Services: Grants & Projects | soroptimistanacortes.org

Grants & Projects We Are Involved With

Our primary fundraiser is our Thrift Shop. We enjoy the support of the community both in terms of continuing donations and their patronage of our store. After paying the expenses required to run our Thrift Shop and club, all our earnings are plowed back to the community to support various programs, projects, organizations and major initiatives.

We give back to the community in the following major areas: (1) Scholarships; (2) Grants and Awards (3) Community Service donations; (4) Committee Donations and (5) Major Projects.

Scholarships: We provide an average of $100,000 annually in competitive scholarships. They cover various areas including academic, technical & vocational, health, music, foreign language and the arts. All scholarship funds are forwarded to the schools of choice by the scholarship recipients. More details are available in the Scholarship page in this website. Please follow this link: Scholarships

Grants and Awards: We provide an average of $15,000 in grants and awards each year where the funds are given directly to the recipients to spend according to the need defined by the requirements of the grant or award. More details are available in the Awards page in this website. Please follow this link: Awards

Community Service Donations: Our club provides $65,000 to support various programs and initiatives in the community. About $30,000 is budgeted annually among eleven organizations including the Anacortes Family Center, Boys and Girls Club, Gentry House, Friendship House, Hospice of the Northwest, Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank, Relay for Life, Island Hospital Pre-Natal care, and also cover our annual club giving to the Federation.

In addition, we also allocate another $35,000 to requests for donations from the community which can range from supporting a girl’s softball team, the Robotics Club, programs at the Senior Center, field trips for school kids to farmlands or a concert—and many other programs and activities.

Committees of Service Donations: Our club is run by committee to allow each member to become involved in the area of service that they prefer. We have eight committees of Service who each have a budget of $5,000 (total of $40,000). Each committee consists of about eight members and they decide the programs that they would support each year. These committees are:

Education: The entire budget of the Education Committee is spent on various enhancement programs in the school district either due to budget cuts or unbudgeted needs. Some of the programs they have funded are the purchase of music instruments, funding specialized libraries, a greenhouse gardening project, creating a math room, and many others.
Environment Committee: This committee funds projects in the community to raise awareness to the need to be kind to our environment. Some of the projects they have funded are a Samish pre-school rain garden, a Cap Santé greenhouse gardening project, school field trips to the Seattle aquarium, a Pacific mammal research, and others.
Health Committee: This committee spends its budget in promoting health and well-being both locally in our community and globally for some key initiatives. Among the projects they have funded are the purchase of specialized chairs for children with ADHD and therapy toys for pre-school disabled kids. Globally, they have funded programs for children with hearing loss in Vietnam and Mongolia and support Days for Girls which provides menstrual kits for young women in Africa.
Human Rights and Status of Women: The focus of this committee is to protect the rights of women and to actively fight human trafficking both locally and internationally. They are very active in educating the community about the scourge of human trafficking and have funded conferences, community outreach, and have picketed for the cause. They have also supported Shared Hope to help fight human trafficking in Mumbai and Nepal.
United Nations/ International Goodwill and Understanding (UN/IGU): This committee promotes world peace. Some of the projects they have supported are the Emusoi School in Tanzania, the AMOS Health and Hope Organization in Nicaragua, the Fistula Foundation in Africa, the Nyaka Orphans in Uganda and the Amigas de Corazon in Nicaragua. They also organize a lunch for the foreign students who come to Anacortes every year.
Economic and Social Developments Committee: This committee concentrates on projects that support programs to promote economic self-sufficiency. Some of their recipients are Emerson High School to fund teaching supplies, the CCS Farmworker Program in Burlington to help train migrant workers, Inspire Development Center in Burlington which helps provide day-care for dis-advantaged children, and many more.
Domestic Violence: The work of this committee is focused in assisting SDVSAS- the Skagit County Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services in Mt Vernon, WA. This assistance consists of helping stock food and cleaning supplies at the safe house and providing Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to their residents. Throughout the year, the committee also provides supplies from the Thrift shop such as linens, kitchen appliances, art supplies for the children.
Home Health Equipment Loan Program (HHELP): The HHELP committee manages the loaning of home health equipment to the public. They keep records of all loaned equipment, ensure equipment is cleaned once returned and prior to being loaned out again, and ensure that we have the necessary inventory to serve our public. While the committee is allocated a budget to purchase additional equipment as needed, they also receive donations from grateful clients. Funds received are used to purchase additional equipment.

Major Projects: The club budgets $40,000 per year for major projects. These are defined as programs requiring $5,000 or more and has long term impact. Some of the major projects we have funded are:

A free mammogram program at Island Hospital
A mental health fund for the Anacortes Family Center to pay for mental health counseling of their clients who are homeless women and children
Clothing inventory for Rachael’s Closet
A summer pre-school class at the Anacortes School District
A two-year education program conducted by SDVSAS to address domestic abuse among students in Skagit County.
A two- year program conducted by Etta Projects in Bolivia training villagers in the areas of health, wellness and medical skills.
Funding the building of transitional housing by Anacortes
Purchase of uniforms for the AHS school band