Wake Forest is home to a new organization, Soroptimist International of Wake Forest (SIWF), focused on educating, empowering, and enabling young women in our community.
Soroptimist means “best for women.” The Wake Forest chapter earned its charter last May. Soroptimist International (SI), founded in 1921, works to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. Two important programs they facilitate are:
- Live Your Dream awards grants to women who are the head of their household and who are working to further their education. These grants assist the awardee in any way possible to help them continue their education (paying for tuition, travel to school, babysitting so she can attend school, etc). SIWF plans to mentor our awardees throughout their educational career leading up to assisting them with resume writing, completing applications, and preparing and dressing for interviews.
- Dream It, Be It supports high school young women in pursuit their education beyond graduation. The award is based on volunteer work and initiative working within their volunteer organization. The Dream It, Be It program also has a curriculum aimed at helping girls explore careers, rise above obstacles, create and achieve goals, turn failure into success and balance stress.
SIWF plans to work within the Wake Forest community by partnering with Wake Forest High School and to network with various community and civic organizations to help improve the community. They will host an annual event to honor the Live Your Dream and Dream It, Be It awardees. They plan to work within the larger Wake County area by continuing initial work with Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy and assisting with Oak City Cares to end homelessness in our community.
Presently 14 members have joined the organization, with a goal to double membership. A “Meet and Greet” is scheduled for Sunday, November 17, 2019, at Bada Bean, 938 Gateway Commons Circle, from 12:30-2:00. All are welcome.
For more information about the Meet and Greet or for general information, please contact President Wilma Jenkins-Flythe (wtjenkinsjul11@aol.com) or Teresa Pierrie (teresapierrie@gmail.com). Follow us on Facebook @siwakeforest.
