This has been a Presidential year with a difference, as so far we have not been able to meet face to face as a club. Our technology skills have improved immensely though – we have kept in touch via Zoom, both as a club and a region. 4 members even ‘went’ to a virtual Federation conference with 900 others from across the world.
The ladies unable to use Zoom were contacted by telephone. In summer we were able to meet in the rose garden of a local park in groups of 6 and in August I invited 2 small groups to my home for tea and cake. This was a substitute for a fundraiser for the International project to help girls in Nepal, but with generous contributions of homemade jams, chutneys, birthday cards and knitted baby items, we still managed to raise £100.
Early in lockdown 1, several of our members sewed scrubs and laundry bags for local hospitals and care homes, made masks and knitted hearts. Over the summer we have collected spectacles and sent many bags of clothes to support a local charity and also to provide much needed items for refugees and asylum seekers. Wakefield is a City of Sanctuary and we had a very interesting evening when one of the volunteers spoke to us about the issues that they have to face.
Currently we are raising funds to buy toilets via the Toilet Twinning charity, and are hopeful that we may be able to donate enough money to provide a block of toilets for a school. The education of girls in many African and Asian countries often stops when they reach puberty because of the lack of sanitary facilities.
Members of Soroptimist International of Wakefield will soon be sending cards to all our local care homes , thanking the staff for all their efforts over the past months.
We have also planted almost 200 trees in a joint venture with Dewsbury Soroptimists.
So despite many restrictions we have maintained contact with each other and carried out many worthwhile projects.
November 2020