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Programme Action History – What We have achieved

Programme Action is one of the main objectives of all Soroptimist clubs. Now known as “what we do” reflects the Vision and the Mission of Soroptimist International. Below are some of the projects our club has supported in recent years, for more information and photographs on these projects look at our “what we’ve been up to’ page.

  • Mary’s Meals – 34 back packs donated to this worthwhile charity, collected from our meeting on 26th Nov, 2018
  • WaterAid – £1,000 raised at our annual lunch and £1,000 raised at our annual quiz, both 2018 and enjoyed by members and guests.
  • Smalls for All – in two years we have donated 979 bras and 850 pairs of new pants
  • Vision Aid – since January 2013 1928 pairs of glasses have been donated to this cause
  • Women Water & Leadership – International President’s Appeal – £240 raised at our International/Christmas party night 2017, £110 raised at International/Christmas night 2018.
  • Maggie’s – £50 donation at Christmas 2017
  • Mary’s Meals – £50 donated through matched funding, benefit therefore £100
  • Water Aid – £100 cheque sent to them Christmas 2017, this would qualify for the matched donation by the Government, making our contribution worth £200
  • Erskine Hospital – £100 cheque donated to them at Christmas 2017
  • Marie Curie – £402.47 collected by our ladies at Sainsbury’s Hamilton on 15th Dec. 2017
  • The Richmond Fellowship, Scotland – £1,000 raised for this charity at our summer lunch in August, 2017.
  • LifeSavers Scotland – £1,000 raised for this charity at a quiz night we organised in John Carrigan’s Eating House on 2nd October, 2017.
  • Hamilton Grammar – 500 Stationery items donated to a group of pupils lead by teacher Paul Casey travelling to Ghana this summer 2017 on an educational project. The items will be donated to two schools in Ghana. Paul along with two pupils Amy & Ross provided the club members with a good feedback on their return and the difference the items taken had made to pupils in Ghana.
  • Meaningful Activity Club – £500 donated to this Award Winning Dementia Unit as Wishaw General Hospital. The money was raised at our summer lunch last year, 2016.
  • Ratification of the Istanbul Convention – Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. We lobbied our MPs to ensure there were enough attending the vote. The Istanbul Convention Bill has now been granted Royal Assent by the Queen and it has officially become law.
  • Dress for Success – Members continue to donate pre-loved clothes for this charity. One of our members helps on a regular basis with fitting etc. in their premises at Bellshill.
  • Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal – Ladies from the club covered a full day on Friday 10th March 2017 collecting at Morrisons Supermarket in Hamilton. £536.36 was raised for this charity.
  • Cancer Research UK – Several members helped this charity raise £670 bag packing In M&S Hamilton in Feb ’17.
  • Educate to Lead – Our Christmas Party night on 12th Dec 2016 raised £235 for the International President’s Appeal for Nepal. We had lots of fun and laughter too.
  • Stand up for Cancer Campaign – Members helped to £200.86 collecting in Hamilton on 4th Nov. 2016
  • Smalls for All – A total of 770 bras and 815  pants have been donated between Dec 15 and April 2017, Excellent talk on 24th Oct. 16 given by Maggie Ness from the Charity.
  • Musical Memories – Cheque for £500 presented to Lesley Fulton and Anna Neill from Musical Memories Dementia Choir in Hamilton
  • Marie Curie Tea Party – One of our members hosted a delicious afternoon tea party in splendid sunshine and raised £1040 for Marie Curie
  • Vision Aid – Since 2013 until May 2017 our club has donated 1010 pairs of spectacles
  • Smalls for All – Another 230 bras & 265 pairs of pants donated to this project in June 2016, total since Sept 2015, 310 bras & 495 pairs of pants.
  • Seema’s Project – Building accommodation for abandoned street children in Pune, India. £850 raised at our quiz on 25th April.
  • International Women’s Day – We promoted our club and collected used bras for “Smalls for All” at this event on 11th March, 2016 in South Lanarkshire College in East Kilbride. This is the third year we have been invited to have a stall.
  • Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal – £493.79 raised at Tesco, Uddingston on Saturday 27th Feb. 2016
  • International President’s Appeal – Educate to Lead – Nepal – £500 raised for this appeal. £100 profit from selling nylon promotional bags at Conference, £170 raised at our Christmas Night and donations of £230
  • Fairtrade – 90 x 1 kilo bags of rice sold at Nov ’15 Conference, and promotional leaflets handed out.
  • Meru Women’s Garden Project – £100 donated to this project from sale of nylon promotional bags at Sigbi Conference in Glasgow.
  • Women’s Aid – 100 low energy lightbulbs donated for the 26 Women’s Aid refuge centres.
  • Smalls for All – 80 used bras and 230 new pairs of pants donated in Dec ’15, these will go to women & girls in Africa.
