President Heather with some club members and the donations of mainly Fairtrade food for Kirkcaldy Foodbank. Our club donates food to the Foodbank at our first meeting of the month, and as it was Fairtrade Fortnight we chose to buy Fairtrade items. Unfortunately it’s still difficult to buy everything we wanted to that is Fairtrade, so we had to supplement with some non-Fairtrade items.
To celebrate Fairtrade fortnight our club ordered a Fairtrade rugby ball from Bala who are the only suppliers of such balls in the UK. Having previously given a Fairtrade ball to the men’s team it was the turn of the ladies team who were warming up for a game against Howe when we caught up with them. Captain Alison Massie accepted the ball from President Heather Stewart. Also present was Avril Eardley who organised the handing over of the ball.
The Soroptimist UK Programme Action Committee (UKPAC) is working in partnership with the UK Modern Slavery Training Delivery Group to find out the level of awareness and understanding of human trafficking/modern slavery, how to recognise it, how to report it and where to go for support. Can you help us by completing a very simple online survey? It will only take 5 minutes and you can be completely anonymous if you wish. The link is www.sigbi.org/ukpac/survey/ Thanks for your help. If you’d like to read more about modern day slavery have a look at https://www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/
The club raised £750 for the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Helpline. The Helpline provides 24/7 support for people with dementia, their friends, relatives, carers and professionals. The photograph shows Immediate past president Kay (L) with Elaine Harley, Helpline Manager. Club members also volunteer with the Alzheimer Scotland Resource Centre in Kirkcaldy. Members have recently started to support NHS Fife / Alzheimer Scotland Nurse Consultant Helen Skinner in offering Playlist for Life to patients in hospitals across Fife.
The two Soroptimist Regions in Scotland, the North and South, recently held a Joint Conference at McDiarmid Park, Perth. The theme of the conference was Stepping Up and Leading the Way. One of the keynote speakers was Scotland’s former Lord Advocate, Dame Elish Angiolini, who gave an inspiring talk on women in the justice system. Dame Elish Angiolini, second from right Another speaker was from the charity Smalls for All and many conference delegates took new pants and ‘lightly worn’ bras to donate. The items of underwear will be sorted and sent to various countries in Africa to help women and children in orphanages, refugee camps, slums and schools. As of May 2017 the charity has distributed over 327,000 items of underwear. Club members in front of the underwear mountain Save Save Save
At our recent AGM Heather Stewart was installed as our new President. Heather has already been President of our club in recent years and this time she announced that the charity she would like the club to support over the coming year is Autism Rocks (Fife). Here is the link to read about the charity http://autismrocksfife.org Save Save
Kitchen items donated by club members Rosslyn Lodge is a four bed facility which provides supported accommodation for homeless women offenders with chaotic lifestyles caused by substance abuse or mental health issues. Four club members visited today to take some items for the women that they might find useful while they are living there, and in particular they will be able to take with them when they take on their own tenancies. Apart from the kitchen ware pictured there was also a slow cooker/electric frying pan, some towels and bedding which was very well received as the women only have one set of bedding each at the moment. We also took a sewing machine and some beautiful plaid material which will be perfect for making cushion covers and perhaps bags. So next Tuesday two of us will be returning to show the women how to
President Kay and Father Brian Gowans Kay is holding a beautiful flower decoration made entirely from phone books by women prisoners in the Philippines! President Kay Wilkie introduced Father Brian Gowans, the Parish Priest at St Joseph’s in Burntisland who was asked to speak in his capacity as Chaplains’ Advisor to the Scottish Prison Service and President of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care. Soroptimists have a particular interest in the rehabilitation work done in women’s prisons and in the efforts being made to help prisoners successfully return into the community and avoid going back to prison in the future. After being asked to temporarily cover for someone at the Young Offender’s Institution Polmont in 1993, Father Brian found that the supply post led him to be involved with working with prisoners (mainly young people) for the next 23 years. In his role
Sheila with the Easter hamper she won in the raffle Club member Sheila was delighted with the hamper she won in our raffle on Monday night. Featuring many goodies from Easter eggs to chocolate bunnies and hot cross buns Sheila is surely set up for having a sweet time over the holiday! Our fund raising raffle raised £125 for our various charities.
Some club members with the items they donated to Kirkcaldy Foodbank To mark Fairtrade Fortnight (27 Feb – 12 March) Club members agreed to search for Fairtrade items to donate to Kirkcaldy Foodbank. Unfortunately they found this task more difficult than they expected, with some major supermarkets selling not much more than bananas, tea and coffee which are Fairtrade. Muriel will deliver the food to the Foodbank the next day and it will be very quickly given out to needy individuals and families in Kirkcaldy.
