Imagine our surprise when we found out that one of our publishers, Clara Kellogg, was also a founding member of the Soroptimist Club of Kansas City, Missouri! The local chapter is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026, as its date of charter was May 19, 1926. Ten days following the signing of the charter, Clara wrote, “The ballroom of the Hotel Muehlebach presented an unusually attractive sight last Wednesday night upon the occasion of the Installation Dinner of the Soroptimist Club – the very youngest organization of business and professional women in town. Stuart Morrow, founder and organizer of the Soroptimist Clubs of America, Great Britain, and France, installed the members.”
Currently, there are five Federations of Soroptimist International, and they are the Americas, Europe, Africa, Great Britain and Ireland, and South East Asia Pacific. The very first club founded was in Oakland, California, in order to improve the lives of women and girls. The current 66,000 members worldwide strive to transform women and girls’ lives through education, empowerment, and enabling opportunities.
Locally, Kay Stewart is, according to her, one of the oldest members, as she joined the club in 1989. In 1951, Kay remembers being in the car with her dad and siblings, as they drove down 31st Street to look at the West Bottoms after they had been flooded out, and her father had been fighting fires from the flood. Seeing people displaced and homeless from the floods left a lasting impression on her. The Soroptimist Foundation was formed in 1954, and the goal was to raise money for a welfare fund for the flood victims. Fast forward to the 1990s, and with some help from United Missouri Bank, the fund has grown to more than $1 million. The goal still, today through an application process, remains helping women who are heads of households, have dependents, are working or going to school, and need a “hand-up,” not a hand out.
Kay is integral in the planning for the 100th anniversary celebration, and she is grateful for the opportunity to keep serving the organization. She enjoys meeting the people, the amount of diversity in the club, the wide variety of projects they support, and the relationships built along the way. All of those will be on display and in action as the Regional Conference will be held in Kansas City from April 24th through the 26th (thanks to Kay lobbying for it), and at the celebratory luncheon to be held on May 9th, where awards for this year’s grants will be given out. We know that Clara Kellogg will be there in spirit, as she would, no doubt, be supportive of the continued good works done by the club. Here’s to 100 more years of helping women and girls!
Featured in the April 18, 2026 issue of The Independent
By: Anne Potter Russ
