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March 2022 – Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month – Homeless Women – Soroptimist Trees – Women in Prison – Ethel Smyth – Refugees

Published on: Published in: What we've been up to recently

Refugees

We are all concerned about the refugees fleeing from the fighting in Ukraine.  How best to help?  Soroptimist International Club have a great tradition of helping each other in times of need.  Our sister Clubs in Epsom and Salisbury have Friendship Links with the Soroptimist International Club in Lviv (Ukraine) and in Chisinau (Moldova) and they are working very hard to support refugees.  So the Soroptimist Clubs in the Southern Region have donated a total of £3,945 to those two Clubs.  SI Woking have contributed £275 to the cause.  And of course, individual members are making separate donations to refugee organisations.

Ethel Smyth

Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragette, now publicly recognised in Woking!  A statue has been place in the modernised Town Centre in honour of this very talented and influential woman. Read more here.

Women in Prison

Women in Prison‘s Big Give campaign.  For seven days, starting from noon on Tuesday 8th March until noon on 15th March, all donations received through the Big Give campaign of Women in Prison will be matched to have double the impact. So, if you donate £10, the charity will receive £20.

With money raised last year, Women in Prison supported more women through the Women’s Centres in Manchester and London, with issues such as mental ill-health, domestic abuse, harmful substance use and homelessness. But with the impact of Covid-19 and cost of living crisis, more women than ever need these services.  Give NOW here

Soroptimist Trees

Our goal is in sight!  Soroptimists have been planting trees since early 2021 to celebrate the Soroptimist International centenary.  The goal is to plant 100,000 trees by April 2022, the end of the Soroptimist year.  Nearly 95,000 trees have been planted.  So we are nearly there!  See how we celebrated here

Help for Homeless Women

The Salvation Army Housing Association is helping to transform the lives of homeless women in Surrey.   Our March Social Meeting speaker was Beverley Burrows, Manager of Mulberry House.  She told us about the fantastic service offered to women who have fallen on hard times. Mulberry House in Guildford is fully equipped to give 15 women a home for up to two years. During their stay they learn how to live well independently, helped by a small team of committed workers.  Learn more about it here.

Ovarian cancer

This month, the spotlight is on ovarian cancer because it is a really serious illness for women.  What’s more, women often wait too long to go to the doctor or don’t realise they have the symptoms of ovarian cancer.   So it’s important to raise awareness about the disease.  Women need to know the symptoms to look for.  Target Ovarian Cancer  and Ovarian Cancer Action are two charities that give detailed information and help.