(“SI of Wichita”) was founded in 1936 and celebrates over 90years of being active in the Wichita community. Our membership has included a number of Wichita's leading ladies such as Jean Gragg, Grace Siefkes, Gladys Wiedemann and Olive Ann Beech, who joined in 1937 and remained active until her death in 1993. SI of Wichita has the following service projects aimed at fulfilling the SI mission of pro
viding women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment. Our annual financial support for these programs is over $25,000!
• Individual Grants to local women through the organization-wide Soroptimist programs: the Live Your Dream Education & Training Awards for Women (formerly Women’s Opportunity Award), Dream It Be It Career Support for Girls and the Soroptimist Ruby Award: For Women Helping Women.
• Endowments at Wichita State University and WSU Tech providing annual financial scholarships to women heads of households furthering their education.
• Community Service Awards are granted to local non-profit organizations providing services to women. Local grants have been awarded to Harbor House, Women’s Initiative Network/Dress For Success, Step Stone, and the Wichita Family Crisis Center. Service Awards have been granted to organizations working to give girls the tools they need to achieve their education and career goals. These grants have been awarded to a girl’s orphanage in India, a girls secondary school in Kenya and the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland. Applications for 2025-26 will be available in March.
• “Loves Me, Loves Me Not” bookmarks and posters. The bookmarks are available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese; the posters are English/Spanish. To date over 50,000 of these bookmarks have been distributed to schools, universities and other interested groups and individuals.
