In July 2011, volunteers and community partners in both Simcoe and Brantford Ontario Canada joined forces to host several FREE HUGS celebrations!

:

Sandy Gray and Steve, along with Sandy’s brother Dave Smith, bought Weeks Home Hardware from their parents George & June Smith in January 1987. According to Arend Kersten, Executive Director of the FCC, “Over the past 24 years, Weeks Home Hardware has helped define the very soul of our incredible ‘community of communities’ with outstanding generosity and community involvement.” When asked why she chose to become a member of Soroptimist International and SIDAF in addition to all of her other interests, Sandy credited her passionate desire to help others through both her business and personal connections, especially women facing barriers to achieving their goals.

This photo was taken at the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Awards (OBA) Gala, from left to right: SIDAF members Nancy Davidson, Shirley McCoy, Janet Barnard, Sandy Gray (winner, Lifetime Achievement Award), Pauline Hardcastle, Shirley Eden (OBA Nominee) and Maria Demkowich (OBA Nominee). Thank you also to the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce for featuring our club in the Bottom Line, March 2012.

Soroptimist International of Dundas~Ancaster~Flamborough is proud of Sandy, Maria and Shirley, and grateful to the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce for their Community Recognition Award.

Carmela received her coaching accreditation (CPCC) from the Coaches Training Institute and (ACC) from the ICF and is an active member of the International Coach Federation. Carmela is passionate about helping people transform their lives and live the life they want with Clarity, Compassion and Heart.

As an Executive & Leadership coach, she uses the knowledge and experience she has gained in the corporate world to guide her clients as they embrace change in order to create the life that they deserve.

Also, as a member of WIL – Women in Leadership Carmela was recently accepted as a Mentor with the association in Toronto which is sponsored by the TD Bank of Canada. This is a 6 month mentoring program for women either beginning their careers, in corporate employment for some time or transitioning into a new area of their lives.

Carmela believes in continuous learning and is an avid student in career development and leadership effectiveness that is why she is currently a participant in the Leadership Program through CTI. This program is all about “front of the room” leadership, the leader you want to be in the world and the impact you want to make. She is also certified in the TLC (The Leadership Circle) 360 Profile for Managers & Executives and the Culture Survey for use with teams. The use of the TLC Profile in her capacity as coach enables Carmela to support her clients who are ready for change.

If you have questions you may contact Carmela at carmela@cchcoaching.com or you can follow her on Twitter at cchcoachcarmela.

In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to proclaim a day for women’s rights and international peace. Following the United Nations’ lead, Canada chose March 8 as International Women’s Day.

Each year at this time, Canadians celebrate progress toward equality for women and their full participation, reflect on the challenges and barriers that remain, and consider future steps to achieving equality for all women, in all aspects of their lives.

(Reference March 8, 2012: http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/iwd-jif/index-eng.html)

In celebration of this day, Soroptimist International of the Americas announced and congratulates all the participants of the Soroptimist Live Your Dream Art Contest, and to those winners! View them online:

http://www.soroptimist.org/LiveYourDream/art_contest/winners.html

Sandy Gray and Steve, along with Sandy’s brother Dave Smith, bought Weeks Home Hardware from their parents George & June Smith in January 1987. According to Arend Kersten, Executive Director of the FCC, “Over the past 24 years, Weeks Home Hardware has helped define the very soul of our incredible ‘community of communities’ with outstanding generosity and community involvement.” When asked why she chose to become a member of Soroptimist International and SIDAF in addition to all of her other interests, Sandy credited her passionate desire to help others through both her business and personal connections, especially women facing barriers to achieving their goals.

Photo taken at the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Awards (OBA) Gala, from left to right:  SIDAF members Nancy Davidson, Shirley McCoy, Janet Barnard, Sandy Gray (winner, Lifetime Achievement Award), Pauline Hardcastle, Shirley Eden (OBA Nominee) and Maria Demkowich (OBA Nominee).

