A total of $4,600 was presented to local women and their organizations by Soroptimist International of Ponca City (SIPC), an international service organization for business and professional women, at the annual Women Celebrating Women’s Luncheon held in February in the Fireside Room of the Hospice of Northern Oklahoma Building. Presented were two Live Your Dream awards, two Violet Richardson awards, and one Ruby Award: For Women Helping Women award. In addition, the other Live Your Dream applicants attending the luncheon were each presented with $100 and the other Violet Richardson applicants attending $25 each.

Recipient of the first place $2000 Live Your Dream Award was Casey Clinton. Macy Swinehart received the Violet Richardson Award for her volunteer work with DECA with $250 going to her and $250 to DECA. Recipient of the $500 Ruby Award was Teresa Beard who was nominated for her volunteer work with the Opportunity Center and the Father-Daughter Dance which benefits the Opportunity Center.

The Live Your Dream Award is for women who serve as the primary wage earners for their families and seek financial assistance to continue their education or receive training. At the region level recipients could receive up to an additional $5,000. The program culminates with three finalist $10,000 awards at the federation level. Casey Clinton’s application will be forwarded to the Soroptimist Southcentral Region competition. SIPC second place winner and the recipient of $1000 was Samantha Partin. Casey is a mother of two working towards a career as a medical assistant through Pioneer Tech. A single mother of two Samantha’s a student at Ponca City Beauty College with the goal of a career in cosmetology and eventually owning her own business.

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.

The Violet Richardson Award is a recognition program targeted to young women who make the community and world a better place. Named for the first Soroptimist president, the Violet Richardson Award honors young women, between the ages of 14 and 17, for volunteer action. “As a volunteer service organization for business and professional women, Soroptimist believes that by acknowledging young women’s volunteer involvement now, they will grow up to be vital, active members of the community,” said Robyn Armstrong, SIPC chairman for the Women Celebrating Women Programs including Live Your Dream, Violet Richardson and Ruby Awards.

A student at Po-Hi, Macy Swinehart received $250 for herself and $250 to be donated to DECA. Second place winner was Emma Burch who received $100.

“Community service has always been something I wanted to dedicate much of my time doing in high school,” said Macy. “Community service provides students with the opportunity to become active members of their community and has a lasting, positive impact on society at large.” She has served as an officer in DECA and involved in many of the service projects including the Kindness Workshop at Washington Pre-K Center and the Financial Literacy Project with special needs students. She also has been involved with the Downs Syndrome Association of Oklahoma, a result of the birth of her younger sister who was born with Downs Syndrome.

The $500 Ruby Award: For Women Helping Women was awarded to Teresa Beard. She began volunteering for the Opportunity Center as a way to give back to the organization which has been like a family for her special needs younger sister. This led to Teresa using her food service experience making cookies for the annual Father/Daughter Dance, a fundraiser for the Opportunity Center. The first year she baked 25 dozen cookies. Within a few years she was baking all of the cookies needed for the entire evening. As of the last dance she has made 4,200 cookies for the fathers and their daughters.

Soroptimist International of Ponca City is part of Soroptimist International of the Americas, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa, a global organization that works to improve the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment. Ponca City members join with almost 80,000 Soroptimists in about 120 countries and territories to contribute time and financial support to community-based projects benefiting women and girls. Soroptimist, a 501(c)(3) organization that relies on charitable donations to support its programs, also powers LiveYourDream.org—an online community offering offline volunteer opportunities in support of women and girls. For more information about how Soroptimist improves the lives of women and girls, visit www.soroptimist.org.

The Ponca City Soroptimist club meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at noon at Pizza Hut. The first meeting of the month is a business meeting and the second is a program meeting. For information on the local Soroptimist club and how you can join and make a difference locally and throughout the world, contact President Cindy Wigley at 580-761-0304.