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More Soroptimists and Friends Fundraising Successes

Fundraising Events · Meetings and Conferences

Fundraising Events

Click here to read the 2006 donation report from Dawn Marie Lemonds, Quadrennial Project Liaison.

Rwanda Peace Afghan
Inspired by the knitting frenzy of the Bosnia Study Group members, the entire group of Rwanda Study Group members knitted squares for a Peace Afghan to be raffled off in California in 2007. This "crazy" afghan is in the colors of the Rwandan flag - green, yellow and turquoise - and could be yours if you're holding the lucky ticket! This afghan includes the handiwork of Soroptimist International President Lynn Dunning and is certainly a labor of love bringing in many dollars in the Rwandan peace baskets that are being passed for donations.

Building the Peace Afghan

Women Walking for Women Survivors of War
download the poster
Soroptimist International UK Programme Action Committee invites you to join with them in the Women Walking for Women Survivors of War. This is an International sponsored walk that is being held on Saturday, September 23, 2006 . Each club will organize a walk in their own location and the walk can be planned to include as many women as possible.

If your club, region, or national association is interested in being a part of the event to raise awareness of the women survivors of war, please click here to download the poster for more information.  All the sponsorship money raised will be given to Project Independence Women Survivors of War.

Women Singing for Women Survivors of War

Women Singing for Women Survivors of War was the name of a gala concert organized by members of Cheshire , North Wales and Wirral for Saturday of Service 2006. The event, which also included a grand raffle, involved every club in the Region in one way or another. Clubs publicized the event across the region, sold tickets, provided raffle prizes and pitched in to help the event run smoothly.

The women who were singing were The Cheshire Chord Company, an international award-winning women's choir. The glamorous and talented choir sang a wide variety of songs, often enhanced with choreographed routines. In introducing items from the program, members of the choir acknowledged the work done by Soroptimists on behalf of women around the world and movingly dedicated one of the songs to Soroptimist International.

The program also included a performance by Elfair Dyer, a gifted young harpist from North Wales . Elfair is a member of the National Youth Orchestra.

A short presentation by Project Independence Ambassador Kate Moore convinced the audience to buy even more raffle tickets during the interval!

As a result, the event raised over £2500 for Project Independence: Women Survivors of War.

The photograph to the right shows Regional President Sue Taylor on the stage of the Civic Center in Ellesmere Port , thanking the choir for their contribution to the Quadrennial Appeal.

Afternoon Concert in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam last November, SI-Netherlands held a Fado Concerto organized by the Project Independence Activity Group. The fadista, Maria de Fatima, gave a wonderful performance in the wooden, old Amstel Church. The afternoon brought in over 7,000 euro for Project Independence. Everyone had a wonderful time while also raising money for the Project.

Dining for Project Independence

Soroptimist International – Vacaville raised $1,750 from two dinners.  One dinner was a lobster feast, and another had an Afghan theme.  Click here for more dinner ideas. 

Janine Jansen Concert in the Netherlands
On October 15, 2005, one of the Netherlands Clubs, SI Club Doorn organized a benefit concert with Janine Jansen. Janine is a well known violonist in the Netherlands and played with an orchestra for Soroptimist members. All the proceeds of this concert went to Project Independence: Women Survivors of War and made the incredible amount of 46,870 euro!

Painting for Project Independence
Ayla Selcuk, Past President of Soroptimist International Europe, has painted three pictures of women in Project Independence countries. She is going to be selling these paintings at the SI/E Congress in Vienna in July of 2005, with the profits benefiting Project Independence. Click here to see pictures of the paintings.

Project Recycle
SI - Newport Harbor is coordinating printer cartridge recycling to benefit Project Independence. There will be collection boxes at each Desert Coast Region workshop to collect donations from the region's clubs.

Project Peace Dolls
SI/E member Bettina Scholl-Sabbatini launched the Dolls for Peace Project based on SI/E’s three principles of Peace, Public Relations and Partnership. Netherlands club Soroptimist International – Apeldoorn is going to create and auction off dolls over the next year to benefit Project Independence. Visitors to the website can create a doll or send a message of peace. As an added fundraiser, with each visit to the website, eight sponsors pay one cent each to benefit the project. Visit www.peacedolls.nl to view the dolls and find out more

Homemade Jam and Chutney
SIGBI’s own Jackie Paling – the federation’s liaison for Project Independence – makes homemade jams and chutney and send the proceeds to Project Independence. So far she has raised almost $250 USD/ £130 - Congratulations Jackie!

Soroptimist International Convention Golf Tournament
Four Soroptimists from three Federations held a golf tournament and made the first donation to Project Independence – donating their prize instead of taking it home.

Grant Proposal
A club in Northern California has written a Grant Proposal to a local agency to generate money for Project Independence.

District Meeting in Founder Region
The Founder Region of SIA held a District Meeting and took a “love donation” for Project Independence following a presentation. Their donations generated enough money to support one woman’s participation in the program in Afghanistan, Bosnia or Rwanda.

Initiative on Region Ballot
A Region in the United States is proposing a four year financial commitment by the Region at their upcoming Spring Conference.

Matching Dollars
Another Region is offering a “matching dollars” plan from the Region to clubs that support Project Independence.

International Giving
The SWP Region President reported that she encourages clubs to give according to the following formula: 70% to local programs, 20% to Federation projects and 10% to International projects (President’s appeal and the Quadrennial Project).

Circle of Friends
A group of about 20 women from seven clubs in the Desert Coast Region (SI/A) meet monthly with the goal of raising enough money in the next two years to support 20 women through Project Independence – a total of $US12,000! Already, the group has earned more than $US1,000 from the sale of Peace Dolls, jewelry and through general donations. To motivate themselves, the group has developed a year-long calendar of things to do together, which includes learning more about the project as well as fun events, like seeing the movie "Calendar Girls" together.

Raffle Baskets
District II/North Atlantic Region (SI/A) donated the proceeds from the sale of Raffle Baskets at their recent District Meeting to Project Independence. The baskets were donated by several clubs, and more than $US1,800 was earned for Project Independence.

Meetings and Conferences

Please contact Erica Tavares by phone at (202)-737-7705, or by email at projectindependence@womenforwomen.org, for information on inviting speakers from Women for Women International to attend local and regional meetings.

SIA South Atlantic Region Spring Conference
From April 30 - May 2, 2004, the South Atlantic Region held their Spring Conference. Zainab Salbi, Founder and President of Women for Women International, delivered the keynote address on Sunday, May 2. The theme of the Region is "Journey to New Horizons" and the theme of the conference was "The Destination is Only the Beginning".

 

Awareness Raising Events · Project Independence Dinners

Stay tuned to the Project Independence website and look for promotions from your Federation about upcoming products that will soon be available to generate funds for Project Independence.

Let us know what you are doing to promote the project and make it successful. Email your success stories to projectindependence@womenforwomen.org or to dawnmarie.lemonds@gmail.com.