SI/Sacramento, CA, Celebrates 100 Years!
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we must also celebrate an exceptional group of women whose dedication to the Soroptimist mission has spanned a century. Congratulations to SI/Sacramento, CA (Sierra Nevada Region), which celebrates its 100th anniversary on March 2!
While they hold the title of the fifth Soroptimist club, SI/Sacramento holds an important first in Soroptimist history. They were the first Soroptimist club fully chartered by Soroptimist members.
The club organizer of the earliest clubs, Stuart Morrow was on the east coast, chartering the Washington, D.C., and later the New York City clubs. Before leaving California in July 1922, Stuart hired Helena Gamble, a charter member of the Alameda County (later Oakland) club, to lead efforts to charter more clubs in California.
Through a September 23, 1922, newspaper article, we know that Helena Gamble was in Sacramento to begin forming the club. A month later, another article in the Sacramento Bee noted the initial meeting of the club on October 27, where Alameda County Soroptimist Club President Violet Richardson and Florence Banks of the Los Angeles Soroptimist club welcomed the first group of charter members. Since Sacramento was the state capital, it is no surprise Governor William Stephens “extended the greetings of the state…and told of having been present at the first meeting of the Los Angeles club.”
State politicians were also present at the January 19, 1923, meeting of the club. Anna Saylor, one of four women elected to the California Assembly in 1918 (all four lost their seats in 1924), addressed the club.
Even before chartering, the club had become actively involved in the work and issues of the community. At the same time, the Sacramento Community Chest was being organized by the Chamber of Commerce, with representatives from numerous service groups, including Soroptimist and local businesses. The aim of community chests in this period was to pool monetary resources from numerous groups and distribute them throughout the community for its needs. By early February, the Soroptimist club had gone on record as opposing the plan to rename Sacramento city streets.
At the March 2, 1923, charter ceremony, Violet Richardson installed the first officers and directors of the club.
Winifred Louthian, president
Pearl Atkinson, vice president
Lulu Adams, treasurer
Emilie Connelly, secretary
Mary Ball, Letlia Gardell, Sara Price, Edith Grove and Dr. Una Cary as directors.
Guests included the newly elected California Governor Friend Richardson, Sacramento’s mayor and city manager, and Judge William Finch, the presiding justice of the third district court of appeal as the principal speaker.
The club supported women in various ways through their early work.
In its first year, the club adopted the project to sponsor a women's hotel club room and collected a fund for this purpose, which at the end of the first year totaled $1000 ($19,000 in today’s dollars).
For the first several years, the club provided scholarship loans to young women to attend college.
In 1931, with the effects of the Great Depression throwing many mature “unadjusted” women out of work so that men could work in their place, the club set up a $1,000 fund to assist Sacramento women in these circumstances.
From these projects came 100 years of service to the women and girls of Sacramento. Congratulations to all the members—past and present—of SI/Sacramento on achieving this notable anniversary!
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