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‘Together we can meet the challenge’
My name is Val Thomas and, like all Soroptimists worldwide, I am proud to stand up for women and girls. As President of this Region and during my work as a Soroptimist, I’ve enjoyed making a difference, travelling nationally and internationally, making many new friends. My club is SI Pendleside where I’ve acted as President and Programme Action Officer.
What do we do?
We raise the profile of women’s causes, generate funds for charity and enjoy a wide range of social events.
Our clubs choose to work on individual projects which might be collecting comfort packs for women and girls in custody, working to improve our local environment or lobbying our MPs to promote women’s issues locally and nationally. In addition, there are countrywide Soroptimist projects too, for example tree planting in the UK or in drought-stricken villages overseas.
In this North West Region, our local project this year is supporting victims of domestic violence whilst our international project is the Tap Twinning charity.
Soroptimists are also proud of their consultative status at the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations which gives us a voice on important issues and we can attend the annual Commission on the Status of Women in New York.
Together we can meet the challenge
I am proud of the way our clubs responded to the Covid pandemic: although face to face meetings were rare, we quickly and efficiently provided many food and toiletry bags for needy families and scrubs for NHS workers. Now our present challenge is helping refugees living in our region and, of course, mitigating the effects of climate change.
How do we meet?
Our clubs meet in person at least monthly and there are online planning meetings and webinars. Clubs may have an interesting speaker or be working together on a project like packing Christmas bags for young carers in their area.
You can expect plenty of friendship and fun; you can do as much as you wish and join in whenever you can; perhaps singing with dementia sufferers or walking round a local town to raise awareness of modern slavery.
Make a difference
Visit us and discover who we are and what we do.
You can be sure of a warm welcome at any club.
Make a difference to your own life as I did and help women and girls move towards a safer, fairer and brighter future.
Do you want to make a difference too? Fill in our contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can to find out what you’re interested in.
If you’re interested in the work that we do and would like to join a club near you please follow this link for more information on the nearest club to you.
If you’re on Facebook please like our page and see what we get up to.
Val Thomas
Regional President – 2021/22