Soroptimist International of Visalia was chartered in 1939 and is a member of the Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA) Federation, one of four Federations worldwide. SI Visalia, Inc., has about 70 members who are active professional women in the community.

Soroptimist International is a worldwide volunteer service organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and throughout the world.  About 95,000 Soroptimists in more than 120 countries contribute their time and financial support to community-based project benefiting women and girls. 

SI Visalia spends most of the year coordinating our Top of the Line Show.  This annual event started in 1982 and has become a huge annual event for the entire community.  People from all over California come here just to start their Holiday Shopping!  This is our annual fundraiser and we use the monies that we raise to benefit our local community as well as the worldwide projects of Soroptimist. Over the past years we have given back over $550,000 to benefit our local communities and to projects worldwide which support the betterment of women and girls.

From the funds raised at Top of the Line, we have been able to send relief to tsunami victims and victims of Hurricane Katrina.  Through our Service Committee we donate funds to many of our local non-profit organizations, including Sober Grad Night, American Cancer Society, Tulare County Food Link, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Visalia Emergency Aid, Kids for Christmas, Salvation Army, Visalia Learning Center, Valley Public Television, Boys and Girls Club, Visalia Junior Miss, and many other worthy causes.  All of these organizations help make Visalia the wonderful city that it is; and it is SI Visalia’s project to help improve the lives of our city’s women and girls.

Our Battered Women’s Shelter program helps to provide supplies and comfort to women who have found themselves without the safety or security of home. 

Please visit our web site: http://www.soroptimistspr.org/district5/visalia.html

  Improving the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.

Federation Programs at the Local Level

The Women’s Opportunity Award is SIA’s major service project. The program assists women who, as primary wage earners for their families, must enter or return to the workforce but need additional training to be successful.  Currently, we award $6,000 to one woman each year; and our winner is then eligible for further monetary awards at the Region and Federation levels.  In both 2005 and 2006 SI Visalia’s awardees were also chosen as Region winners.

We recognize young women with the Violet Richardson Award, named for the first president of the first Soroptimist club in 1921.  We award $1,000 annually to 2 or 3 young women between the ages of 14 and 17 who make the community and world a better place through their volunteer efforts.  Our local winners are also eligible for further awards at the Region and Federation levels.

        Each year we celebrate and honor special high school seniors with our Youth Citizenship Awards.  In 2006, five seniors were chosen for this award and a total of $3,000 was awarded to them.

        On the first Saturday in March, we join with Soroptimist clubs worldwide for Saturday of Service.  On this day, we participate in a hands-on service project benefiting county residents.  Past projects have included painting and redecorating a home for young girls and a shelter for battered women.  We have cleaned up city parks and done major landscaping projects for community shelters.

Preventing and eliminating domestic violence is a focus of Soroptimists.  Each year, we promote participation in an international domestic violence awareness event.  Since 1997, the Soroptimist Workplace Campaign to End Domestic Violence has consisted of club members distributing cards in the workplace which contain domestic violence hotline information and collecting old cell phone for re-distribution to women in need.  The campaign earned an Award of Excellence from American Society of Association Executives, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s Allies Against Violence Award, and an Associations Make a Better World Public Policy Award.

 Improving the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.

 Soroptimist International (SI) Projects

        The Soroptimist International Quadrennial Project for 2003-2007 partners SI with Women for Women International on Project Independence:  Women Survivors of War.  Project Independence provides direct aid to women in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Rwanda and helps them meet basic needs for themselves and their families.  The program provides tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty into a civil society that promotes and protects peace, stability, and self-sufficiency to women survivors of war and civil strife.

        Each year on December 10, in honor of United Nations Human Rights Day, the SI president invites all Soroptimists worldwide to join her in making a personal sacrifice and donating the money to an international fund to help those living in extreme poverty.  The 2004 President’s Appeal supported the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Shelter in Vietnam.  The 2005 appeal will benefit the Roll Back Malaria Department of the World Health Organization.  Funds raised will be used to provide insecticide treated mosquito nets to Ze` Benin, Africa’s pregnant women and families with young children.  In addition, Soroptimists in Benin will work with local health organizations to educate the women of Ze` about preventing and recognizing malaria and the importance of prompt treatment.

Worldwide, millions of women and girls live in sexual slavery. Although this topic is gaining awareness, people still often assume it exists far from home. But the truth is: sexual slavery occurs in every country around the world.

  Improving the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.