THE WAY
WE WERE!! 2008 - 2009
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This year held sadness for us.
In February we lost our President
Mary Louise Scussell. |
Excerpt from our 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.
We will miss you.
-02/16/2009
Just a little while later our Member Martha Gray lost her
husband, Don.
Our Vice President Susan Kinney Lowell took over
and did a great job keeping our club together through all of these
trials.
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Below are some of our projects and
accomplishments for this year
"Decision 2008:Cast Your Ballot For
Soroptimists"
Our club hosted the District II Meeting on October 10th and October
11th. Our Betsi was District II Director. This was her meeting.
We participated in the December 10th President's
Appeal.
We donated $100
to SIA Foundation. |
We also held a Fun Christmas Party just for us
We supported a woman and her children at Women on the Way at
Christmas Time.
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Women Honoring Women
 We held our Women Honoring Women Luncheon just a week after the death of
our president
Group Picture of our club members with Southern Region Governor
Nidia
at our "Women Honoring Women" event .
Women Honoring Women Committee Report
from Chairwoman Phyllis ClomanWomen 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!

Our Women Honoring Women Honorees
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We donated Dress clothes, accessories and undergarments to "Dress for
Success" in Tampa. They provide clothing for women to go on
interviews for jobs.
This was a project close to the heart of one
of our Soroptimists.
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We donated a
Coach bag with lots of goodies for the raffle at Southern
Region Conference. Most clubs brought one.
Southern Region made
$1245 selling raffle tickets. We had three
members attending.
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In May we awarded 2 Woman's Opportunity Award Scholarships to Deserving
Women attending St Petersburg College. Our awards were $1000 and $800.
We also selected a Making A
Difference for Women Honoree. We gave $150 to her favorite Charity, The
Haven.
We awarded
$100 to our Violet Richardson Award Young Girl Winner and also $100 to the
Life Forces Cultural Acts Academy where she volunteered.
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The Awards Banquet |

Our WOA Winner |

Sharon from Women on the Way |

Our Making a Difference for Women Award.
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Our President |
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Our Violet Richardson Winner and Guests |
We donated $1456.92 to Women on the Way Emergency Fund at St. Petersburg College.
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In June we joined with the three other Tampa Bay Clubs to install officers. |

President Susan giving report of our club |

Installation of Directors |
 Installation
of Secretaries |
 Installation of the Gals who guard our money |

Installing the VP's. Hopefully future President's |

Installation of those hard working gals, The Presidents |

Our 2009-2010 Club Officers From left to right, Linda Taminini -
Treasurer, Susan Kinney Lowell - President, Mel Chase -
Director Phyllis Cloman - Vice President, Pat Arbutine-
Secretary Not Shown, Marsha McGrath - Director, Terry Sue
Turner -Delegate, Karen Curry - Delegate |