Soroptimist International of Los Angeles
ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS
February/March 2016                                                                   Vol. 7, Issue 4

Mark Your CalendarMarch 16:  Program Meeting: Meet our Award Winner! @ Taix French Restaurant, 6 P.M.

March 19: Annual Awards Luncheon/Fundraiser Achieving Your Dream @ The LA Athletic Club

May 13-15: CRR Spring Conference @ Pasadena Hilton

July 20-23: SIA 44th Biennial Convention @ Orlando, Florida
 
President Joyce JacobDear <<First Name>>,

SILA’s Annual Awards Luncheon/Fundraiser is coming up soon on March 19th. Club members have been working hard to make sure it is a fun, entertaining and inspiring event.
 
This is an opportunity for friends and families of SILA to participate in the Soroptimist vision that women and girls have the resources and opportunities to reach their full potential and live their dreams.
 
The title of our event is ACHIEVING YOUR DREAM and three awards will be given to an exceptional organization and two outstanding women.
 
The Community Hero Award will be given to 1736 Family Crisis Center that has responded to the needs of domestic violence victims, runaway and homeless youth, homeless families, unemployed adults and youth since 1972.
 
The Live Your Dream recipient is a domestic abuse survivor, homeless for a time, who is now raising her three children and resuming her education.
 
The SILA Fellowship Award has been given since 1948 to women enrolled in graduate study programs at accredited institutions of higher learner. This year’s winner more that qualifies to receive this scholarship. She is seeking a Masters of Science in Health Administration and will graduate in May 2017. Her Bachelor’s was in Journalism and a minor in Spanish-Language Journalism. She volunteered in South Africa, and a migrant clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She believes that one person can make a change in the world and that she can change the world one person at a time.
 
SILA is ready for the day!       

President Joyce




 
 
IN THIS ISSUE:

- An Unexpected U.N./Soroptimist Connection
- A Million Mammograms
- Call to Spring Conference
- Meet SI Nagoya in Orlando and LA
- Two Women LAUSD Superintendents
- A Celebration of Life


QUICK LINKS:
SILA's Website
Camino Real Region
Federation (SIA)
International (SI)

 
2015-16 BOARD:
President: Joyce Jacob
1st VP: Carole Oglesby
2nd VP: Daphyne Howell
Secretary: Bev Johnson
Treasurer: Jeri Durham
Director 2014-16: Barbara Jury
Director 2015-17: Diane Vernon



CONTACT INFORMATION:
For more information about SILA or this Newsletter, please contact:

President Joyce Jacob at joyceajacob@aol.com or 626-222-9316

Editor Janet Elliott at jvelliott88@gmail.com or 310-809-2438

Webmistress Ann Read at annr@earthlink.net or 626-919-9202

 
 
Achieving Your Dream Invitation
 
Soroptimist International of Los Angeles
Annual Awards Luncheon
Saturday, March 19, 2016
The Los Angeles Athletic Club
431 West Seventh Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014
Reception/Silent Auction 11:00 AM
Luncheon 12:00 Noon
Entrance to parking garage on Olive Street
Tickets: $75 each
Please make checks payable to Soroptimist International of Los Angeles (SILA)
c/o Jeri R. Durham, 1144 Crowne Drive, Pasadena, CA 91107
All tickets will be held at the door. Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law. Net proceeds support SILA programs of service including domestic violence support services and other activities that advance the status of women and girls. For information, please contact Jeri Durham: jrd18@sbcglobal.net.


 
 
AN UNEXPECTED U.N./SOROPTIMIST CONNECTION 
by Carole Oglesby

Ana Marie Le Noue, Judith Harris, Kelly Fogarty

The SILA Jan. 20 program speaker was Judith Harris, United Nations Association-USA SoCal President and Regional Representative to UNA-USA Council of Chapters. Judith is a licensed social worker and a mother in “real life”, in addition to her extensive activities in support of the UN.

She came to SILA, however, to tell us (on behalf of all Soroptimists) “thank you!” She recounted to us how crucial was a grant from one of our Camino Real Region clubs years earlier when she was a young and struggling student-mother seeking to return to her career.

It was touching to see, in the most concrete terms, how the financial support that Soroptimist Clubs offer yields untold benefits.

Also attending this program meeting was Ana Marie LeNoue, CRR District II Director and a member of SI Montebello, and Kelly Fogarty, SIA Fundraising Council and a member of SI Manhattan Beach. 
 
