Soroptimist Pinellas County, Florida, USA newsletter

Meeting Place is the Grand Hotel, formerly the Radisson Hotel - Clearwater Central. 20967 US Hwy 19 North Clearwater, Florida. 33767 This is located just north of Perkins Restaurant on the service road. Dinner and social from 5:30 to 7PM. At 7PM we will adjourn to a meeting room nearby on the 1st floor.
We have a speaker this month -Katie McGill from "Dress for Success". She will explain her organization and how they help woman She will be introduced by Karen Curry There will be an Installation of new members. We have 3 new members and 1 transfer.
The Call to Conference is Attached Here. Just click to view it. Give it some time to come in.
President Susan's Letter The passing of President Mary Louise, ironically on President’s Day, was a sad day for us and she will long be remembered among all those whose hearts she touched. Our club has received many cards, letters and emails of condolence from across Southern Region. SI Upper Pinellas has long been ‘recognized’ across the region, but the sight of Mary Louise in Key Largo explaining the adventures of Jose Gaspar will be a very long-lasting memory for all of us and will bring a smile to many, many Soroptimists. Though her illness took her in a very short period of time, her impact on many people will remain a part of SI Upper Pinellas’ history. My term as President started months before it was time, but with your support I believe SI Upper Pinellas will go forward and achieve all that we set out to do. I look forward to representing our club at every opportunity. Our March meeting will feature Katie McGill, Executive Director of ‘Dress for Success’. We are anxious to hear her presentation and see if there is a way for us to further ‘improve the lives of women and girls in our local community’. I am very happy to tell you that we will be inducting three new members and accepting the transfer of a fourth member. Also at this meeting the Nominating Committee will present a slate of officers for next year and we will be casting our ballot for the Federation President. Be sure to mark your calendar and plan to attend on March 24^th… dinner in the restaurant about 5:30 and the meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see all of you then, Yours in Soroptimist, Susan

Below you will find our Calendar, Lists of our Officers, Committees and Members, Some Committee Reports, Birthdays and other Current Announcements. At the very bottom of this page are Current SIA and SI International Projects. There are live links to SIA for more info. Please page down to read. Previous meeting minutes will be on the email that brought you the link to this page.	The Way We Were 2007 -2008 If you want to know our personal history, Click above.

THE BEST FOR WOMEN
This is an Invitation From SI Tampa. Our Betsi will be attending. Anyone wishing to ride with her may contact her by clicking here. Soroptimist International of Tampa cordially invites you to attend the 31st Annual Awards Luncheon Saturday, March 28, 2009 12:00 pm to 2 pm Clarion Hotel 2701 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Florida Honorees Women’s Opportunity Awards Anne M. Sage Surgical Technology Erwin Technical Center Crystal E. Kelly Criminal Justice Hillsborough Community College Lee A. Hatcher Ultimate Medical Academy Medical/Clinical Laboratory Assistant Name ______________________________________ Address ____________________________________ City ________________ State ____ Zip ________ Please reserve _______ places at $17.00 per person Please list guest(s) name and meal preference (Tropical Chicken or Nutty Grouper) for each on back No, we cannot attend, but enclosed is a donation in the amount of $__________ to support Soroptimist projects. Please respond by March 20, 2009, and make check payable to Soroptimist International of Tampa Mail to: SI of Tampa, P.O. Box 271774, Tampa, FL 33688 For questions, contact Diana Miller: dmiller2177@tampabay.rr.com SI of Tampa was well represented February 21st when SI of Upper Pinellas celebrated "Women Helping Women." SI of Upper Pinellas honored four women in the categories of Com-munity Service, Government, Medical,

