All of our members have made donations of food, money, toiletries, sanitary wear & their time to the Torquay Community Larder.  Food poverty is a real issue & no one should go hungry, members are keen to raise awareness of poverty & help end UK hunger. The Community Larder provides a minimum of three days’ emergency food & related assistance to those in need throughout Torquay all of which have been donated by people in the local community. Please bring any donations of the following items for the food collection box at our meeting room at Rosegarth. Cereal Soup Pasta Rice Tinned tomatoes/ pasta sauce Lentils, beans and pulses Tinned meat Tinned vegetables/potatoes Tea/coffee Sugar Tinned fruit Biscuits UHT milk Fruit juice Washing powder Toiletries

Members are happy to be part of a nationwide project to provide free menstrual products in schools. They are continuing to support the Red Box Project Torbay and have donated sanitary items, new underwear & black tights via their donation box at Rosegarth to help young girls in our community.  The items will soon be distributed to primary schools in the local area.  Cheryl Rider

Torquay & District Soroptimist International have sent a donation of £300.00 to WaterAid for their project in Timor-Leste.  Our members’ support means that even more of the world’s poorest people now have access to life-changing clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene. WaterAid built a gravity flow system in the girls’ village, piping clean water down from higher land.  The community now has toilets and hand-washing stations too, to protect people’s health and dignity.  Life has been transformed and they can look forward to a happier future. WaterAid Timor-Leste has evolved since establishment during the instability of a newly-formed government and the phasing out of humanitarian aid over the past decade.  Over the previous strategy period we have had a strong focus on building the capacity and confidence of program staff and partner organisations. Sheila Parissien

Sheila Parissien our President for November welcomed new & old friends to our Annual InterClub Event.  Members from St Austell, Plymouth & Brixham, our joint regional Presidents Kay Turner & Wendy Plaice and immediate Past President Daphne Dowsing all joined us to learn about the Red Box Project Torbay. This year our members have investigated helping the young women in our community by supporting the Red Box Project, who give free menstrual products for young women in our schools.  A huge pile of sanitary items was donated to help fill our Red Box. The speakers from the Red Box Project were Kirsty & Toni who are working together to solve the problem known as “period poverty”.   No girls should miss out on education because of their periods.    

Once again members Barbara Soames & Gaynor Raisey decorated a tree on behalf of the Torquay & District SI at All Saints Church, Bampfylde Road, Torre, Torquay This year they were able to use decorations made by members during a recent craft evening. Everyone is very welcome to go along from Saturday 8th December and enjoy the decorated Christmas trees, each sponsored for charity,  brightening up the church.

From ‘Snaring …..to Caring and Repairing’ Reflecting on a journey through the Criminal Justice System

What’s happening at no 63, ‘Survival or Not’             Ann Garvie, Former SI President Daphne Dowsing, Regional President

  202 MILLION CHILDREN (90% OF CHILDREN WHO GO TO SCHOOL IN AFRICA) CANNOT READ OR WRITE AFTER FINISHING SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY LACK BOOKS Members were keen to support this project and made donations of books which were  packed into a large cardboard box, they were pleased at such a neat job.  It later dawned that it was over the weight limit and no one could pick it up! We shared out the books between four boxes ready for them to be collected by courier. The large box now had a large space so that had to be filled with polystyrene. There is a charge for each box so instead of an acceptable £7 for one, we were up to £28. There was a form to fill in online to make an appointment for the collection.  It was not possible to finish filling it in until

Two full bags of sanitary items were donated to the Torquay Community Larder recently. Poverty is a desperate problem in Torbay. We are committed to helping young girls in Torbay who are not able to afford the cost of sanitary wear. We are learning about The Red Box Project, and urge others to do the same. Co-ordinators deliver a red box to those who wish to become involved and in time it is filled with donations of sanitary items. The boxes are collected and checked and then sent out to local schools. Linda Churchward