Soroptimist International of Oakdale recently awarded five Live Your Dream Awards totaling $6,000.
The Live Your Dream awards help women who have faced economic and personal hardships to live their dreams by providing cash grants to those who are working to better their lives. These cash awards can be used by the recipient to offset costs associated with their efforts to attain higher education or additional skills and training. This includes tuition, books, childcare, carfare, or any other education related expense. Women are eligible if they have the primary financial responsibility for themselves and their dependents. They must also be enrolled in or attending an undergraduate degree program or a vocational skills training program and have financial need.
The first-place award of $2,000 was presented to an Oakdale resident who is currently attending Modesto Junior College studying nursing. She plans to transfer to a four-year school for her bachelor’s degree. In addition to the first-place award at the Club level, she will now advance to the Sierra Pacific Region where recipients can receive up to an additional $5,000.
Four additional awards of $1,000 each were presented to women who have had to overcome economic and personal hardships in their life. These deserving women are highly motivated and are committed to improving the quality of their life through education.
The Live Your Dream Award provides over $2 million in cash grants to head-of-household women in need each year. Since the program’s inception in 1972, more than $30 million has helped tens of thousands of women achieve their dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. A study conducted by The Fels Institute of Government, a research and consulting organization based at the University of Pennsylvania, confirmed the efficacy and impact of this program. It improves the recipients’ quality of life; builds their confidence; strengthens their self-determination and makes them want to, in turn, help others. Helping women in this way has the demonstrated effect of leading to stronger communities, nations and the world.
Soroptimist is a global volunteer organization working to improve the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment. Soroptimist International strives to be a global voice for women through awareness, advocacy, and action with almost 95,000 members in nearly 120 countries. The organization which was founded in 1921 in Oakland, California, is committed to serving local, national and international communities, and participates in decision-making at all levels of society. The word Soroptimist is coined from the Latin words soror and optima, and loosely translates as “best for women.” For more information about Soroptimist International of Oakdale, visit www.oakdalesoroptimist.org or follow them on Facebook at Oakdale Soroptimist.
