Soroptimist International of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough provided the Dundas Food Bank with a $400 cheque in October. Programs of Service Committee Chair, Nancy Robertson, met with Dianne Dunnett, Food Bank Coordinator.
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Fall Area Meeting
The Fall Area Meeting this year was hosted by SI Humber, Credit Valleys and Brampton on Saturday October 18. It was a packed agenda with speakers from SIA Headquarters, including an inspiring workshop with SIA President Alice Wells. Leontyne Anglin, the SIA Membership Director, conducted a hands-on presentation on how to match the needs of the clubs with the skills and interests of it’s members.
One of the after noon speakers was Clare Freeman, Executive Director of Interval House and Making A Difference for Women winner for the Eastern Canada Region. Her heart felt story was emotionally charged as she explained her life story and the challenges she faced on her path.
Clare’s story was supported by Alfredo Marroquin from the Ontario Domestic Violence Initiative: Neighbours Friends and Family. His presentation and 15-minute documentary provided critical information about how neighbours, friends and families are impacted by woman abuse and illustrated the importance of community-based strategies for ending woman abuse.
There were so many opportunities to support other clubs – diabetic jam, raffle tickets, handmade note cards. We raised $180 on a draw on a 20″ strand of 5.5mm Akoya pearls from Japan. Congratulations to the winner, MaryLynn Koekkoek from SI Peterborough, and thank you Sandy Gray for being so prepared and making the Hallowe’en earrings and pins.
Nova Scotia Greens
This year we have beautiful Christmas wreaths and centre pieces available for sale. For more information, please contact Sandy Gray at Week’s of Waterdown before November 12, 2008:
sandy.weeks@whgroup.ca or 905.517.5733
Rose’s Dish Cloths raised over $200
Rose Bayley is knitting dish cloths! In fact Rose is knitting dish cloths by the dozens and she is doing it so the Soroptimist International club of Dundas/Ancaster/Flamborough (whom her daughter Pauline is a member) can sell them to help less fortunate women & children in our community. The Soroptimist club will not only use the money for that cause; they will also make a contribution to the Alzheimer’s Society in honour of Rose!
You see, Rose; who is from London, England has for some time now been showing signs of the onset of Alzheimer’s. Her family first became aware of Rose’s changing situation about a year ago. Her daughter Pauline and husband David had moved to Ontario with their children several years ago and Pauline could now hear the difference in long distance telephone conversations with her mum. Each time the family visited England they would further notice marked changes in her abilities; but Pauline’s father John, Rose’s husband of 59 years was managing. Sadly in November of 2007 John passed away suddenly and when Pauline and family returned to England for her father’s funeral she realized that her mum could not stay there alone. So they brought Rose to Canada to stay with her only daughter Pauline & her family. In an attempt to help Rose rebuild her life Pauline suggested her mum might like to rekindle her interest in knitting – from that day on she hasn’t stopped!
Now you may be wondering what makes Rose’s dishcloths so famous? It is more how knitting them makes Rose feel; it gives her purpose to her day and a sense of accomplishment that she has been lacking since Alzheimer’s came to call. Even with the controlling effects of Alzheimer’s Rose can do something important to help other women & children here in her new community!
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- Rose selling her dishcloths at the BBQ
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- Rose knitting dishcloths
Paul Johnson
Thank you Pauline for inviting Paul Johnson as our guest speaker on September 4. Paul is the Executive Director at the Wesley Urban Ministries in Hamilton. He came to inform our group about the transitional housing project.
The Wesley Youth Housing Program is a collaborative project that offers the street-involved or homeless youth (ranging in age from 16-21 years) access to safe, affordable, one-year housing with on-site support programs to aid the youth in building the skills necessary to reach their ultimate goal.
Annual Cruzin’ Night
Monday August 25th was the 2nd Annual Cruzin’ Night ~ Car Show at Alexander Place long term care facility on Parkside Drive in Waterdown. Claire Collison, the Activation Co-Coordinator for Alexander Place, rounded up all the volunteers & BBQ facilities (& food) for the event.
I handled inviting all of the car owners for the show, we both scrounged for door prizes, Claire primarily for the residents & myself for the car folks. I designed the ‘dash plaques’ (2.25″ x 3.25″, printed on aluminum plates), which were given to all of the car owners as well as the residents (they could stick them on their wheelchair, walkers or in a memory book as they desired).
Coincidentally, I received a humorous set of lyrics that same day done by Julie Andrews, which she sang to the tune of ‘My Favourite Things’ (my_favourite_things). I printed copies & rounded up those who could sing to entertain the crowd by singing this a cappella!
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- Cruzin’ Night
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- Entertaining at Alexander Place
Sandy’s Hot Air Balloon Adventure
Wow! What a day! Steve & I were sleeping in a bit, we are still on holidays. It was after 8 am we were still in bed; but awake & the driveway dinger went off, shortly followed by the door bell. As Steve got up to answer the door the phone rang too which I answered. (it was Frank, PS: Liz, the following is why I didnt’t stop by to see you in the morning as I had suggested to Frank that I would).
Steve came back to the room to say that the REMAX hot air ballon team wanted to launch their balloon off of our front lawn; of course he said ‘sure, go ahead’. I grabbed my camera and went outside to take some up close pictures of the set-up procedure. I started chatting with the guys & told them they could use our lawn anytime they wanted & if they ever needed some ‘ballast’ I would be happy to go along too someday. After a bit more chatting, the pilot Hal asked me if I could be ready in 15 minutes or so…..can you say ‘fastest shower ever’! They were only planning on a short flight, about 1/2 hr or so.
