The members of Soroptimist International of Dundas-Ancaster-Flamborough were very excited to hand out $2,500 in bursaries to women in our community.

Debra Tigchelaar, Executive Director of Drummond House was recognized for Making a Difference

Our awards ceremoney was held on Thursday, May 7 at the Dundas Golf & Curling Club where the Making a Difference for Women Award was given to Debra Tigchelaar for her contribution and dedication to Drummond House in Flamborough.

Congratualtions to our Violet Richardson award winner, Elizabeth

The Violet Richardson Award is given to honour young women age 14 -17 engaged in volunteer action within their communities or schools. This year’s award was given to Elizabeth Austerberry from Parkside High in Dundas who volunteers with the Junior Civitan Club and answers letters to Santa for Canada Post. She recieved $300 and a further $200 was donated to the Civitans in her honour.

Congratulations Edith, our Womens Opportunity Award winner

The Women’s Opportunity Award is given to a female heads of households who need additional skills, training and education to enable them to upgrade their employment status to re-enter the workforce so they can provide adequately for themselves and their families. This is a signature award for Soroptimist International, which has provided over $17M to 25,000 women since it’s inception in 1972. This year’s bursary for $2,000 went to Edith Kaggwa, a mother of four who has been accepted to the Mo-Mac nursing program.

Two of our members were honoured for 20 years of service: Nancy Davidson and Shirley McCoy; Jane Oulton is a charter member of our club from 1984

We were also delighted to honour three of our club members: Jane Oulton who is a charter member from the original club that started in 1987 with 22 members; Nancy Davidson and Shirley McCoy have served with us for 20 years. A Soroptimist is a leader in her community. She believes that by joining with other women and engaging in awareness, advocacy and action in the service of her community and society, she can make the world a better place for humankind.

The New Ancaster Fairgrounds held a Community Open House on May 9th, and Soroptimist was there. This event was a great way for us to meet women in the community and share the Soroptimist story.

Located at the corner of Hwy 2 and Trinity Rd in Ancaster, the new grounds are beautiful. The crowds were fair in spite of tremendous winds and thunderstorms and we are excited to have several new guests attend our next meeting: June 4th at the Fortino’s community room in Westdale.

Flashback to the 70’s: I Love Rock n Roll with Russ Weil and The Hornets

Our spring dance was such a hit last year that we’re doing it again!!

Join us on Friday April 17 at the Royal Canadian Legion in Waterdown (79 Hamilton Street North, beside Weeks Home Hardware. Their lot is available to us that evening for overflow parking).

Doors open at 8pm. Retro Attire is strongly encouraged!!

Tickets are $25 and will be available at the door or at Weeks Home Hardware. Expect door prizes, raffles and a cash bar. All proceeds go to support Women and Girls in our communities and throughout the world. Find out more »

Spring Dance - Flashback to the 70s

The Flamborough Chamber of Commerce held it’s annual Outstanding Business Acheivment (OBA) awards ceremony against the backdrop of an unusual set on Saturday evening.

Beautifully dressed attendees were greeted by an owl, cheeta and fruit bat as they entered the Mombasa Market Restaurant, located in a unique country setting, on the grounds of African Lion Safari. Upon receiving their seating designation by country, guests were directed to a photo with wild parrots squaking and greeting you with sayings like: “hello beautiful”.

Koho Catering provided an all you can eat buffet with trays of salads, cheese trays, rolls and vegetables down the centre aisle with two hot stations of chicken Cordon-blue Royale, roast beef, new potatoes, rice and roasted vegetables. There was a Shiraz from Obikwa in South Africa and a Wild Horse Canyon Chardonnay from BC on the table and dinner was followed up by plates of cake of all varieties.

Brooke was our club delegate for the evening and sat with the Ron and Eleanor Steepe of Kitching, Steepe & Ludwig Funeral Home and two of their former staff members, Margaret Robertson from Pause a While, and Norm Read, a C.A. with Beckett Lowden Read, and his wife Barbara. It was a delightful evening of pleasant conversation and carrot cake envy!

The event was covered by Cogeco Cable with MC Arend Kersten and included distinguished guests: MP David Sweet, MPP Ted McMeekin, Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberg, Ward 14 Councillor Robert Pasuta, and a surprise visit from Minister of Defence, the Honorable Peter MacKay to pay tribute to Corporal Chris Klodt.

