Soroptimists attend convention

Members of Soroptimist International, Laguna Beach, returned recently from the Soroptimist International Convention in Glasgow, Scotland. The convention drew more than 1,500 Soroptimist members from clubs located worldwide.

Nikki Krohnfeldt, Nancy Lindsay, Gay Purcilly, D’Anne Purcilly LeBon and Kaye Marseilles made the trip.

Soroptimist clubs in different countries host the SI Convention, held every four years. This year’s convention lasted five days and included reports of worldwide Soroptimist’s accomplishments.

The primary program in the last quadrennial has been Project Independence, a program that partnered with Women Survivors of War, an organization working with women in Bosnia, Rwanda and Afghanistan.

Project Independence provided many women with rights awareness, leadership training, job skills, income generation, direct aid and emotional support.

“Through fundraising with the Laguna Beach High School ‘S’ Club (junior Soroptimist) girls and Soroptimist members in Laguna we were able to financially support three Rwandan women who had been horribly affected by genocide in their country,” LeBon said.

Announced at the convention was the new Program of Focus for 2007-11, Project SIerra. Soroptimist International will partner with Hope and Homes for Children by raising $2 million to improve the quality of life and provide future opportunities for families living in five communities located in Sierra Leone, Africa.

The project will work to provide stability for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children and will also help women living in poverty.

The delegation of five local Soroptimists traveled for several days prior to the convention through the United Kingdom, experiencing the flooding in England during their travels.

Two of the group had to be physically carried from a small cheese shop in Cheddar Gorge, England, as the floods had overtaken shop and roads.

Soroptimist International is a worldwide women’s organization dedicated to protecting human rights and improving the status of women and girls.

To learn more about Soroptimist International and its attend Soroptimist International Laguna Beach’s first program meeting of 2007-08 at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Hotel Laguna.

The cost is $35 if reservations are made prior to Sept. 10, and $45 thereafter.

For more information, contact LeBon at (949) 494-9222.