The Latest Updates

Here’s what’s new!

Join us each month for our Club meetings on the second Tuesday of each month at United Way of Santa Cruz County, 4450 Capitola Road, Suite 106, Capitola. As always, the meeting is free and open to the public. Visit our calendar page for details on this month’s meeting. Hope to see you there or check out our NEW Sustaining Donor Option!

Can’t be a Soroptimist member, but would still like to help Santa Cruz County women and girls complete their education? Become a Sustaining Donor by sending us a monthly donation of any amount you choose! A bank transfer from your bank to ours is the easiest way to make your donation. If you would like to become a donor, send us an email and we’ll arrange it.

Santa Cruz Shakespeare (SCS)

For the ninth year, Club members are operating the rental booth during the 67-show 2024 season of the Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival at the outdoor Audrey Stanley Grove Theater in DeLaveaga Park. The season is July 13 through September 28.

At all 67 shows, our club members rented cushions, beach chairs and blankets for those cold nights in The Grove. We welcomed volunteers to help us with this major fund-raiser. In addition to helping us raise funds for Santa Cruz County women and girls, volunteers had the added benefit of being able to see the shows for free.

Capitola Soroptimists Launch Search for “Live Your Dream” Applicants

Soroptimist International of Capitola-by-the-Sea will launch its search for applicants for its 2025 “Live Your Dream” awards program starting Aug 15th.

Women who are enrolled in or have been accepted into a bachelor’s or a technical training program, are heads of their households and have a demonstrated need are eligible to apply for a “Live Your Dream” award.

Deadline to apply is November 15th.. Applications will be available online at www.soroptimist.org, on August 15. click on the “Live Your Dream” logo and review the eligibility requirements and application instructions. Winners will be announced in January 2025 and an awards ceremony will be held in March.

Each winner will receive a cash award that may be used to pay for anything they need to help them complete their educational program such as food, rent, car repairs, child care and health care. The Club typically will give five awards to local women.

“Live Your Dream education and training awards are designed for women, many of whom have overcome enormous obstacles including domestic abuse, poverty, teen pregnancy and drug and alcohol addiction, to pursue an education,” said Therese Malachowski, Live Your Dream program chair.  “Our winners are typically single moms who want to be able to support themselves and their children and know that a good education makes that possible.”

Soroptimist International of Capitola-by-the-Sea is a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment. For more information, visit the website at www.best4women.org.

Soroptimists, United Way, and Girls, Inc Team Up for Teen Girls “Dream it, Be it” Event in Watsonville

Soroptimist International Clubs of Capitola-by-the-Sea and Watsonville, United Way of Santa Cruz County and Girls, Inc. of the Central Coast, recently teamed up to host nearly 30 teen girls at their “Dream It, Be It,” event at the Watsonville Youth Center. The program is designed to give girls the tools they need to achieve their education and career goals, empowering them to break cycles of poverty, violence, and abuse.

The teens ranged in age from 13-18 and listened to a welcome and aspirational message from Watsonville Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter, and a three-woman panel discussion featuring a first-year law student, a rookie San Jose police officer and a woman who was educated in the United States and Switzerland and landed a job teaching English in China, which exposed her to a wide variety of cultures and challenges. 

Support our non-profit organization by making a tax-deductible contribution!

Soroptimist International of Capitola-by-the-Sea is a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.  We are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Tax ID 94-9771973.