Our club received a lot of recognition at Soroptimist’s 44th Annual Desert Coast Region Spring Conference. We received five “Celebrating Success” awards in various categories, and our club president Jennifer Luz-Olson was presented with the Governor’s Service Award! We got to meet and honor 7 of the 9 Region Live Your Dream Finalists (2 were unable to attend) and hear their inspiring stories of resilience. One of them is going on to be considered for an additional award at the National level!
We heard from our SIA President-Elect Bobbi Enderlin, and from the keynote speaker Dr. Martha Sosa-Johnson who is a doctor of internal medicine and since 2018 a member of SI Santa Ana-Tustin. Currently on the faculty at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Sosa-Johnson told us her very personal story of struggling against adversity to get where she is today.
The theme of this year’s Conference was “Inspiring Leadership.” There were three workshops: one on Stepping into Leadership, another on Asking for Big Sponsors, and the third on the Big Goal Accelerator and what does and doesn’t qualify as an Accelerator project. Speaking of the Big Goal, it was announced that Governer Pat Whitacre has offered to match contributions up to $10,000 to the Dream Big Campaign made by members and clubs in Desert Coast Region! See QR code below to make a donation!
Our club’s basket earned us about $250 towards our Club Giving. All the silent auction baskets were amazing. I think some of our members came away with nice designer handbags from the Chinese Auction. We all enjoyed watching Pat O. and Runa cavorting around as geese in flight in the fun part of the program (with Pat O. playing the part of the disruptive goose who flies out of formation. She’s such a rebel.). Some photos from the Conference are below:
