soroptimists

Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra are once again awarding a $2,000 Live Your Dream Award to a deserving woman from the South Lake Tahoe area.

Since 1972, Soroptimist International has given the Live Your Dream Awards to women who are working to better their lives through additional schooling and skills training.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Just as they have for the past 43 years, the Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra Club is honoring women and youth in the South Lake Tahoe community. They recently held their annual awards celebration and honored four young women from South Tahoe Middle School and South Tahoe High School as well as four women from the community.

For the GIVE Award, honored were Alexi Haven, Tovah Jordan, Esty Zanetti, and Maiella Riva. The Ruby Award was given to Suzanne Boyer and the Live Your Dream Award was given to Heather Wilson, Olga Zepeda and Kelly Meyer.

Are you, or do you know of, a young woman in grades 8-12 who volunteers in the community or at school?

The Soroptimist International clubs of Tahoe Sierra and South Lake Tahoe recognize young women annually through their G.I.V.E. award program (Girls Into Volunteer Experience).

An award of $100 is given to winners of this award and the Soroptimists also give $100 to the organization of the winners' choice.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Are you a woman with primary financial responsibility for yourself and your dependents? Are you attending an undergraduate degree program or vocational skill training program? Do you have a financial need? Are you local?

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions then you may be eligible for the Soroptimists International of Tahoe Sierra and Soroptimists International of South Lake Tahoe "Live Your Dream" awards. The clubs will be granting $2,000 awards this year!

The Optimist Club of South Lake Tahoe recently held a fun and successful Day in Paradise at Tahoe Paradise Park. Part of the day's festivities were the duck races with 156 decorated business entries.

The Business Duck Best of Show went to Lukin's Water Company and they chose to donate their $100 prize money to High Sierra Softball. First runner up was Base Camp Pizza, followed by SLT Mini-Storage with both of their entries in the top four, and honorable mentions went to Soroptimists International of Tahoe Sierra and Azul Latin Kitchen.

Ten senior girls at South Tahoe High School and Whittell High Schools were honored by the Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe club on Wednesday for their service to the community and their leadership, athletic and academic achievements.

For over 30 years the club has honored local students via their "Women of Distinction" award program.

This year's recipients:

South Tahoe High - Emily Dilts, Summer Furrer, Rita McCann, Megan McGill,
Kylie Pilkinton, Zyena Tolhurst

Whittell High - Brianna Johns, Rebecca Petty, Melanie Sanchez, Anna White

The Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra club members got together this week to give away 3.200 books to K-8 students in Lake Tahoe Unified School District, and at Zephyr Cove Elementary and Whittell High School.

This is an annual project for the club, spearheaded by long time member Cookie Rork. Literacy is a key goal of the club, and a book bag and book to take home for the summer encourages reading for fun.

Teachers provide the club with individual reading levels of their students and the orders are filled.

"Congratulations on completing the first act of your lives," Keynote Speaker Leon Malmud told the graduates of Mt. Tallac High School Friday. "Leave charged with a sense of possibilities.

Malmud, a South Lake Tahoe resident and author who survived WWII by being hidden by a French family, gave the 76 students a list of lessons as they go forward:

Be Kind to Everyone
Kindness will pay you back
Be credible, people will trust you for your credibility, the core of your existence
Do not work for fools, work for people you like
It is okay to be wrong

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Saint Joseph Community Land Trust (SJCLT) was awarded a Community Service Grant from the Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe Foundation. The grant was in the amount of $1,800 and will be applied to our Motel to Housing Loan Program. SJCLT Board Members, Lyn Barnett and MaryAnne Brand attended the awards ceremony at a luncheon held in Harrah’s South Lake Tahoe.

The Soroptimist international of Tahoe Sierra (SITS) organization has a long history of service to the community. This wonderful group of women chose to sponsor a Bread & Broth Adopt A Day of Nourishment on Monday, March 5th, as their continuing commitment to serve those in need. The SITS members representing their organization at their sponsorship dinner were Jean Bergner, Julie Nelson, Shelly Martinez, Carolyn Robinson and Joanne Shope and Wendy David, B&B Volunteer Team #1 lead cook.

Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe honored three local women as winners of their annual Violet Richardson, Live Your Dream and Ruby Awards.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was just 11 years old as she walked to the bus stop on the morning of June 10 in 1991 when she was abducted by two people. The Meyers and South Lake Tahoe community joined law enforcement in searching for the missing girls. As days turned into weeks, and then eventually years, parents searched for ways to teach their own children about safety and abduction.

The Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra club gave away $21,000 on Thursday at their annual youth awards and scholarship ceremony.

The following are the categories and winners:

South Tahoe High School Scholarships
Sophie Caputa, headed to UC Santa Cruz to major in Political Science
Kamren Gronwold, headed to Feather River College to major in Equine Science
Isabel Leon, headed to LTCC and the plans to go to UC Davis to major in Chemical Engineering
Jocelyn Lopez, headed to Cal State Humboldt
Lek Wei Seow, headed to UC Merced to major in Micro-Biology

In a tradition dating back decades, the Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe recognized local high school students for not only their academic and athletic achievements, but for their work in the community.

The Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra club (SITS) held their 2016 Youth Awards and Scholarships presentation Thursday, honoring students from Whittell High School, South Tahoe High, Mt. Tallac High and South Tahoe Middle School for their scholastic, community service and personal successes for the past school year.

The winners:

George Whittell High School Most Improved Eight Grade Student -- Sky Rosselle

South Tahoe Middle School Most Improved Eight Grade Students--Madison Dial Tuttle, Dylan Sanders

George Whittell High School Most Improved Senior--Hazel Darlucio

Twelve students from South Tahoe Middle School were honored for their essays during the annual Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra Writing Festival.

The students had a topic based on their grade level: seventh graders wrote about "Privacy vs. National Security," while the eighth graders were challenged with writing about who the 2016 female Presidential candidate should be, and why.

The winners:

Seventh Grade Read 180
1st - Brandon Hernandez
2nd - Karina Ibarra
3rd - Andrea Cortez

Seventh Grade
1st - Christopher Guerrero

Community groups can now apply for grants from the Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra club.

They are accepting applications that support programs and projects that align with their Mission to “Strengthen the lives of women and youth in our community and the world."

The deadline to submit an application is January 31, 2016.

The application packet is available on our website www.sitahoesierra.org.
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The South Tahoe High Sober Grad Night Task Force would like to thank the following businesses and individuals who helped make our annual event for the graduating seniors such a success! The kids loved the evening and it couldn't have been made possible if you weren't a part of it.

Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (LTVA), NBC and American Century Investments already gave $51,500 to South Lake Tahoe area Soroptimists, the Boys and Girls Club, high schools and the Gene Upshaw Scholarhip Fund, but they still have more to give away.

LTVA is now accepting applications from local nonprofits for distributions of $55,600 as a result of the 26th American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament.

It's been almost a year since the 5,400 square foot Alta Mira Building was torn down in South Lake Tahoe in order to provide open space, improve water quality and remove blight.

The celebrities have been gone from South Lake Tahoe for over a week, back to their jobs and families. While they were the attraction of the American Century Golf Championship, the true stars were the volunteers who made it all happen.

Volunteers helped in many aspects. Soroptimists had their food tents and spent every day serving sandwiches, drinks, chips and snacks.

The Lake Tahoe Bike Coalition had a group out each day, manning the bike valet for the 200 cyclists that used their free services.

Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra (SITS) recently installed President Lydia Rogers and her slate of Officers and Directors for 2015/16.

Each year, the President of the club selects a theme for her term. Lydia has selected “We are our Sisters’ Keeper” as her theme. How appropriate given that the Club’s mission is to “Strengthen and enhance the lives of women and youth in our community and the world.”

Kids reached their inner Vincent Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock this week at Tahoe Valley Elementary School during special day of BATS, Bringing Art to Schools.

Third, fourth and fifth graders were given a treat by three local artists who gave their time to help the kids get created through paint and mosaics.

The community is invited to an evening of celebration and honor, maybe a little roasting, and lots of good cheer for Joanne Shope, who has been the backbone of Christmas Cheer All Year for the past 20 years.

The celebration will take place at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course, located at 2500 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe, CA.