"Buying the cheapest bread we could find and with fillings donated by members, we made up several different fillings and filled 73 rounds of sandwiches and 82 rolls.   We also filled 44 Hot Cross Buns, and bought 72 Apple Pies with donated money.   Soup was also made by a friend of Soroptimists.   We also collected from members 22 bags of warm clothing and blankets.

"At 9.00pm we gathered in the Salvation Army Hall to prepare large flasks of soup, coffee, chocolate and tea.   Three cars were then loaded and set off to designated areas where the Homeless gather.   There were other areas where they had to be searched out.   It was a bitterly cold night, -4°C and some of the boys looked almost on the point of hypothermia, and didn’t realise that they were so cold.   We had to do some persuading to get them to accept jumpers and jackets etc.   The hats, scarves and gloves were most popular, but we didn’t have enough.   There were also some girls among the homeless, but they were reluctant to accept any warm clothing.   Neither would the prostitutes, although they were only dressed in very short skirts.   Any food left over was then taken to the 2 night shelters and gratefully received.   The last Soroptimist (Joan Watkins) finally reached home at 2.30am!

"RESULTS: The whole operation was a real eye-opener, with the result that we would like to approach the club to make this a regular commitment in partnership with the Salvation Army and hopefully get more members involved.   One member has already committed to a regular fortnightly date and we hope to be able to do more."

Sylvia Bedbrook
SI Plymouth & District
South West & Channel Isles
SIGBI

Joan Sherry sent the following about the SOS of SI Douglas, Isle of Man:

Thelma, one of our members, is also a leading light at Women's Refuge.   We loaded up her car with our goodies and off she went.   Th photo left shows us loading Thelma's car.

"Some of the goods will be used in the Women's Refuge itself and others will be made up into parcels ready for the ladies to pick up their life again in a new home.

"Another group visited St. Thomas's School the previous day, and held a greetings card making class.

"The final part of our service, the makeover of a room in the Manx Housing Trust hostel, is on hold until a suitable room becomes free."



Joan Sherry
SI Douglas Isle of Man
North West England and the Isle of Man
SIGBI

Sheilah Downs, SI Lower Hutt, sent the following:

Shown on the right is President 'Mitch' working on SOS Project.

"The project was to produce scrap books to be placed in public areas such as doctors, dentists, hospital waiting rooms etc. The idea is to encourage children's visual and oral language skills.

These two pictures show the scrapbook cover

Maria-José Elias, SI Lisboa Sete Colinas, Portugal, sent the following:

" On the photo I am with a Soroptimist apron, which was also for sale.

" Everything of this sale was in aid of SI Project Independence 2003-2007- Women Survivors of War.

" Leaflets about Soroptimist Peace dolls and copies of the TIME Magazine article (7 March 2005) about Women for Women International were distributed with the sales"

Maria-José writes further: " With press release and radio interviews it was a good marketing for Soroptimist, many people , even Soroptimists, became more aware of our actions and concerns about Human rights and promotion of women."

Maria-José Elias
Si Lisboa Sete Colinas
Portugal
SIE

Olein Webster from SI Guildford & District writes:

We didn't really use the feather dusters, brooms and spades - the photographer thought it would be a better picture.   Guildford Borough Council has a community clean up project for local groups to get involved in keeping the town looking good.   They supplied us with bright yellow high visibility jackets, litter pickers, protective gloves, black sacks and boxes for broken glass.   We spent a sunny couple of hours picking rubbish up outside the Electric Theatre in Guildford, then in a nearby car park and outside a cinema/nightclub/bar area.   Pleased to report that there wasn't too much rubbish but sadly bagfuls of cigarette butts.   It had been snowing during the week but the weather broke fine for us!

Olein Webster
SI Guildford & District
SIGBI

---