What have we been doing these last 3 months.
Our “90 challenges”, celebrating SIGBI’s 90 years this year as a Federation are going well. We have already achieved 5 challenges, which impressed the Regional Conference we hosted in June. A little more about that later.
At the end of March we donated 90 new and slightly used bras to Smalls for Us. A UK charity that collects underwear for people in Africa and the UK who can’t afford or can’t get any. Because Dignity matters.
The second 90 challenge was taking part in MK Foodbank’s MK Logo challenge for Easter. They asked communities, schools, groups and businesses if they could make up their logo or an easter picture in food items. We made up our logo with just over 90 items of food as well as donating over 100 food items to YMCA MK so that they could also take part in this challenge. MK Foodbank MK Can Logo challenge raised over 19,500 food items for the Easter period to support those in need.
Our third 90 challenge was everyone helping to collect 90 pairs of pants, in fact we collected 93 pairs. These alongside another 68 bras donated by members and friends were donated to UnityMK. They told us they were really short of underwear, especially for women who approach them. Next came 90 pairs of socks, men’s and women’s and these were also taken to UnityMK in June.
And we have now donated £90 to SI Wakiso, a new club in Uganda, chartered in 2023. Their first project is to fundraise in order to build a Cervical Cancer Centre, after talking to their community to see what they needed. They linked up with SI Libertas to hold a webinar asking Soroptimist clubs to help out. You can make a donation by clicking on the following link http://tinyurl.com/yhhn97uz
A big thank you everyone and your friends for all contributing to these challenges. Mags at UnityMK was so grateful to receive the underwear. It highlights how just small things can mean so much to helping those in need. But we still have the rest of the year, so watch this space to see what new 90 challenges we take on.
At the beginning of May we met at MK Snap to sort out our SOS toiletries collected from members and our donation points at The Mead Centre, Newport Pagnell, Great Linford Parish Council Offices, The Redhouse Surgery, Bletchley and MK Snap. As a result, 3 boxes were taken to YMCA MK and 3 were taken to MK Act. If you have any unused toiletries please drop them of at our donation points or contact us, we can find a good home for them where they will be much appreciated.
On the 4 May we enjoyed taking part in MK Snap’s May Fayre. Thank you, Zita, Scottie, Laraine, Mala and Vanessa, for staffing our stall. The stall looked fantastic, we made some money and distributed out leaflets to raise awareness of what we do.
In May we had a huge thank you from MK Act for the donation of staple kitchen cupboard food items in the fantastic jars labelled up by Mary. Over 60 jars of food were provided and these will be given to new residents arriving into the safe accommodation provided by MK Act. They come with nothing and it is vital to provide them with the essentials to help them get their lives back on track, click here to see the reel they made on Facebook.
A big thank you to Sally and her team and a couple of our members, who at the beginning of June, baked 200 cakes for MK Act’s event at Broughton and MK Parish Council’s residents meeting for fundraising, raising awareness of the services they provide and to see if anyone one in Broughton wanted to volunteer for the charity.
And we have been very fortunate in being able to make other essential donations to our charities this month. Two black sacks of clothes and shoes were donated to the Greenleys Community club supporting those residents most in need. And another sack and shoes were dropped off to UnityMK. One of our members was given a brand- new microwave, which we donated to MK Act to help a resident when they are able to move out and set up their new home.
And at the beginning of June we received a lovely message from our friendship club SI Krakow and an update on the latest project we have helped them with.
As a result of a zoom meeting held with Krakow back in the autumn of 2023, when they told us of a home near Krakow where there were orphaned Ukrainian children, we agreed it would be good to do something for these children. It was decided to make the children a gift for Children’s Day, which falls on 1 June in Poland. SI Krakow asked the children what would make them happy and it turned out that they would most like to receive a Barbeque or they call it a gas grill. On the last day of May, two soroptimists from Krakow Club took part in a picnic for the children and the newly purchased barbeque, which our funds helped to purchase, was used. SI Krakow have told us that the Ukrainians will need long term support to acclimatise to a new culture and to get support to be able to get jobs and a home. And so, we hope we can continue to help them.
On the 11 June we provided a buffet meal for the homeless at UnityMK. We usually provide a buffet at Xmas, but the feedback was so positive that we said we would provide another during the summer. We teamed up with the Tuesday Unity Park Community Club. Every Tuesday and Wednesday they provide hot food, drink and company and many turn up, both past and present. This day we said we will do the food to give the Tuesday Club volunteers a chance to just rest and chat with the clients. A disco was also provided by the Tuesday Club and a lovely time was had by all. By 2pm we had served over 70 people. And we received a lovely thank you message on UnityMK Facebook page thanking us for our time and food donations to help brighten up everyone’s day.
And with the help of a friend we were able to make a donation of 29 boxes of various chocolate’s, not only to the UnityMK clients, who loved the bars of chocolates last xmas but to the families at MK Act and to the children looked after by the Ukraine Appeal charity here in MK.
And on the 15 June we were delighted to be able to host the Soroptimist International London and Chiltern Regional meeting at MK Snap, celebrating inspirational women. Thank you, Angie, for letting us host it at MK Snap, everyone loves this venue.
The meeting was opened by Kate Belinis (pictured in the first picture, on the left top row), our Regions current Chair, and whose theme is Celebrating Inspirational Women. Then we were very privileged to have the new High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, Kurshida Mirza BEM (third picture top row) talk to us. Kurshida is the first British Muslim woman of Asian heritage to take this office on. Kurshida spoke to us about her childhood and the many challenges she faced but how her faith and being inspired by her mother kept her going. In her year of office her plans include prioritizing activities to tackle social exclusion and strengthen communities. It was a truly inspiring speech and you can listen to it at the London and Chilterns soroptimist page. And it was lovely to be able to present Kurshida with a domed indoor plant garden made by the learners at MK Snap.
The event also included our club talking about our Violet Awards, celebrating unsung heroes working in our charities, our new 90 Challenges projects and the work we are doing with the Ukraine refugees here in MK and with SI Krakow in Poland. We ended the morning session on a high with our friends from Ukraine Charty, coming to sing for us and getting everyone out of their seats to sing along, a truly uplifting morning and we thank them. For all they are going through they remain positive and full of joy and this is what they brough to the regional conference.
In the afternoon we had two speakers. Ann Child, a trustee of the SIGBI Diamond Education Grant (EDG) who explained how clubs could support the work of this grant.
And out last speaker was the ever-inspiring Dishi Attwood, SIGBI Director of Membership. Always full of enthusiasm and giving us many ideas on how we can go out there and drum up more members. And she also spoke about the changes SIGBI is preparing to undergo.
It was a great event and I think we all came away inspired in one way or another. You can read more about the event and listen to the speakers just click here.
And we had a wonderful meeting on 21 June which started in the best possible way by welcoming our new members Summer and Scottie with their new members badges and certificate.
We hope they will enjoy being a part of the club, make new friends and enjoy what we do.
As you can see always busy helping out. If you like what we do why not join us. We would love to have more members helping us help our charities and our community. Just get in contact via soroptimistsmk@gmail.com