Soroptimist International of Dundas~Ancaster~Flamborough (SIDAF) is a volunteer organization of business and professional women.  A Soroptimist believes that by joining with other women and engaging in awareness, advocacy and action in the service of her community and society, she can make the world a better place for humankind. With almost 90,000 members in over 125 countries and territories, it is the world’s largest classified service organization for executive and professional women. Our website is www.soroptimistdaf.ca

Soroptimist International of Dundas~Ancaster~Flamborough is proud of Sandy, Maria and Shirley, and grateful to the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce for their Community Recognition Award.

For more information about Pathways and Barriers, funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Spectator published a story in October 2011 »

The fourth annual Soroptimist Live Your Dream Art Contest is open for judging. The contest calls on students to visually depict the dreams and accomplishments of women. The contest winners are revealed and celebrated on March 8th, International Women’s Day.

This year, more than 2,000 children from around the world, including Japan, Taiwan, Guam, Mexico, South Korea, and the U.S., participated in the contest. The winners will receive $100 for themselves and another $100 for their schools.

A group of professional judges was charged with the challenge of narrowing down the entries to three finalists in each category (Ages 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18). Now, it’s up to us to choose the winners …

Visit LiveYourDreamCampaign.org and vote for your favorites now! Voting is open to the public, so tell your friends.

For the past 19 years the community has come together with many hands and have packaged over 1 Million pounds of food for those in need. The magnitude of that generosity is astounding but volunteers are needed again this year, especially to donate and collect food. On Saturday February 25th volunteers return door to door to collect donations. The collection will take about 2 – 3 hours with most “routes” producing an overflowing trunk-load of food. At St. John’s Anglican Church, Parish Hall, 37 Halson St in Ancaster there will be two shifts for sorting and packaging the donations: 9 – 12 a.m. and 12 – 3 p.m. VIEW THE MAP »

The agency urgently needs volunteers to load up the trucks on Monday Feb 27, 8 a.m. when the food goes to the local food banks. The need is great and together we can make this a successful effort. For more information, contact: Ancaster Community Services & Information 905-648-6675 or ancastercommunityfooddrive@gmail.com.

Our Soroptimist members will be there in their blue and white T-shirts to help sort and pack the generous donations!  As in past years, we will be presenting a club donation (Ladies, please be there for a Photo-Op at 9am).

UPDATE:
On Saturday, February 25, 2012, hundreds of volunteers canvassed door to door throughout the community collecting a record total of 80,500 lbs of food and $7000 in cash donations.  Over it’s 20-year history, the Ancaster Food Drive reached an amazing total of 1,120,500 pounds of food going to our food serving agencies. Thank you to the people of Ancaster for their big-heartedness and overwhelming support. - Organizing Committee Ancaster Community Food Drive

SIDAF, a women’s volunteer organization that raises money to support programs for women and girls in our local communities, knows that Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias cross all genders, cultures and economic groups, but that women are more often diagnosed, and most often face the challenges of caregiving. SIDAF is proud to support the Alzheimer Society and to “Walk for Memories”, and this year raised $1150 to help out this wonderful organization.

In the photo, SIDAF members Pauline Johnson, Jane Oulton, Sandy Gray, and Janet Barnard are seen crossing the starting line behind Emcee for the day, Connie Smith, youngest SIDAF volunteer Evelyn Hall (granddaughter of Sandy Gray), and Mary Burnett, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Hamilton and Halton.

This year on Human Rights Day, December 10th, I would like to invite Soroptimists worldwide to join together to support a very special project under our international programme of work, “Educate to Lead”. Read more about Soroptimist International President Alice Wells’ message online »

Birthing in the Pacific: December 10th Appeal

Goal: Increasing skills, Further Educating Birth Attendants, and improving facilities to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity

In resource poor countries, only 36% of births are attended by skilled health care worker. Less than 30% of women have a supervised delivery in a health facility. Increasing access to supervised de- liveries and properly functioning health care facili- ties for women to deliver greatly reduces the risk of dying from complications. Most maternal deaths occur in the 24-48 hours surrounding delivery, where a correctly chosen suite of interventions can be most effective.

Working with relevant partners under the leadership of Soroptimist International of the  to support the roll-out of four levels of educational programmes for birth attendants:

1. Pacific Emergency Obstetric Care courses for trained clinicians
2. Learning exchange programmes for midwives
3. Maternal health competency programme for Community Health Workers
4. Literacy and reproductive health education for Village Birth Attendants