President Lisa opened today's meeting on a very special morning. Today we celebrate the winners of our Live Your Dream and other awards.

Our invocation today, written by Lydia, opened with a quote from Christopher Reeve. "A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles". Today we are celebrating heroes among us, many of whom have overcome challenging circumstances. We acknowledge their courage and pray for their continued success. Each of them is an inspiration to us.

Sunshine goes out to: Rick and Colleen Pence for Rick's quick recovery.

Soroptimists International

of Tahoe Sierra

Awards Celebration

Today's Awards Celebration was led by Chair Nancy Muller. Members of the Awards Committee have spent hours reading applications, discussing the merits of each one, and making hard decisions about the finalists. Our club provides three distinct awards to community members.

G.I.V.E. Award

GIVE award stands for Girls Into Volunteer Experiences. This award recognizes young women in grades 8 through 12 who volunteer in their school or community. Each young women is awarded $250 for themselves and $250 for the organization of their choosing. Left to right our awardees are:

Maite Perez Lopez (STHS S Club and STMS Club Live)

Alianna Costanzo-Morse (Meals on Wheels)

Viviana Wilson ( Bread and Broth)

Deia Steinmetz (Live Violence Free)

Ruby Award

The Ruby Award is given to a woman who works to improve conditions for women and girls through their personal or volunteer efforts; or through professional avenues. This award is given to a woman who is NOT a Soroptimist. This Year's winner is Andrea Drew with Cospire.org. Andrea will be awarded $400 for herself and $400 for her nonprofit, CoSpire. Click here for more information about CoSpire, an organization empowering women to lead in career, life and community. Andrea will be honored at our business meeting next month.

Live Your Dream Award

The finale to the morning's celebration is the awarding of five Live Your Dream Awards. The Soroptimist Live Your Dream Awards assists women who provide the primary source of financial support for their families by giving them the resources they need to improve their education, skills and employment prospects. The Live Your Dream program is a signature program of Soroptimist International. Each of these local winners will have the opportunity to be recognized at the Regional level for an award of $3-5,000 and then to the International level for an award of $10,000.These women are on their way to meaningful careers despite having to overcome incredible challenges. We are honored to help them on their journey with a combined award of $8,500.

Left to Right:

Terilyn Marino seeking a degree in Psychology and Sociology with a goal of getting her License in Clinical Social Work

Jamie Parsons seeking a degree in nursing with an emphasis on childhood trauma and mental health

Daisy Rojas seeking a BA in Sociology from Cal State Chico

Justice Bridges seeking a degree in Culinary Arts with the goal of opening her own Soul/Mexican fusion restaurant

In addition to the awardees and their families, we welcomed guests from South Tahoe High School, South Tahoe Middle School, Bread and Broth, Mt. Tallac, LTUSD Health and Wellness program and LTCC faculty and Foundation. Also special guests Billie Araiza and locals Donna and Steve Russell.

The Sierra Nevada regional coordinator for the Soroptimist Live Your Dream program, Billie Araiza, gave some closing remarks. She encouraged the recipients to remember that we are all here to support them in the future. "We believe in you". This year the Soroptimist Clubs in our region gave out $200,000 in awards to Live Your Dream recipients.

And we want to give a special shout out to our Even Sponsors, Donna and Steve Russell, owners of South Shore Glass and Door. We are so honored that they could join us for this exciting morning.

Celebrating our club all month long as well!

March 4, 1977 was the day that Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra was Chartered. Thank you to the many women who came before us who made this happen. Our club is officially 48 years old and we're going strong! Happy Birthday to us! Here's a great story about us!

Reminder to all members: Quarterly Member Dues are due April 1. These funds are how we pay for our overhead expenses so they are very important. Happy Dollars can be paid directly on line as well on our website www.sitahoesierra.org on the Donate button. "Note" what the payment is for to help out our team!

Be a part of our Spring Fundraisers!

Our Online Auction opens Friday, May 16 and closes on Friday, May 30, 2024 at 5:00 PM.

Club Sponsor & Event Sponsor; For community business leaders or anyone who wants to go that extra mile in supporting our efforts! This is a position which helps us all year long to enhance the lives of others. Please go to SITS2025.org for details and sign up now!

Donations for our online auction are gratefully accepted here! You don't have to be a business to help out. Think of a creative experience you can provide, a prepared gourmet meal, boating trip on Lake Tahoe, guided fishing experience, Troop Masters - yard clean up by the troop!, any kind of treat you can provide. We all can make a difference in the lives of others, together!

Vacation Raffle Tickets on sale NOW through May 30th or until they are sold out! Tickets are $50 each and only 200 per property will be sold. You can purchase tickets for a week stay in a Maui condo, or a week stay in a timeshare anywhere in the world. For detailed Information on the properties and how to order your tickets go here. OR just email us at raffle@sitahoesierra.org to get the ball rolling! OR see a member to purchase yours in person. So many options!

Club Events

Specifically SITS 

Members, mark your calendars for our upcoming Fundraising events: Signups will be happening shortly. Kudos to Jean B and Laurie F for getting the signup.com prepared.

• Scholarship Celebration, April 17
• Earth Day SITS Kid's Booth and Snowshoe Thompson Event. Volunteers needed, April 19
• Challenge Day Essay Celebration, May 15
• Online Auction, May 16 - 30, 2025.
• Vacation Raffle Ticket Sales, NOW - May 30 or until sold out.
• Mad Hatter Tea at Valhalla, May 18, 2025
• Celebrity Tournament, July 9-13, 2025

We are a hands on club, and we need all hands on these important projects to raise funds for our community.

