Northwestern Region

Soroptimist International of the Americas Convene In Calgary

by Ann Thatcher
Region Information Manager
SI Anacortes

Earlier this month almost 1300 members of Soroptimist International of the Americas met in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the 38 th biennial convention. It was exciting to see that many women gathered together who had a common goal of improving the lives of women and girls in local communities and throughout the world.

Wednesday evening’s Friendship Dinner was just the beginning of the fun for most of us. The food was excellent, the cowboys were amazingly authentic, the cowboy hats were prevalent, and the line dancing was great.

The next morning, the Opening Session began with a procession of dignitaries and the flags from all countries in our federation. It was absolutely beautiful. You can imagine everyone’s delight when our Federation President, Takiko Hayaishi, entered the room riding a buckskin horse which was led by handsome Canadian Mounties. President Takiko has an incredible smile and looked as though she was having the time of her life.

During the session, our keynote speaker, Dr. Sheila Murray, spoke on “How to Accept, Handle and Thrive on Change.” She spoke about the need to have a sense of humor in any aspect of life and to have childlike faith in our ability to make changes. My favorite quote from Dr. Murray was, “Do the best you can with what you’ve got right now, and keep on moving.”

The Women’s Opportunity Awards luncheon was also on Thursday. It is always awesome and humbling to listen to the stories of the women who receive these awards. Three $10,000 awards were presented and were captivated to hear the story of Linda Nelson, one of the awards winners, who was unable to attend, but had sent a video presentation. During the lunch Alice Wells, the Fund Development Council Chair, told us that since the inception of WOA, we have helped 20,000 women reclaim their dreams by giving more than $15 million through Women’s Opportunity Awards.

Friday morning we all met again for the second general session and heard from SI President Joan Cromer who discussed the SI Quadrennial Project and we heard an update from Dawn Marie Lemonds and Nordelia Gradowski.

During lunch, Elaine Weiss, 2004 Making a Difference for Women Award recipient, held everyone’s attention with her story of survival as a victim of domestic abuse. In a very touching moment after Dr. Weiss’s address, she accepted the gift of membership into the SI of Salt Lake City club.

“Pajamas and Pearls” was the theme of the Laurel Society reception on Friday evening. Everyone in attendance had a fantastic time and got a chance to show off wonderful pajamas and beautiful pearls.

Saturday morning we heard from Frances Wright who spoke on “Dream Big, Act Honorably.” She spoke of the Famous 5 Champions – five women who secured the right for women to vote in Canada and how she and a few other women got a monument of the Famous 5 installed on Parliament Hill in Ottawa – the first such tribute to Canadian women.

In the afternoon, 8 concurrent break out sessions were available. It was hard to decided which one to attend, as all were very informative topics. I know each member of my club who attended the convention went to a different session so we could cover as much as possible. Topics ranged from Renaissance Leadership to Playing by the Rules – Parliamentary Procedure.

At the recognition banquet on Saturday night, new and retiring members of the SIA Board were recognized as well as the Fund Development Council. Victoria Hobbs the new President of SIA addressed the assembly and introduced her family as well as the family of retiring President Takiko. The event was a great time to renew old acquaintances and meet members of our federation whom we had not previously known. By the end of the evening, we all had great plans and goals and enthusiasm with which to return to our clubs.

For more information about Soroptimist in the Northwestern Region, click here.