  • Alzheimer Scotland – £100 cheque sent at Christmas 2015
  • East Kilbride Hospice – 2 bricks bought for path, total £120
  • Erskine Hospital – £100 cheque sent at Christmas 2015
  • Just Trading Scotland – £100 sent to support this group
  • Easter Egg Concert Group – £100 donated to them for their charity, this group provided a wonderful evening of music for us in November ’15.
  • Dress for Success – Members volunteered to help with bag packing at Tesco, Bellshill to help raise funds for Dress for Success.
  • Maggies – Our summer charity lunch on the 9th August, raised £1200 for the new Maggie centre. The cheque was presented during our visit to the centre on Monday 12.10.15.
  • Maggies – Since May 15, members have been helping at the Maggie stall in Monklands Hospital each week, mainly handing out leaflets and directing patients to the new Maggie Centre, which is close to the hospital. Members also assisted with the one year anniversary celebration by showing patients round the facility and serving refreshments.
  • Women’s Aid – Members agreed to supply cleaning essentials for all 26 Women’s Aid refuge centres. 10 Buckets & Mops were donated by Asda Blantyre, with our charity account buying the remaining 16 buckets and mops. Members donated cleaning clothes and liquids, plasters, tea towels, and towels.
  • Vision Aid – Extract from ‘Global Voice’ Soroptimist International Newsletter……  SI Hamilton were looking to Improve access to eye care in developing countries by collecting used spectacles for VAO (Vision Aid Overseas), which works for a world in which everyone has access to eye care and spectacles. VAO is currently working in 6 countries in Africa, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Zambia.Used spectacles were collected from members, their relatives, friends and also from Care Homes and donated to a local volunteer Optometrist, who visits Uganda with VAO. Posters were placed in Care Homes and other premises to encourage people to donate used spectacles. SI Hamilton hoped this would bring an Improvement in the standard of eye care and provision of spectacles for people in developing countries, and so improve their educational and employment opportunities. In 30 years VAO has helped approximately 1 million people. At present 670 million people – 10% of the world’s population – are disadvantaged by poor vision and lack of spectacles. The club will continue to collect used spectacles for VAO, and help others who have less access to eye care than we have in this country.
  • Equality Week – During Equality week at East Kilbride College we arranged to have a stand promoting our work in supporting women and girls locally, Nationally and Internationally.   Leaflets were available on a variety of subjects Violence against Women, Women in Prison, Trafficking, Water Aid, Women to Women and we were happy to chat about our work.
  • International Women’s Day – at South Lanarkshire Council’s IWD event on Friday 6th March 2015 in East Kilbride College we raised awareness of Human Trafficking and gained 205 signatures for the Purple Teardrop Campaign.
  • Fairtrade Wine and Nibbles Night on 9th Feb. 2015 to raise awareness of Fairtrade in advance of Fairtrade Fortnight.Talk by Scotmid Director Michael Ross. Scotmid supplied the Fairtrade wine. Members of Rotary, Inner Wheel and Hamilton Fairtrade Committee attended.
  • £150 raised for Mary’s Meals Ebola Appeal at our Christmas Party Night in December, 2014.
  • £100 donated to Erskine Hospital – Dec 14
  • £100 donated to Silverton Breaks – Dec 14
  • £100 donated to St. Andrews Hospice – Dec 14
  • In November 2014 we raised £177.61 for Marie Curie Care by selling their Christmas Cards in Bothwell Medical Centre.
  • Since January 2013 we have donated 181 pairs of old spectacles to Vision Aid to support the projects in Developing Countries.
  • The “Bra Challenge”, supporting the 5th Hamilton Rangers (a local Girl Guide Group) in collecting unwanted bras for use in developing countries, where wearing a bra means women are treated better, gain respect and are less likely to be raped. Bras beyond reuse are recycled as rags and each kilo represents a £1 donated to Breast Cancer Charities. Over 400 bras have now been donated (May 15)
  • ECOSOC. In Oct. 14 a talk on the Commission for the Status of Women was given by Pat Black SIGBI assistant Director of SIGBI’s special consultative status at ECOSOC.
  • See Solar, Cook Solar, is our International President, Anne Garvie’s Charity. We raised £1,000 for this charity at our summer lunch in August, which Anne attended.
  • Marie Curie Lanarkshire Nurses – quiz on 12th May raised £800 for this local cause
  • Water Aid – A fun Easter Bonnet Competition raised £32 for Water Aid with members willing to fill mini egg cartons with silver coins over the summer months, this raised the fund to £182.17 which the UK Government doubled to £364.34, more donations for Water Aid are being received.
  • Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal – members collected £1061.84 during the Great Daffodil Appeal in March ’14 at Tesco in Uddingston for this worthwhile charity.
  • International Women’s Day – We promoted our club and the organisations we support both locally and Internationally at South Lanarkshire Council’s International Women’s Day Event in South Lanarkshire College in East Kilbride on Friday 7th March. We were delighted that Provost Eileen Logan visited our stand and showed her support for our work.
