Our Awards Programs
Improving the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.
2017 Live Your Dream Award winners Kim Thuy Le & Yesenia Rivera Alvarado.
Live Your Dream
Since 1972, the Soroptimist Live Your Dream Award Program (formerly the Women’s Opportunity Awards) has disbursed more than $25 million to tens of thousands of women who have overcome poverty, domestic and sexual violence, divorce, the death of a spouse, or other life challenges. The award winners are women who had the courage and determination to turn their lives around.
This award provides women with cash to offset any costs associated with their efforts to attain higher education, including books, childcare and transportation. The program begins on the club level and recipients then become eligible to receive region-level awards.
Eligibility for the award includes being the head of household and current enrollment in an education program. Applications for the award are accepted from July to December 1st each year. The on-line applications and more details about award eligibility can be found at the Soroptimist International website: Soroptimist Awards Application PDF
Soroptimist International Windsor is proud to report that our club has participated in this program every year since our chartering in 2005. Twice our club winners have gone on to win the district award and to receive regional recognition for their accomplishments.
2017 Violet Richardson Award winners Kylee Faloni & Lauren Lazzarini.
Violet Richardson Award
Named in honor of the Soroptimist founder, the Violet Richardson Award is given to girls between the ages of 14-18 in recognition of their volunteer service or their community leadership. This award recognizes young women who make their community and world a better place through volunteer efforts such as fighting drugs, crime and violence, cleaning up the environment and working to end discrimination and poverty. This award is not a scholarship. The honoree will receive recognition along with a monetary award.
Applications for the Violet Richardson Award can be submitted to Soroptimist International Windsor from July 1 through November 15th. Contact us for more information.
The Violet Richardson award is sponsored by the Founder Region of Soroptimist International and is not a national award. The on-line application can be found at the Founder Region website, si-founderregion.org.
Soroptimist International Windsor holds a celebratory dinner each year to recognize our award winners. In March 2017 we recognized Kim Thuy Le and Yesenia Rivera Alvarado with a Live Your Dream Award. Yesenia went on to win the District award and she is now a student at Cal-Berkeley.
Our Violet Richardson award winners in 2017 were Kylee Faloni and Lauren Lazzarini.