Committee Happenings!

Reminder: When hosting an event/meeting, please forward a photo and paragraph to techhelp@sitahoesierra.org so we can add it to our website and social calendar.

COMMITTEE Signup Portal!

This is how we get things done.

Our SITS club and all that we do are driven by the committees that we maintain. All members are asked to join at least ONE Service Committee and ONE Technical Committee. Service is what we do and Technical is how we roll! Our Committee Signup portal is ready for members to sign up on! Simply click here! Newsletter Team sign ups are here and all are welcome to learn a new skill and join in!

MEMBER Weekly Contribution or Quarterly Contribution can be paid online here! It's fast and easy! It can go through your Paypal or Credit Card. Get er dun! Paying quarterly? Due dates are every 01/01, and 4/01, 7/01, 10/01. These funds pay for the business of SITS.

NON-SITS

Fun and Opportunities in Tahoe

There's actually so much going on so you're going to want to check out the EVENTS tab on www.southtahoenow.com, but here's a few to get you started!

A community building benefit for the South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center (FRC) is being held on Saturday, March 22, at the American Legion, 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd, from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The event is free, but donations to the Family Resource Center are highly encouraged. The event features a fajita dinner provided by Los Mexicanos restaurant and family activities from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., followed by a dance party with guest DJ Sergio Herrera (DJ Sehgo), from 7:30 p.m. – 10:30 pm. Karen Goldberg, FRC executive director, said, “The South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center works to support all local individuals or families in need, and currently that need is significant. The FRC is offering as much support as possible to vulnerable members of our community, and South Lake Tahoe can help make a difference by coming together for a festive evening of dinner and dancing!”  For more information or to donate, click here.

Hockey to benefit Encompass Youth!

Use the QR code below to purchase Knight Monster tickets and help support Encompass Youth. March 28th.

Volunteer NOW for the 22nd Annual Drug Store Project on April 1, 2025 here! The event will be held at LTCC and will not only change the life of a child, but yours as well. Learn more about the project at www.drugstoreproject.org Drug Store is supported by SITS financially and with our amazing volunteers. Calling all Service Clubs in our area....Join our efforts now!

Tahoe Learning Haven: Our April 16th FREE forum will focus on the choices for athletics in colleges and universities...Playing for a college team, club teams at the college level and intramurals. Learn what you need to do NOW to be eligible to play at the college level! This forum is for 6-12 graders and their parents! Special guest, Phil Bryant, will be there to share his expertise in all things sports and college! Sign up here.

Our friends at Optimist have activities to calendar! Details are on their website at https://southlaketahoeoptimist.com/

Easter Egg Hunt April 19^th

Sawmill Pond Fishing Derby June 7th, and the

Day In Paradise is July 19th 

Zephyr Cove Library's latest programs for adults

Looking for up to date resources in our community? Barton Health has a list for all of us and it is actively updated! SHARE this link with others!

ALL YEAR LONG!

LTCC Basic Needs Center is looking for food donations. A variety of foods and basic need items are on the list. Click here for full list and drop off details

If you'd like to donate through our club, please bring your donations to the monthly business meeting and Lisa C. or Andie will make sure they are delivered to the college. Please include an estimate on the value as LTCC needs to keep records of that information.

Important Updated information for your family from TASK (Tahoe Alliance for Safe Kids)

TASK's mission is to prevent and reduce youth substance use and related harm - Keeping kids safe in collaboration with our community partners. TASK's mission is to prevent and reduce youth substance use and related harm - Keeping kids safe in collaboration with our community partners. For more information about TASK click here.

DID YOU KNOW that there is a National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week? This year it is March 17-23rd and we are focusing on Drug & Alcohol facts. National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week is an annual event focused on the science of drug use and addiction that educates and empowers youth to make informed decisions about substance use and their health. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for different facts weekly.campaign to keep kids safe, click here!

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue has a quarterly newsletter to keep us all updated on fire safety info. Their goal is to help people learn about the fuels reduction products they are working on, seasonal fire safety info and other fire dept related news. Click here to sign up for the newsletter

Saint Joseph Community Land Trust has changed their Motel to Home (MTH) program from a loan program to a grant program and we're hoping this will attract families living in substandard housing, who would like to live in a more permanent and adequate home. Please click here for more details

Tahoe Learning Haven - Click here for all their information and a link to each month's newsletter.

TAHOE LEARNING HAVEN: Are you aware of the FREE monthly educational forums that Kathy Haven has set up for students, parents, and all interested community members? These are great! Most TLH forums are the second Wednesday of the month from 6:45pm-9pm at the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe! Go here or tahoelearninghaven@gmail.com. Mark your calendar now

Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless seeks community support in keeping people cared for.

Our South Shore community has been able to sleep better knowing that our homeless population has an indoor option. This winter season marked the seventh anniversary of the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless (TCH) providing warm beds to the most vulnerable in our community.

The office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 12-4 at the Red Lodge, 1137 Emerald Bay Rd.

More details here

Between Horses and Humans continues to grow! If you're a lover of youth and a lover of horses, this is a program for you! You can keep up on their information by reading their newsletters here! Volunteers and donations are always needed. BHH Update-they are soon relocating to the Amacker Ranch!

Food Assistance Guide for So. Lake Tahoe. If you know of anyone in need, please share this information. Click and print!