Christmas gifts for Ukrainian children
A 9-strong team of Plymouth Soroptimists filled 50 Christmas boxes for children in Ukraine. Many other members also contributed to the initiative by wrapping the shoe boxes in festive paper and donating items.
The boxes contained a Christmas card, woollen hats, scarves, gloves, toiletries along with small toys and sweets. The boxes were taken to a central pick up point for PUMA (Plymouth Ukraine Medical Aid) who will deliver the boxes before Christmas.
Lorraine Gillings co-ordinated the shoe box initiative for the Plymouth Soroptimist club. She said: “It was a great team effort and we all enjoyed the morning packing the boxes. It was wonderful to think that we will give some pleasure to children who are suffering in this war torn country.”
Period Pants project nearing completion
We have almost reached the end of an extremely successful project to provide almost 2,000 pairs of period pants to 330 women in Plymouth. Two charts below summarise the reach of the project.
Our club was also represented showcasing this project at an international event entitled “Environmenstural – reducing plastics in period products!” It was set up by the National Council of Women Great Britain in conjunction with the Women’s Environmental Network. The informative presentation that project lead Ann Keelen produced was used at this event and will be repeated at a regional SI event in March 2025.
Orange Cafe
The September orange café to raise awareness of the need to eliminate violence against women and girls was held at St Luke’s BKinda coffee shop in Plympton. It was well supported and very well received. Four members attended and met some lovely people and heard some very sad stories
Breast milk warmer for Neonatal Intensive Care unit
Our club donated £1400.00 to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Derriford hospital to buy a waterless warming and thawing device that helps to optimise and standardise human milk processes. The unit is designed for individual care and aims to maintain the integrity of human milk by warming it to temperatures consistent with expressed breastmilk and not exposing it to high heat. The disposable insert hygienically holds a bottle or syringe in place.
Developed as a single bedside unit, the Calesca machinecan be placed on an IV pole beside each NICU bed or on a worktop for preparing feeds. This minimises the risk of mix-ups. Since it is easy to handle, it can be operated by parents, thus supporting family-integrated care and flexible feed preparation times.
Prosecco, pasty & pudding lunch
We were extremely lucky to have a beautiful sunny day for our Prosecco, Pasty and Pudding lunch in August at a member’s home. The Cornwall Bakery very generously donated the pasties and a Cornish Hamper for the star raffle prize. We raised over £350 for our project funds.
Pink Tuk Tuk!
Our club donated £4,000 from our legacy fund (from two dearly missed members) to buy a pink tuk tuk through the Rosie May Foundation. Three women will share the tuk tuk which will be in use 24 hours a day on 3 x 8 hour shifts. The ladies not only provide safe transport for other women but also learn to maintain the vehicle.
Lamb Feast
A very successful lamb feast in June saw a net amount of £1017 raised for project funds. A monster raffle with amazing prizes, some worth over £100, as well as a tombola produced this excellent outcome. Thanks to Sue who worked really hard to get so many great raffle prizes and for the team who worked so hard beforehand and on the day.
Horse Racing Night!
A combined social and fundraising horse racing evening saw 30 members, family and friends having a fun night out with a tasty fish & chip supper. The event was a great success with around £200 raised for project funds.
Baby knits
A very kind Soroptimist friend with busy fingers, donated three bags of gorgeous knitted items for newborns to toddlers. The smallest sizes were given to Baby Basics, an organisation that provides essential equipment, clothing and toiletries to women and families in extreme need. The larger sizes went to various charitable organisations including some items that were sent to Ukraine.
Orange Cafe
A team of members held a successful pop-up Orange Café at the Co-op in Plympton where they spoke to a number of people who dropped by about the need to combat violence against women and girls. The cafes are orange themed as this is a bright and optimistic colour and is used world wide to mark the International Day for the Elimination of violence against women and girls.
St George’s Day Lunch
Members, family and friends celebrated St George’s Day with a lovely lunch at St Elizabeth’s House. The group of 24 dressed appropriately in red, white and blue to mark the occasion. George Cross flags further added to the festive spirit.
New President
President Elle handed the Insignia to incoming President Margaret Parkinson who presented Elle with flowers and thanked her for her great year. Ann Keelan was presented with the President Elect badge and Hannah Burch was presented with the Vice President badge.