Officers: 2008-2009 President: Susan Kinney Lowell Recording Secretary: Pat Arbutine Corresponding Secretary: Betsi Lewis Treasurer: Linda Tamanini Director 2 Year Term: Mel Chase2009 Director 2 Year Term: Phyllis Cloman 2010 Delegate: Terry Sue Turner Delegate Martha Gray			Committee Assignments 2008 -2009 Women Honoring Women: Phyllis Cloman Women Opportunity Award: Marsha McGrath Violet Richardson Award: Cathy Wagner Telephone & Parliamentarian: Terry Sue Turner Directory : Karen Curry Publicity: Betsi Lewis Growth & Development: Linda Tamanini Scoup - SOLT: Pat Arbutine Programs : Susan Kinney Lowell
Women Honoring Women Committee Report from Chairwoman Phyllis Cloman Women Honoring Women was a wonderful success this year. Our honorees were Barbara Bourland, MD, who has pioneered support for women with breast cancer, from starting the local Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, to establishing a program providing mammograms to women who cannot afford one. Pat Gerard, the mayor of Largo, has long supported women and families through her work in domestic violence and family services in addition to her efforts during her political career. Jane Hussar continues to be an amazing volunteer, supporting a variety of causes in Pinellas County and Safety Harbor. Sandra Lyth has worked in support of a variety of women’s causes, and currently is working to stamp out human trafficking in our community. What a group of outstanding women! We couldn’t do this report without including one other outstanding woman: Mary Louise Scussel. Her untimely passing shocked all of us, and occurred just days before WHW. How true to her spirit was the attendance at our event of her children and their spouses - and they even donated a large basket for the raffle. We had 103 individuals attending our event. While this is not held as a fund-raising event, we earned a ‘profit’ of $1232.88! Thank you to everyone who assisted. While there are ‘formal duties’ like taking reservations and handling the basket revenues, it is the friendliness of all of our club members to those attending that makes such an event a great success.
Group Picture of our club members with Southern Region Governor Nidia at our "Women Honoring Women" event .
Birthdays Marsha M 1/06 Pegi M-1/16 Judy P - 1/25 Jeanne G-1/27 Nancy C.-3/19 Alice S -5/5 Paula H-5/14 Cathy W - 5/15 Ellen J - 6/13 Karen- 1/ 27 Martha G-7/19 Linda- 9/04 Terry Sue T -9/4 Phyllis 9/06 Pat A. - 9/13 Susan K-9/23 Mel C. -10/8 Grace S - 11/22 Betsi L- 12/
Calendar 2008-2009
Women Honoring Women Feb. 21st. Clearwater Country Club	Meeting: February 24th (A nominating committee will be formed.)	Meeting: March 24th (Slate of Officers will be presented) Speaker: Katie McGill from Dress for Success	Service Funds Due March 31st Dues should be paid April 1st. Board Meetings April 19,2009 Everyone is Welcome!! If Interested Email Here.	April 23-26 Southern Region Conference Huntsville, Alabama	Meeting: April 28th: (Election of Officers) This will also be a Strategic planning meeting.
Board Meetings May 17,2009 Everyone is Welcome!! If Interested Email Here.	Meeting May 26th: Presentation of Women's Opportunity Award, Violet Richardson, & Making a Difference for Women	June 6 -Joint Officer Installation Meeting Hostess : SI Holiday Isles Place: "Middleground" Restaurant Treasure Island	July	August	September 22nd Meeting.
October 16 -17 District II Meeting Hostess Holiday Isles	October 27th Meeting	November 24th Meeting	December Christmas Party	January 26, 2010 Meeting

E Mail Us

Dedicated to Dorothy Quick who loved to share her Soroptimist wisdom with us.

You may read SIA Annual report at the SIA Website. Go to the newsroom.

S.O.L.T.

Soroptimist Making a Difference for Women Award _ A new name is being sought for this Award. You may submit suggestions ro siahq@soroptimist .org. 5/2008

The Making a Difference for Women Award acknowledges women who are working to improve the lives of women and girls through their personal or professional activities. Their efforts help to promote the issues that are important to the Soroptimist organization. Honorees are women who have worked in extraordinary ways to benefit women and girls. Examples of the type of work honored include: spearheading an effort to open a domestic violence shelter, working to secure health services for low-income women, starting a mentoring program for at-risk girls, or lobbing companies to provide on-site child care. The program enables local Soroptimist clubs and the Soroptimist organization to thank these women and encourage others to explore ways to assist women and girls. The program begins on the club level, where the type of recognition varies. Award winners at the club level are eligible for additional awards at other levels of the organization. The finalist receives a $5,000 donation to the charitable organization of her choice.

