By Pat Hansen
On May 11, we celebrated our club’s 15th birthday – which makes us a mere teenager compared with our great-grandmother organization, who will be 90 on October 3 (Founder’s Day).
I was invited to become a Soroptimist in 1984, when I was living in California. I knew nothing about the organization, but soon I found out just how important Soroptimist is — both locally and globally — as the world’s largest women’s service organization. Did you know that we are in 119 countries, with about 120,000 members?
When I moved to the island in 1994, I knew there was no club here. I made myself a promise to start one, if I could enlist the support of at least 20 like-minded women. We did better than that. There were 40 islanders who enthusiastically supported the idea.
But not everyone in the community thought starting this organization was such a great idea. Early on, I was approached by a woman who was in the Medical Guild, and who vehemently opposed my starting this club. She pretty much ordered me not to do so (she was also ex-military and so was her delivery). She said, “There is only so much pie to be divided up here; we already have Lions and Kiwanis, and we are all sharing the same limited resources.” I explained that our group had a different focus and that through our health committee we might be able to contribute to the Medical Guild in the future. She left, unconvinced. Even though she is now deceased, I know she would have appreciated our cancer transportation project and how it has impacted our community in such a positive way.
There was an interview and article written in the Journal about our club’s formation (it’s in our scrap book). I was misquoted slightly, about traditional male service organizations, baking cookies, etc., and that article prompted a couple of letters to the editor from two Kiwanis members. In response, there were a number of things I wanted to say, but I held my tongue and what I did say was, “ I have hopes that one day, all of the island’s services organizations can work on a joint community project.”
Shortly after that, we were asked to spruce up the Grey Top building at the fairgrounds, which was then our Senior Center. I tried to enlist the help of Lions and Kiwanis in a co-sponsored service group project. One group did not bother to respond, and the other said they would not participate in anything the Soroptimists did. So we came out, and washed and painted the walls for the seniors, who were of course very appreciative of our efforts. We later made a donation of a brick ($1500) to help build the new Mullis Center.
In 2000, four years later, all three service organizations did join together to put on the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which continues annually to this day. Last month’s Great Island Clean-Up, spearheaded by our club, is yet another example of how cooperation benefits us all. Saying what we do is never as important as showing what we do. Through the respect and recognition we have gained over the last 15 years for our club’s commitment to our community and to our mission, I believe those early concerns no longer exist.
Our long-term interest in the issue of domestic violence was kindled when Elaine Beaubien, a åbusiness woman and Kiwanis member, was tragically murdered here by her ex-husband. Our group partnered with DVSAS to hold a candlelight vigil for Elaine and all other victims of domestic violence, both here and abroad. The vigil touched on the struggles of women through the years, showing our community how we as Soroptimists concern ourselves with these difficult and often heart-breaking issues. This was when our club placed purple cards with hotline numbers in businesses throughout our town.
Our first Notable Women’s Luncheon was originally held to acknowledge International Women’s Day and to honor the women who lived in and contributed to our community. We called it the “Matriarch’s Lunch” for a few years, but later changed the name and broadened the luncheon’s focus. This year we added our awards ceremony, creating a truly inspirational event – an example of how our members use both old and new ideas to keep our club interesting and vital.
To all the women who helped me start our club — including Anacortes SI who chartered us — I am forever grateful, because even the best ideas need support to come to fruition. To all of you who have swelled our ranks over the years so that we are now the second largest club in the Federation of the Americas, my personal thanks for your commitment, energy, time, talent, dedication and friendship (long or short).
May 2011