International Women’s Day – Pampering for vulnerable women
Another successful pamper day to mark International Women’s Day was organised by Plymouth Soroptimists for women who use the services at Plymouth’s Sunflower Women’s Centre and Plymouth Domestic Abuse Services (Refuge).
The pamper day is now an annual event for these resilient women who may not have the means to experience the luxury of self-care due to their challenging circumstances. A team of beauticians from GHQ Training, Camelons along with Soroptimists volunteered their services to provide treatments including hairdressing, manicures, pedicures, massages and facials. The women attending were also invited to order period pants and join hundreds of other local women who have been given six pairs of period pants funded from a £10,000 lottery grant and donations from Soroptimists.
Local businesses provided sandwiches, crisps, fruit and biscuits so everyone attending had a packed lunch. A team of Soroptimists worked tirelessly throughout the day providing a constant flow of teas, coffees and biscuits.
Soroptimist Sue Miller, the overall lead on this event, said: “We believe that every woman deserves to feel valued and cherished, regardless of their situation. Our pamper day aims to uplift spirits, boost confidence, and remind these incredible women of their worth. We couldn’t do this without a brilliant 15-strong team of hairdressers and manicurists from GHQ, along with facials courtesy of Greenhouse Spa. Soroptimists also pitched in giving foot spas and manicures to over 40 3women who came.
Sue continues: “It’s always so gratifying to get fantastic positive feedback from the women who really enjoy the day. Everyone involved in helping at the event also thoroughly enjoys the day which is so uplifting for all concerned.”
Slow cookers for Sunflower Women’s Centre
Plymouth Soroptimists have given 21 slow cookers to the *Sunflower Women’s Centre in Plymouth. Twenty women who access the Sunflower services will have a slow cooker demonstration, after which they will each be given a slow cooker to take away, together with a slow cooker recipe book. One of the cookers and recipe books will be for the demonstrator to use.
Soroptimist Terry West put this proposal to club members who readily agreed to fund this out of a legacy from two much missed members. Terry said: “The aim is to encourage women to cook nutritious and inexpensive meals for their families. We hope having a demonstration in a setting they are familiar with will boost their confidence to cook healthy meals from scratch and may even will encourage the next generation to enjoy making homemade food. With the increasing cost of living squeezing budgets, slow cooker meals are a great way to make money go further whilst providing healthy family meals with minimal effort.”
Sunflower Women’s Centre Manager Paula Carnell said: “This is a wonderful opportunity and generous donation. To be able to run workshops to share with our women good healthy food options cooked economically in the slow cookers which they will then be able to have and use for themselves and their families is truly amazing. The Soroptimists have always been very helpful and supported us to be able to give our women that use the centre opportunities to enrich their lives and empower them to feel confident to look after themselves and families.”
£10,000 lottery grant for period pants!
Following on from a successful pilot with Marjon students, Plymouth Soroptimist Ann Keelan successfully secured a £10,000 lottery grant to roll out the distribution of period pants to local women. Hundreds of local women will now have the opportunity to put an end to ‘period poverty’ thanks to this generous lottery grant.
The pants are reusable and therefore environmentally friendly and the aim is to encourage, support and normalise the use of reusable period products in place of unsustainable single-use pads and tampons.
The Plymouth Soroptimist club will be working with other local women’s groups to distribute the pants, in particular with Sunflower Women’s Centre and Trevi.
The lottery cheque was presented to Plymouth Soroptimists by Johnny Mercer MP who has a long standing association with Trevi.
Soroptimist Ann Keelan spearheaded the successful lottery grant application. She said: “We’re absolutely delighted that we’re going to be able to help so many women who struggle to pay for period products, while at the same time encouraging a sustainable long term solution to end the use of disposable pads and tampons. We are extremely grateful to national lottery players who have made this initiative possible.”
Care leavers gift boxes
Youngsters leaving the local care system and setting up on their own will be presented with a box of useful items and a Tesco gift voucher. From the legacy fund we are allocating £50 per box to include the contents and gift voucher. This will be an ongoing project in conjunction with the key social workers who will deliver the boxes to care leavers as they embark on their independent lives.