Soroptimists STOP Trafficking,

SIA is pleased to announce Soroptimists STOP Trafficking, a new public awareness project addressing the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. This new project will provide information cards about sexual trafficking for participating clubs to distribute in the community. In addition, clubs will work to raise awareness through media and public events. The project has been created in response to overwhelming input from clubs and members indicating a desire for an SIA project that addresses this serious global issue.
The project will launch in the United States on Friday, January 11, 2008, the first National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness. The launch will begin with a public event at which clubs are asked to distribute specially designed flyers in transportation centers in their area: airports, train stations or bus depots. The event will focus on the public awareness message: "Someone in this transportation center may be here against her will," and will provide an excellent opportunity for public awareness and to gain media exposure.
Participating clubs will be provided with professionally designed cards and flyers; club instructions for the project and launch event; and public awareness materials to ensure the project is a success. The materials will be available in all SIA languages. If your club would like to participate or has any questions, contact siahq@soroptimist.org

Project Sierra -$80000 has been donated so far for this project. 5/2008

Sierra is a four year partnership between Soroptimist International and Hope and Homes for Children which will transform the lives of some of the most deprived children and women in the world.

Project Sierra: A Family And A Future aims to raise £1 million ($2million USD) to help disadvantaged women and children in Sierra Leone face their futures with confidence.

By strengthening families at risk of breakdown, helping young children living on the streets return home and empowering vulnerable young mothers, Project Sierra will enable more children to grow up in a caring family environment - giving them the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

To learn how Project Sierra will achieve this, visit the Project Overview section.

Disaster Relief Fund for Women and Girls

Soroptimist's Disaster Relief Fund for Women and Girls targets the special needs of women and girls during natural and man-made disasters. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable during disasters and lack access to resources. They also have special abilities to respond to disasters, which is often overlooked. Soroptimist's disaster relief program mitigates the barriers facing women/girls during disasters. In addition, the program honors the commitments made by the United Nations in the Beijing Platform for Action and the Outcome Statement of the 46th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women. Soroptimist grants funds to local clubs for use in communities needing disaster relief. Funds are pooled from voluntary contributions sent in from Soroptimist members throughout the world. Soroptimist recently disbursed disaster relief grants to: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to support Iraqi educational programs for returning women refugees; the Ramona, California, Soroptimist club to help women recovering from the fires in Southern California; and women in El Chaco, Ecuador, to help rebuild the community's farming infrastructure following an earthquake.

Service Funds

Service Funds are due on March 31st of each year, Remember that you are responsible each year for $100 in service funds. You may raise these either by writing a check, advertising in our WHW ad booklet, or by using our banner to have your own fundraiser. All funds raised under our banner must come to our service fund. Each person that participates in an ad hoc fundraiser is still responsible for a total of $100 in service funds.
(Example. 3 members hold a garage sale. They raise $310. The total amount must come to our service fund. All 3 members have covered their service funds. But if 3 members raise $270, each member is still responsible for $10 more to cover their service funds.)

Live your dreams

Live Your Dreams" pins are available at our club for sale at $3 each which is our cost. There is more information on "Live Your Dreams" below and at the bottom of the page.

The following information is from the Soroptimists International of America Website. To read more info, Just click here.. Despite much progress during the last century, women and girls throughout the world continue to face serious challenges. While they represent about one-half of the world's font size="2"population, women suffer disproportionately from many social problems. Approximately 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people who live on $1 a day are women. More women between the ages of 15 and 44 die due to gender-based violence than cancer, malaria, car accidents and war combined. About 90 million girls around the world are deprived of primary education. These are but a few statistics illuminating the obstacles facing women and girls around the world. Soroptimist created the Live Your Dream campaign to raise awareness about these challenges and inspire women from all walks of life to realize their full potential.

Good Search

Contribute through GoodSearch
GoodSearch is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates 50 percent of its advertising revenue (about a penny per search) to the user's favorite charity. Ours, of course, is SIA. The pennies add up quickly. Consider that if only 1,000 members, friends and staff search the Internet just twice a day, Soroptimist could earn $7,300 a year - just for doing something we do every day! If we think bigger, for example, 10,000 users searching twice a day will earn Soroptimist $73,000 a year! All you have to do is visit www.goodsearch.com and download the GoodSearch toolbar. Enter 'Soroptimist' in the 'My Charity' field and then every time you search the net on your computer, don't forget to use GoodSearch! Thank you for using GoodSearch to help Soroptimist fund our programs that improve the lives for women and girls. Let's see how much we can get those pennies to add up!
Note from Pat: This is not Yahoo's standard bar

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Copyright 2009. Soroptimist International of Upper Pinellas County

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