Committee names Women of Wisdom

SANDPOINT — The Women Honoring Women committee is pleased to announce the 2017 Women of Wisdom. The five women to be honored this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award are Patti Clemons, Janel Holm, Donna Hutter, Myra Lewis and Georgia Simmons.

The 2017 Women of Wisdom will be honored at a gala luncheon hosted by the Women Honoring Women Committee on Saturday, May 13 at 11:00 a.m. at Tango Café in the Columbia Bank Building, 414 Church Street, Sandpoint. Contact Diane Stockton for reservations at 208-290-6362 or at stockton_diane@yahoo.com.

Woman of Wisdom candidates must be 65 years or older and are nominated by their friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers in a letter to the committee. These letters explain how the candidate demonstrates vision, collaboration, leadership, grace, courage, integrity and a love of learning. The letter writer explains how the woman shows a commitment to the Bonner County community and has had a positive impact on it. A candidate is an inspiration to others and an example for future generations of women.

The Women Honoring Women committee thanks the community for writing over 100 letters to nominate 21 deserving women from all over the county. While reading so many letters may seem like a daunting task, committee members find them inspiring and moving.

“We are so proud to honor these wonderful women, ” says committee member Sandy Ross. “and the criteria and scoring system is well developed. But it starts with a nominating letter by someone in the community.”

The letters bring committee members joy, tears, happiness, sadness, just about everything as they read them, Committee chair Kari Saccomanno said.

“Each of the women are all so deserving so it is extremely hard to decide on which five will be honored each year,” Saccomanno added. “Nominators whose nominee didn’t win in any given year should definitely resubmit their nominees the following year just because most everyone always seems to be deserving of this honor. It really comes down to the content of the letters which is why it is so very important for every nominator to spend time clearly answering the WOW criteria.”

The committee does more than select and fete Women of Wisdom. The committee provides scholarships for young women who are graduating high school seniors and women that are continuing post-secondary students. The scholarships are awarded using the same criteria as the Women of Wisdom. The Women Honoring Women committee has provided scholarships for over 30 young women to pursue their educational goals.