giving. The Fellowship raffle raised enough to name two new fellows.

Humboldt Bay officers join with Region officers for a rousing chorus of S-O-R-O-P-T-I-M-I-S-T.

Members of SI/Eel River Valley got together for breakfast and some Ghoulish Fun including costumes, games, and gift exchange. The Membership Committee comes up with wonderful ideas for fun activities and social events to build membership.

SI/Eel River Valley treat themselves to a breakfast of truly goulish fun.

If you have news about a District 5 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and e-link (if possible) to Founder Link . District 6 SI/Northern Marianas (aka Saipan) donated gift certificates, school supplies, and clothing to children of women in a Women's shelter. They received some great publicity for their efforts. This is a new club, but they are certainly active and involved. They recently celebrated their first anniversary--the first of many!

Oahu Beach

Members of SI/Waikiki Foundation, Inc., SI/Central Oahu, and SI/Honolulu

joined forces to scare up some funds for Soroptimist.

The annual Oahu tri-club fundraiser "Halloween Masquerade" was held on October 26th. There were over 200 Silent Auction items and lots of costumed party goers. Among the 320 guests were Suzanne Sullivan again visiting Hawaii as was Krystal Koga, all the way from SI/Marianas (Guam). This year a new feature was added to the silent auction bidding with electronic hand held devices and smart phones. Although some were hesitant, we soon learned how easy the process was for bidding. The event was just held this past week, so the final tally for revenue still being calculated. As in the past years, the amount of revenue generated affords many awards to empower women and girls as well as to support the many other projects in which the clubs participate. If you have news about a District 6 club, please send the information from the club's email account along with the appropriate photos and e-link (if possible) to Founder Link.

Federation Notes

It's Time to Vote on Federation Issues.

When clubs were at Federation convention, they spent considerable time discussing issues on the ballot and they had a preliminary vote to bring issues before the membership. That vote, however, is not the binding vote. Clubs are now being given the opportunity to vote on these important issues. President Poco Davis is urging clubs to vote. In her communication with Governors, she stated, "As you know, during our business session at the SIA convention in Vancouver, the delegate from your club voted on many changes the Board of Directors brought forth. As the SIA bylaws state, clubs are to adopt/approve what was voted on. By now you have received the ballot package through regular mail. "This is a very critical time in our organization's history and the current proposed changes will determine the future for SIA. Please read the information, and discuss and vote on the changes the convention delegates recommended. The 2014 Laws and Resolutions ballot materials are available in all languages on the Federation information page of the website. SIA must receive your ballot by December 4, 2014. "Do not pass up this opportunity to help SIA shape its future. Vote today. /s/ Margaret Poco Davis Margaret Poco Davis President 2014-2015

Founder Region Link is published bimonthly by the Founder Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas.Deadlines for submission of articles are August 15, October 15, December 15, February 15, April 15, June 15. Articles submitted for the newsletter may be edited for content, accuracy, and to meet journalistic conventions.

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is published bimonthly by the Founder Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas.f articles are August 15, October 15, December 15, February 15, April 15, June 15.

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is published bimonthly by the Founder Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas. f articles are August 15, October 15, December 15, February 15, April 15, June 15.

Articles submitted for the newsletter may be edited for content, accuracy, and to meet journalistic conventions. by the Region Governor.

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