![\"\"](\"\/st-albans-and-district\/files\/45-Kat-Mary-induction.jpg\")
<\/a>Mary is a poet, she moved to St Albans from the US many years ago and her family were originally from Syria. She is an interesting and talented woman with a passion to end violence against women and for the support and education of women and girls. We know Mary will be a real asset to our Club. We were able to get to know Mary a little better later in the evening when she read some of her thought-provoking poems to us. Mary is pictured here on the right laughing with President Katherine Clark as she accepts the hand (paw) of Soroptimist friendship from the Club’s mascot Sally Bear.<\/p>\nOur speaker for the evening was our new Member Ann Beatty<\/strong>, who joined the Club in February this year.\u00a0 Ann is the Chief Executive of the Steve Sinnott Foundation<\/strong> \u2013www.stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk<\/a> \u00a0This was a role she took up after a life changing experience of living in Sierra Leone for 2 years. For Ann working with women is a passion so we are thrilled that she is now a Member of our Club. Ann is pictured below with Club President Kat Clark – her presentation is available to download and view here SteveSinnottFoundationSoroptimists June 2019<\/a> Steve Sinnott was a champion of “education for all everywhere” and when Steve died the Foundation was launched\u00a0 to achieve his vision as a legacy. It is a small charity based in Watford and if you read the Presentation and look at the website you can see some of the wonderful work it does. One example is a sanitary protection project in the Gambia – teaching the girls to make their own washable sanitary wear, locally and in a sustainable way, so they don’t drop out of school when they menstruate. The Club will be looking at how to partner with the charity in the future.<\/p>\n