(Pictured l-r): President Patricia Wight, Award Committee Member Dee Carr, 2nd place Winner Amanda Adams, Award Committee Chair Sandy Semtner, 1st place Winner Satara Mannes, Award Committee Member Patricia Perry.  Photo  Credit: Anita Starchman Bryant

The winners of Soroptimist International of Mariposa’s 2016 Live Your Dream Award are Satara Mannes (1st place) and Amanda Adams (2nd place).  The Soroptimist Live Your Dream Awards (formerly the Women’s Opportunity 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.

Through Soroptimist International each year, more than $1.6 million in education grants are awarded to more than 1,200 women, many of whom have overcome enormous obstacles. Live Your Dream Awards recipients may use the cash award to offset any costs associated with their efforts to attain higher education, such as books, childcare, tuition and transportation.

In addition to providing the primary financial support for their families, eligible applicants must be enrolled in, or have been accepted to, a vocational/skills training program or an undergraduate degree program and must demonstrate financial need.

The Live Your Dream Awards involves three levels of cash awards. The program begins at the local Soroptimist club-level, where award amounts vary. Local-level award recipients become eligible for region-level awards of either $3,000 or $5,000. Region-level award recipients then become eligible to receive one of three international-level awards of $10,000.

Since the Live Your Dream Awards program began in 1972, about $30 million in education grants have been disbursed to assist tens of thousands of women achieve their dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. In 2007, the program received the Associations Advance America Summit Award—ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership's highest level of recognition.

On Saturday, April 2, 2016 Soroptimist will be holding a Spring Fiesta Dinner and Dance in the Sequoia Room, Mariposa Fairgrounds.  This event is one of Soroptimist’s biggest fundraisers of the year and enables Soroptimist to support local projects, such as the Live Your Dream Awards Program.  For tickets to this event or more information about Soroptimist International of Mariposa please call Karen at (209) 742-4680.

Article submitted by, Anita Starchman Bryant, Publicity Chair