Clare Anderson is one of the founders of Scholarship Opportunities for Success and a part-time volunteer for SOS and is the Vice-president of fundraising for the organization. Clare has worked tirelessly to raise funds to be used as academic grants to help low income women in the Columbus area.
Over fifteen years ago, Clare was at The Center for New Directions annual meeting and she watched a young mother of two children receive a scholarship for $500. “She did not have a high school education and had been left by her husband with no support. I realized that $500 was not nearly as much as she needed and also that there must be many more women like her. This is what led to the formation of Scholarship Opportunities for Success. There were people who said it would never work, but a small group of women have built an organization which has changed many lives in Central Ohio.”
In its first year, SOS awarded two $1,000 scholarships. Clare continued and continues to go above and beyond in fundraising and reaching out to donors. Just last year, SOS awarded $64,000 to help women at poverty level with financial aid for education. Over the years, SOS has helped over 45 women obtain degrees which better their employment and help their families overcome poverty.
Clare and SOS have a support system of 14 very dedicated women who help in many ways along with a group of volunteers. Clare also says that her husband, Raymond, has done more behind-the-scenes work than anyone would know. She is very inspired by the women SOS helps. “Most of the women are raising children while they work, attend classes and study. We have helped women who live in homeless shelters, women who get up at 5am to take their children to childcare on the bus, then take the bus to work and then to school and then to pick up their children. Women who have escaped abusive marriages, women who have overcome drug addiction, women who have been human trafficked and women who have overcome many other obstacles to success.”
At times the founders of SOS wanted to give up, but Clare strived to keep the organization’s mission going and established an endowment fund at the Columbus Foundation to increase the longevity of the organization. That endowment fund is now worth over $95,000.
Clare plans to continue fundraising for SOS and is trying to attract younger women to sustain the organization which has more than 100 volunteers and is able to accomplish everything while remaining a totally volunteer organization.
For more on Scholarship Opportunities for Success, please visit www.SOSGrants.orgwom