During the Mayor’s speech he included a focus on energy consumption and turned off the lights for 1 min to honour Earth Hour, which took place around the globe that Saturday starting at 8:30pm. GM and Coach, Don Robertson of the Dundas Real McCoys, also left their provincial championship game, which they won, and drove in from Pickering to join the festivities and honour the Life Time Achievement Award Winner, Bill Grisdale.

Our club was nominated for the Sandra Gray/Weeks Home Hardware Award for Service by an Individual Award. The winner went to Eric’s Amazing Race and Jessy’s Journey. In support of their nephew Eric Morden who suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), Ted Lindsay (manager of the Flamborough Review) and his wife Heather organize a car rally to help fund research (see the Bottom Line page 5). The Community Service Award by a company went to Terra Greenhouses for their “grow for a cure” program.

It was such an honour to be nominated and recognized for the work we do in the community, and I know Sandy would have been mortified to hear the kind words regarding this award in her name.

This was our first meeting at the new time for dinner, 6pm. Some club news: We made the list for the Annual Club Campaign – Bronze ($500). For the SIA Club Award – we accomplished all the requirements – congratulations ladies! Thank you ladies for all your work 🙂

We welcomed guest speaker, Cathy Watts from Baby Showers: they believe in Awareness, Advocacy and Action. We are pleased that our partnership with them has aligned goals and they are very grateful for our donation of $1,200.  This volunteer only  organization has <20 people; the Social Planning Research Committee officially signed to recognize them as partners; they also received funding for the lease on a new space. Most families they serve are immigrants, refugees and those who experience a sudden change in finances. Very few are single, white –teenage moms. Baby Showers serves approximately 20 families a week, based on donations. Our club donation will be used for car seats, cribs and plastic tubs, highchairs, playpens and formula/diapers. These items are not frequently donated. The next project (inspired by a tv interview on 100 Huntley Street) is to work women in York Region to duplicate the model

After volunteering to help many times and attending our events, Kim Gordon (Brooke’s Mom), was welcomed as our newest member. We’re very happy to have her join us, especially Brooke.

After the last meeting, Shirley E and Barb dropped off the clothes collected for Friends for Success. Thank you to our friends, neighbours and co-workers who contributed towards our clothing drive.

$400 was given to Sandy Thomas, Flamborough Food Bank

Sandy Thomas of the Flamborough Food Bank attended last night’s club meeting for a cheque presentation of $400.00. It is a welcome contribution as the food bank is experiencing a marked increase in need of their services. Drop off locations include: Sobey’s in Waterdown, Fortino’s Food Mart, the Waterdown Fire hall and Carlisle United Church (between 9:30am – 2:30pm Tue, Thu, Fri). Please call 905-690-1036 to arrange cash donations and for information around eligibility. There is an article in the Spec about Poverty that has more information on how you can get involved and the critical items needed »

Thank you to Shirley E for opening her home to us for an evening of “Friends & Fun”. Dinner was catered by Beijing Gardens of Waterdown (they make great Pad Thai). It was an action packed evening! To start, we’d like to welcome our newest member, Janet, and all our guests.

Welcome Janet, our newest member

Shirley M gave an excellent presentation on the Live Your Dream campaign. Did you know that all the money raised through the sale of merchandise goes back to programs? Some of the things you can do on the site are plan your goals, make a donation and send a note/ecard. She encouraged all the members to fill out an Action Plan, but also to share these tools with other women and read some of the success stories on the site. They are very inspiring!

Everyone recieved their package of posters & tickets for the “Flashback to the 70’s” fundraiser happening at the Royal Canadian Legion in Waterdown on April 17th. Tickets are $25 each and will be on sale at Weeks of Waterdown for anyone who sells out 🙂 Find out more »

Kathy volunteered to maintain a scrapbook for our club. We encourage our club members to check their local papers for articles and to bring in any letters, photos or awards so we can keep them for posteriety!

The “health of the club survey” that was done last month showed we’re definately on track. Thank you to all the members who completed it. We really apprecaite your feedback.

On behalf of the Soroptimist Foundation of Canada, Shirley McCoy presented Barb with the Red Star Award for our club. This certificate recognizes our donation of $250.

Congratulations to Barb McCoy who won the 50:50 draw and generously donated her winnings back to the club and happy birthday to Sandy who is an indeterminate age today!