 

A MILLION MAMMOGRAMS by Carole Oglesby
 

Deborah Wright
Our Feb. 3 presenter was Debora Wright, Chairperson of the American Cancer Society, Los Angeles.

She is also founder of “Inner Images,” a mobile mammography unit and program located in Sherman Oaks. Inner Images was founded in 2003 with the primary mission of providing this important cancer detection service to women in under-served areas here in USA and internationally.

In the past 26 years, Wright estimated she had personally conducted over one million mammograms. It is staggering to calculate how many women’s lives she has saved.
 


 

CALL TO CONFERENCE

Spring Conference logoAll members are encouraged to attend the Camino Real Region Spring Conference. The theme is Dreams on Parade: Change Makes It Happen”. It will be held on Friday-Sunday, May 13-15, at the Pasadena Hilton. Registration deadline is April 18.
 
SILA’s Sheila Tatum is Conference Chair. The agenda includes the leadership academy and awards dinner on Friday, business meetings and the Mardi Gras themed installation of SILA’s Ginger Cole as Governor on Saturday.

 
SIA Convention logo

MEET SI NAGOYA IN ORLANDO AND LA

Seven members from SI Nagoya, SILA’s Friendship Club in Japan, are attending the SIA Convention in Orlando, Florida, this July. Attendees will include Yoshie Oshima, their governor-elect of Japan Chuo region, and six others including Mikiko Suzuki, an excellent correspondent between SI Nagoya and SILA.
 
“Will any members from SILA be coming to the Convention? We would be very pleased to meet you at Orlando,” writes Mikiko. “Will you be all going straight back to LA directly after the convention? If I scheduled a detour to take a trip to LA, do you think I could meet some other members after the convention? Say on July 25th or 26th?”
 
What a great opportunity to experience first hand the international friendship, goodwill, and understanding that Soroptimists represent! Let President Joyce know if you are going to Orlando or can host Mikiko in LA after the convention.
 

TWO WOMEN LAUSD SUPERINTENDENTS 
 

Superintendents Dorsey & KingIn January, Los Angeles Unified School District unanimously chose Michelle King to serve as the new district superintendent. She is the first African American to head LAUSD and only the second woman.

 

The first, and at the time, the only woman superintendent of a U.S. metropolitan school district, was Susan Dorsey. Dorsey was a member of SILA. She served as Superintendent from 1920-1929.

 

Dorsey is credited, in part, for insuring LA schools are as big as they are. An LA Times story from November 1927 noted she urged the Board of Education about the importance of spacious grounds. It is through her foresight and vision that school sites range from five to thirty acres.

 

She also expanded adult education and was at the forefront of bringing vocational education and technology into schools. Her advancement was to introduce, "radio instruction and construction" and "automobile mechanics and shop-work". She even implemented aviation classes.

 

Dorsey taught Latin at Los Angeles High School in 1896, became a vice principal and principal, rose to assistant superintendent and ultimately became superintendent. She retired the day before her 72nd birthday.

 

Michelle King, 54, has spent 31 years with the LAUSD as a teacher in Granada Hills and a principal in Cheviot Hills. Most recently, she served as the deputy superintendent under the now retired Ramon Cortines.

 

SILA wishes King all the best in her new job. 

A CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Karen JohnsonA Celebration of Life memorial was held on February 27 for Dr. Karen M. Johnson (2/11/38 - 11/11/15). Seven SILA members attended, including Carole Oglesby, Bev Johnson, Diane Vernon, Pam Smith, Joyce Jacob, Emily Dell and Sheila Tatum, and one former member Maria Romero. There was a large attendance of her friends and they made a wonderful video of Karen's life.

In the tribute President Joyce was asked to provide for the video, she noted Karen became a member of SILA 10 years ago. She immediately involved herself in all activities and brought her sense of humor and smile in everything she did. Joyce loved being on Karen’s Finance Committee when she was Treasurer. Karen HATED THE JOB! But she kept the best records she could and did the best reports during her office, which she held for two years. “We had great meetings at her home, where we enjoyed pizza and the company of her cats,” Joyce said.

One Christmas meeting, we discussed a Christmas we remembered as a child. Karen expressed great joy with her family, but she did have one regret: she always wanted a bicycle.  “So I know now, Karen,” Joyce said, “that you are riding your bike with your family and friends. Soroptimist misses you.”