  • During Fairtrade Fortnight we arranged an awareness stand in Regent Shopping Centre, Hamilton on Friday 7th March, 2014. Members were on hand to give out information leaflets, stickers and goodies promoting the importance of supporting Fairtrade goods.
  • Violence Against Women – Letters written to local MPs asking them to support S.I. Stafford’s petition ‘to ensure that perpetrators of Violence Against Women are brought to justice’. The Petition will be presented to David Cameron in March – Feb 14
  • Women’s Aid – Presented 1500 “loves me, loves me not” bookmarks for use in their initiatives with children and young people – Jan 14
  • Erskine Hospital – £100 donation given – Dec 13
  • Circle – £100 donation given – Dec 13
  • Maggie Centre, Wishaw – £100 donation given – Dec 13
  • Hamilton Food Bank – £100 donation given – Dec 13
  • Cystic Fibrosis – £100 given, £70 of this was raised by selling some CDs they supplied – Dec 13
  • Human Trafficking – Support and feedback given to the Human Trafficking (Scotland) Bill by Jenny Marra – Nov 13
  • Prison Reform Trust – Reducing Women’s Imprisonment – support and awareness involvement – Oct 13
  • Marie Curie – Sold Christmas Cards in Bothwell Health Centre raised £255.77 – Nov 13
  • Crocheted Blankets for Mary’s Meals, being sent to Malawi and Liberia – Nov 13
  • Anti-Slavery Day – Friday 18th October, 2013 raised awareness and collected another 300 signatures for the Purple Teardrop Campaign
  • In September, 2013 we provided 46 Backpacks for Marys Meals in Malawi, we did this in conjunction with St. Mary’s Primary School in Hamilton
  • £1100 raised at our summer lunch on Sunday 18th August 2013, part of this money will sponsor 2 women through the “women for women” initiative.
  • Book Aid International – our club bought 48 books entitled “Where women have no doctor” these were sent to sub-Sarahan Africa for distribution.
  • Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Appeal – £980.95 raised by our members collecting at Tesco in Uddingston on 14th March, 2013 and Morrisons in Hamilton on 23rd March, 2013.
  • Purple Teardrop Campaign-Stop the Trafficking, 631 signatures gained from our work on Anti-Poverty Day in Hamilton Shopping Centre on 18th October, 2012
  • Dress for Success – Clothes, shoes and suitable interview attire donated to assist women going back to work. One of our members regularly assisting this charity, see ‘our news’ for details
  • £750 raised by organising an enjoyable quiz in aid of ‘Birthing in the Gambia’
  • Distributed Ovarian Cancer leaflets to local libraries
  • Quarriers Home £100 raised at our Robert Burns Night
  • £750 for Vision Aid raised by having an afternoon tea
  • Distributed Age UK calendars to suitable recipients
  • Rape Crisis Hamilton – we helped with bag packing in Asda to raise funds, and assisted with their Business Plan
  • RNLI (Helensburgh) £100 towards their work
  • Action for Children Scotland £100 donation at Christmas
  • Teenage Cancer Trust – £1300 raised from “Young Musician on the Year” night in conjunction with Uddingston Grammar
  • 40 Emergency Toilet bags donated to the Elderly Unit at Stonehouse Hospital
  • Knitting for Marys Meals
  • Jubilee Trust Fund, members enjoyed a Silent Auction and table quiz and we raised £150
  • £1,200 raised for Diabetes UK by having a quiz night.
  • Cancer Research UK – bag packing assistance helped raise their funds
  • £1,500 raised for CHAS from our annual summer lunch.
  • Women’s Aid with donations of essential items e.g. toiletries, clothing etc.
  • Alzhemiers Scotland with a fund raising fashion show making over £3,500 for their charity.
  • Guide Dogs for the Blind received £1,000 from a summer lunch.
  • Marie Curie Cancer Care – ongoing assistance selling Christmas Cards at a local health centre and supporting Daffodil Day by collecting at local supermarkets.
  • Erskine Hospital (care for war veterans) ongoing support, £100 cheques at Christmas.
  • David Livingstone Trust received £100 cheque at Christmas.
  • Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust £100 cheque towards fuel costs for volunteers
  • Maggie Centre (Wishaw) received £100 cheque at Christmas to help with their new centre.
  • Early Learning Unit Hamilton – £1,400 donated to help buy equipment.
  • £100 to Larkhall and District volunteer group, and help with their Christmas Toy Project
  • £100 to the Ups and Downs club.
  • Water Aid – £126 donated.
  • Project Sierra – A family and a Future in Partnership with Hope and Homes for Children, to strengthen broken communities and homes in Sierra Leone and educate women and children, to date Soroptimist International of Hamilton have raised £500.