Projects International
THE BV SCHOOL PROJECT Feeding the body and the mind
Feeding the body…
CROYDON CLUB has a number of members from Guyana who maintain close links with family and communities on the island. In 2004, as part of our International Programme Action, we began raising funds and writing a business plan to establish a Breakfast Club for the benefit of children who regularly attend the Beterverwagting Primary School without breakfast. The school is situated in East Coast Demerara, one of the poorest regions in Guyana. Once established, it was the intention that the Breakfast Club should become self-funding. The Breakfast Club was opened in December 2005 and each day provides breakfast for some 30 children. The menu is varied offering porridge and biscuit with peanut butter on Mondays and Tuesdays; milk and bread with cheese spread on Wednesdays and Thursdays; and on Fridays a drink with cakes or buns. Some of the food is donated by a local charity which has now offered to take over the running and the funding of the Breakfast Club. This is currently under discussion.
…and feeding the mind…
As a consequence of our fundraising efforts in Croydon for the Breakfast Club, we received offers of books and computers for the BV School, which were shipped out to Guyana during 2006. As a result of this the BV School has established a library with a resident librarian and an email link with pupils of Beaulah Infants School, Croydon.
Award-winning project…
In September 2006, this project won the South East England Region ‘Daphne Whitmore Rose Bowl Award’. The award was given not only because the project involved partnership with organisations local to Croydon (the Association of Guyanese Nurses, Beaulah Infants’ School, Croydon, Sedgehill School, Catford, and Croydon Inner Wheel) but also because it met several of SI’s Programme Focus Areas.
PLAN INTERNATIONAL
In line with the Soroptimist aim of empowerment of women, the CROYDON CLUB has for many years sponsored a child in Africa through Plan International. Currently we are sponsoring a girl living in Burkina Faso. PLAN was founded in 1937 and has become one of the world’s largest development organisations working at grass-roots levels to improve children’s lives in 46 countries. PLAN International
BOOK AID INTERNATIONAL
President Lynette introduced Book Aid to CROYDON CLUB in 2006. £1000 was raised for this organisation, which has enabled 700 books to be purchased and sent to Africa. Book Aid International
PROJECT FIVE-O
Soroptimist International with four other women’s organisations – Business and Professional Women International, International Council of Women, International Federation of University Women and Zonta International – work together to support projects in a developing country or country in transition providing vocational and other training for women and girls. Like all SI clubs, CROYDON CLUB supports this project with occasional fundraising events. In 2005 we held a lunch in London to celebrate Project FIVE-O’s 25th anniversary. Project FIVE-O
SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL QUADRENNIAL PROJECT
Every four years SI selects a new project which is supported by all members across the world including CROYDON CLUB. In recent years Sight Savers, Limbs for Life and Project Independence, Women Survivors of War have been supported. The new project for 2007 to 2011 is Project SIerra in partnership with Hope and Hopes for Children. www.projectSIerra.org
INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S PROJECT
Each year the President of Soroptimist International selects a project that provides direct assistance to women and girls in extreme need. Soroptimist members around the world are asked to contribute to this project in celebration of International Human Rights Day, which falls on December 10th of each year. Annualy on 10 December, CROYDON CLUB holds a ‘poverty lunch’ to raise funds for these projects.
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