By Marnie Craig
Saundra Amsden was living overseas and serving in the military when her mom wrote an $85 check to Soroptimist International of Hamilton and told her, “You are now a Soroptimist.” Amsden didn’t know what that meant.
She retired from the Navy in 2009 and moved back to Montana. Amsden realized not everyone had a good childhood and a supportive family like hers. Feeling fortunate with having everything she needed, she chose to volunteer in her community through the Hamilton Soroptimists.
“I wanted to do something for those who weren’t as lucky as I was,” she said.
Soroptimist International is a global volunteer service organization working to empower women and girls by supporting education and training. With 160,000 members in more than 120 countries and representatives in the United Nations, these women work to raise awareness about the human rights challenges preventing women and girls from reaching their full potential.
Human trafficking is one of the challenges. Amsden chairs the local committee on human trafficking and provides informative presentations in the community on the myths and facts of trafficking.
“It can be difficult to recognize,” she said. “People may not know that with the internet, kids are being trafficked in rural places like Hamilton.”
She implemented the club’s Adopt-a-Classroom program and five members volunteer several hours each week in a fourth-grade classroom at Corvallis Elementary School. The members use their skills to help the kids. Amsden is good at math.
“One-on-one attention is important because the kids may not be getting the attention they need at home,” she said. “I even learn new things about math.”
Amsden co-chairs the Awards and Scholarships Committee. This year the club is providing almost $17,000 in educational awards and scholarships to 13 women and girls in Ravalli County.
“Many of these women have been marginalized and without support or hope,” she said. “Now they are seen and heard by people who believe in them and want to help them do more than they thought they were worthy of doing.”
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A man organized this group working for the betterment of women.
Stuart Morrow was a member of the Optimist Club, a men’s service organization in Buffalo, NY, when he traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1921 to promote new charters. Morrow visited the Parker-Goddard Secretarial School in Oakland and was surprised to find it was owned by two women, Mabel Parker and Adelaide Goddard.
Morrow helped Goddard and Parker organize the first women’s service club. They named the club Soroptimist, interpreted to mean ‘the best for women.’
By the end of September, 80 women in Oakland were members of the first Soroptimist club.
Violet Richardson, a pioneer in women’s health and physical education at Berkley University, became the first charter president. Today’s Violet Richardson Award recognizes the volunteer activities of young women ages 13-18.
In 1974, Laurel Frankenfield and Vi Thompson of the Missoula Soroptimists chartered the Hamilton club to extend educational benefits to women and girls in the Bitterroot Valley. Today the club has 50 members.
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Patti Martin has been a volunteer all her life. “I wanted to work with and for women, so I joined the Soroptimists,” she said.
Martin is a former business owner and a good organizer, always thinking ahead to see what’s needed. She chairs and organizes An Evening Wrapped in Chocolate, the main fundraiser for the club’s educational scholarships and awards.
“The first fundraiser in 2017 raised $5,000 and last year we raised $20,000,” she said.
The evening social is a community effort sponsored by local businesses. A local restaurant provides heavy hors d’oeuvres and there is a no-host bar. Club and community members donate silent and live auction items, including luxury camping with a personal chef, overnight Missoula experience packages and a scenic flight in the historic Miss Montana airplane.
“We raffle off a bowl filled with hundreds of one dollar bills,” she said. “The wine pull is the most popular part of the evening.” The pull is 50 bottles of wine in numbered paper bags corresponding to 50 wine corks that sell for $10 each.
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Dixie Dies grew up volunteering — she didn’t know any different. When she retired from her job at the Bitterroot National Forest in the early ‘90s, she joined the Soroptimists.
Dies currently serves as the club president. In almost 30 years of involvement, she has seen a lot of change. Membership was once restricted to professional women but now anyone can join, even men.
“The Soroptimists are all about education,” she said. “We also recognize women for helping other women. It’s pretty easy to feel good about what we do.”
She said the energy level of the all-female Hamilton group is high because the club provides camaraderie. They don’t require a big time commitment, it doesn’t cost a lot to join, and the club’s interactive website helps members stay connected when they can’t attend meetings. “Women want the woman-to-woman contact,” she said. “Many are working and looking for a community connection where they can help other women.”
The club meets for lunch on the first and second Thursday of each month at BJ’s Family Restaurant. The board meets the following Thursday and members gather for a social evening the next week.
The women sell See’s Candies for Valentine’s Day, Easter and Christmas from a bright red trailer in the First Security Bank parking lot in Hamilton. Sales support local community organizations including Bitterroot Literacy, Bitterroot CASA, Casting for Recovery, Emma’s House, Genesis House, Linda Massa Youth Home, SAFE and the local food banks.
The candy also funds an event to honor women who have reached the age of 90 or more years. At an annual Senior Ladies Tea at Sapphire Lutheran Homes, women dress in their finest to socialize and enjoy finger foods and background music provided by local high school musicians.
The work of these women is far-reaching. They helped implement the first Aid for Mammography Fund and Colonoscopy Fund at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. Working with the Missoula YWCA in 1987, members opened their own homes to shelter women fleeing violence. This effort grew into SAFE in the Bitterroot, an organization providing emergency and long-term services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
“It only takes one seed, one thought, one drive that someone takes off with,” Dies said. “The whole valley is participating to fund these programs now.”
She often wonders what life would be like without the Soroptimists. “Like Jimmy Stewart in the movie, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ What would have happened if we weren’t there?”
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The 2020 Awards Banquet will be on March 4, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital.
An Evening Wrapped in Chocolate is on Thursday, April 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Bitterroot River Inn. Entry is $40 per person, $75 per couple and $300 for a table of eight. Tickets are available at SIHamilton.org and Chapter One Books.