On June 18, members of Soroptimist International of Palm Desert gathered at the home of Betsy Kreger in Rancho Mirage to celebrate another successful year of serving the community. President Natalie Angrisani's theme of "Moving forward, together. Inspiring, educating and empowering" drove the activities throughout the 2025-2026 club year.
SI Palm Desert is part of the Golden West Region of Soroptimist International of the Americas, a global service organization whose vision is that "Women and girls have the resources and opportunities to reach their full potential and live their dreams." GWR Governor Elect Pat Box from SI Moreno Valley was the installing officer for the 2026-2027 board of directors.
Congratulations to our 2026-2027 officers and
directors: Natalie Angrisani, president; Cathy Brown, president elect; Marlon Carrier, treasurer; Marie Newton, secretary; Becky Goebel, service; Vanessa Wilks, membership; Diane Backovich, fundraising; and Senorina Saldivar, LYDA coordinator.
One of our longest running service projects is support for the Soroptimist House of Hope, a six-bed rehabilitation residence in Desert Hot Springs. For our annual SHOH Spring Shower, we successfully refreshed the home's living space by replacing the bedding and comforters on all six beds. We also added vibrant, colorful throw pillows to help brighten the environment for the residents. Our members showed incredible generosity, donating more 60 large-size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion, along with body puffs and essential feminine hygiene products. Additionally, we were pleased to welcome SHOH Executive Director Nicole Yingling, who brought six clients and staff members to join us for a lunch prepared by our members.
SI Palm Desert dedicated its sixth Mighty Girl Bookshelf at Della S. Lindley Elementary School in Thousand Palms. More than 100 girl-themed books were delivered, and the girls were ready to dive right into them. This brings our multi-year total to more than 600 new books reaching underserved girls by investing in dreams.
Two of our SIPD members are teachers at Sea View Elementary School in Salton Sea: Melinda Gonzalez, third grade, and Patsy Bauman, second grade. Once again, we were invited to participate in their Perfect Attendance Awards program by presenting 12 students at Sea View Elementary with perfect attendance certificates and medals along with their official certificates of this achievement by Assemblyman Jeff Gonzalez's Team.
Learn more at soroptimistinternationalofpalmdesert.org.
Susan Browne Rosenberg serves as public awareness director for Soroptimist International of Palm Desert.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Soroptimist International of Palm Desert celebrates year giving back
