Soroptimists honor outstanding women

The Altadena/Pasadena branch of Soroptimists International recently honored three extraordinary women at its annual “Live Your Dream” luncheon, which was held at Beckham’s Grill in Pasadena.

Pictured: three Altadena women at the Soroptomist luncheon: honoree Monica Hubbard, Alyce McCarroll, and Sandra Thomas of the Quality of Life Center.

Every year, the Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Award (WOA) assists women with primary financial responsibility for their families to obtain the skills and education necessary to improve their employment status and standard of living for themselves and their families.

The recipient of this year’s WOA award, Nadine Nguena, is a refugee of Cameroon. Although higher education for women is rare in that region, Nguena received her Master’s Degree and had started a PhD program when she was forced to flee to avoid persecution. She came to the U.S. leaving behind her entire family, including a young son. Since then, she’s undergone a difficult process of obtaining legal status for herself and her son, who has recently been allowed to join her here. She attends school at night to ultimately become a nurse practitioner while working during the daytime to support her family. Altadena/Pasadena Soroptimists gave Nguena $2,000 to help with her educational expenses. In her acceptance speech, Nguena noted that while coming to this country was very difficult to begin with, “This money will really help, in addition to your generosity and friendship.”

Soroptimists also honored Jessica Perkins -- a student at Mayfield High School -- with the Violet Richardson Award, a recognition program for young women ages 14-17 who have done remarkable volunteer work in their communities. Perkins, 15, has received the Girl Scout Bronze Award and Silver Award for her work with the Tree People reforestation program for the Station Fire burn area in the Angeles National Forest. She received a $100 award.

And finally, Altadena resident Monica Hubbard was given the Soroptimist Ruby Award, which honors women who have worked to improve the lives of women and girls through their professional and/or volunteer work. Hubbard has been involved with a variety of community organizations in the area of affordable housing, the League of Women Voters, Foster Care Project, YWCA Foothill Valley, and Zonta International. She’s also the editor of Altadena Women’s Network and Wired Women, free online weekly newspapers for local women. “It’s an honor to receive this award from an organization that does such great work with women and girls in our Altadena/Pasadena Communities,” Hubbard remarked.

She was given a $100 grant from Soroptimists to donate to a non-profit organization of her choice -- The Bright Futures Scholars program at the Quality of Life Center in Altadena. “I’ve chosen this organization for this grant, because I know how it can transform student lives,” she said emphatically.

The Bright Futures Scholars program, led by Dr. Sandra Thomas, assists high-school seniors who maintain a very high grade-point average, but are handicapped or underprivileged in some manner. This program gives them financial support, and enables these deserving students to go to college after graduating from high school. According to Hubbard, the program has grown rapidly since it began four years ago. And she didn’t simply turn over the $100 donation to the Bright Futures Scholars program. She matched the donation amount, and then asked friends and members of her church to make donations as well. At this point, she’s raised over $2,400 for this educational program. Dr. Sandra Thomas, CEO of the Quality of Life Center, was on hand to accept the donation. “We are so grateful to have a gem like Monica in our community,” Thomas stated, “as well as an organization like Soroptimists.”

In addition to the awards, each honoree received a handbag that was donated by Soroptimist member Hazel Salomon-Jimmy, owner of Hazel’s Bagz.

The mission of Soroptimists International is to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and throughout the world.