Five of us (Roberta Benvenuto, Louisa Boone, Pat Disney, Lee Moisio and I) attended the region conference in Reno April 26-28.  It was a wonderful opportunity to bond with each other and with the other 295 Soroptimist members who attended.  We heard from SI President Mariet Verhoef-Cohen about her President’s Project: Women, Water and Leadership; keynote speaker Dr. Ciriaco Pinedo, president/CEO of Children’s Fund in San Bernardino, CA, about its mission of giving vulnerable children support, opportunity, and hope by breaking destructive cycles of poverty, abuse and neglect; and keynote speaker Ruby B. Johnson, a mining engineer and founder/editorial director of STEMher by Ruby B. Johnson Magazine. Ruby has used her education and pageant titles to advocate for the recruitment and retention of women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.  Ruby is also the founder of When You Believe Foundation, an organization committed to the empowerment of girls and women in all walks of life.

Our three delegates all voted as directed by the SISLT Foundation voting “yes” on the six proposed SNR Bylaw amendments.  In addition, we were introduced to the Region Ruby Award winner Sharon Behrens—that was a real tear jerker! We also met six Live Your Dream Region winners.

I encourage members interested in taking on a leadership role in our club to attend Region conferences!  Not only will you have fun, but you will learn how the various levels of Soroptimists work.