So the rest is history, I took a ton of pictures, Hal took the one of me with our home below, Steve took the ones from the ground perspective. Stop by sometime & I will bore you with my pictures! (we flew over towards south Cambridge, south of the 401 before touching down in a farmers field off of Gore Rd, nearly 1 hour later)
HOW COOL IS THAT! (& how lucky am I, a hot air balloon flight courtsey of the REMAX crew! I have always dreamed of doing this but never acted upon it)
The touch down was interesting, on ‘paid for tourist’ flights there is always a ground crew there to make sure all goes smoothly. This was just the two of us with no crew to help control us; Hal know what he is doing but we are still somewhat at the mercy of the wind gusts. The basket had set down on its bottom but wanted to either tip or skip along as the winds had gotten gusty. It kept trying to pushing us over so Hal dumped the air out of the balloon rather quickly & the envelope laid down real nice. The basket was now on its side I was hanging on to two of the struts on the high side with my foot pressed into the opposite side of the basket between Hal’s legs otherwise I would have been on top of him. Just like Hal’s said ‘no elegant way to get in and no elegant way to get out!’
Suffice to say, I am ready for my next flight! Who else is game? Liz was looking into this recently, looks like it is about $500.00 each in a larger rig that takes up to 6! (I got my flight courtesy of Hal but trust me, it is worth it!) Can you say “ooohhh, look at those fall colours!”
Did you also know that I am now officially an aeronaut? Look it up in the dictionary; it is good to learn something new every day!
Sandy ~:)
PS: Turns out Hal has been chosen to represent Canada in next years ‘World’s Hot Air Balloon Competition” in Austria! Appears I was in good hands!
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- Filling the balloon
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- Sandy ready for launch
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- Up, up and away
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- Steve’s last view as his darling wife as she disappears towards the horizon in a balloon with a complete stranger!
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- I just love this shot!
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- Bye bye home
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- Mountsberg lake with the Pasuta’s farm to the right of the lake; green roofs on the barns
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- The chase truck w/ Lex at highway #6; Hal would drop markers (practising for competition) Lex would retrieve them
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- This is looking north on highway #6
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- It took us a second or two to figure out that this is Emerald Lake!
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- More of Emerald Lake!
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- The burners in action
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- This is my new pal Hal!
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- After touch down
Women’s Opportunity Award Statistics for 2008
This year, a record 946 clubs participated in the Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Awards and honored 1,120 deserving women in their communities. These awards provided more than $1.3 million to help women reclaim their dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. All participating clubs will receive a certificate and the sincere thanks of the women they helped.
Thank you to all the Soroptimist clubs working to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.
Sincerely,
President Machiko Yamada
SIA President
DAF-fy Girls Get-Together
Special thanks to our two guests who attended the pot-luck dinner at Sandy’s last night. The food everyone brought was absolutely delicious! Sandy gave the newcomers a tour, we all met Max and she had a slide show from her recent motorcycle trip. Brooke and Nancy had wedding photos to share.
The weather on the patio was beautiful and with drinks in hand, we sat down to business. Barb put together a great annual calendar with colour coding and everything! Our next meeting will be at the usual spot: Fortinos in Westdale.
40th SIA Biennial Convention: Taipei, Taiwan
The SIA 40th Biennial Convention was held on July 16-19, 2008 at Taipei International Convention Center and Grand Hyatt, Taipei, Taiwan. The theme of this convention was “Sharing Good Fortune,” which encouraged members to be thankful for what they have and to pass their good fortune on to women in need.
Alison Levine served as keynote speaker. Team captain for the first American Women’s Mount Everest expedition, Alison shared lessons she learned while climbing the world’s highest peaks. Many of Alison’s experiences on the mountain became tenets she now follows at work, such as daring to move backwards in order to go forward, and making sure fear does not dictate decisions. She also shared the power of partnering, portraying a positive attitude as a leader, and asking questions in order to achieve goals. Hear an excerpt from her talk >>
Some Encouraging Statistics:
This past year, 773 clubs participated in the Violet Richardson Award, and gave nearly $300,000 to girls and $130,000 in donations to the girls’ volunteer organizations, totaling $430,000.
Making a Difference for Women Award recognizes women who are working to improve the lives of women and girls. This year’s recipient, Anne Ream of Chicago, Illinois, was also in attendance to accept the finalist award — a $5,000 donation to The Voices and Faces Project, the organization Anne founded in 2003. Its mission is to give a voice and face to rape survivors, offering a sense of solidarity and possibility to those who have lived through abuse, while raising awareness of how this human rights and public health issue impacts victims, families and communities.
New SIA 2008/09 Board of Directors
Soroptimist is doing such important work, and to be recognized by your organization is indeed humbling,” Anne said. “It is good to be in the company of an international community of women who believe that we can, and must, work collectively to make the world a more fair, just, and safe place for women and girls.”
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Special Thanks
Shirley McCoy attended on our behalf this year and there were 1700 members at the convention and 778 of them had attended convention for the first time. Shirley wrote us to say “Taipei was very busy with sooooo many people and motor scooters everywhere. It was an experience of a life time.”
Shirley also very kindly bought each of our club member the new SIA pin with our the new logo. We are very grateful for her generosity!