Sequim Soroptimist club gives $30K to help Ukraine refugees in Poland
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 16, 2022
“How can we help?”
That’s the question members of Soroptimist International of Sequim keep asking themselves, said club member Linda Klinefelter, as Russia invades Ukraine and more people are displaced.
The Sequim club received an email, she said, seeking support from the Soroptimist International Europe – Poland for the refugees — primarily women and children — coming from Ukraine.
The United Nations reports that as of March 11 approximately 2.5 million refugees have left Ukraine to neighboring countries, with at least 1.5 million of those to Poland.
Klinefelter said they posed the question of how to help at their Zoom meeting on March 8.
“When it came up, it was unanimous,” Klinefelter said of the 30-plus attendees.
She said for many, it was a maternal instinct to help.
“I couldn’t imagine getting on a train and telling my husband and son I’d never see them again,” Klinefelter said.
Sequim club members wired $30,000 to the Poland club on March 10 with $10,000 from Soroptimist International of Sequim’s general fund and another $20,000 from its individual members.
According to Soroptimist International Europe online, support has gone to delivering emergency humanitarian goods to support refugees.
“Everyone I talk to, the chatter among a lot of us is we want to do something,” Klinefelter said.
“People just don’t know what to do.”
Soroptimist International issued a statement on March 4 standing in solidarity with Ukraine, stating that “War is never gender-neutral. Women and girls in all their diversity are always disproportionately affected by war, and it is no different in this conflict. The projections that millions will be displaced and will become refugees, are being realised with thousands fleeing daily.
“Many of those on the move are women and girls; specific, targeted, gender-transformative programmes must be immediately developed and implemented to ensure that their lives, hopes and dreams are not irreparably damaged by this war.”
Klinefelter said the Sequim club supports women and girls in Clallam County in many ways, and they felt there was a significant need for Ukrainian women and girls, too.
She said they know their funds help boys, too, through local efforts at the Boys & Girls Club and other agencies, and internationally as refugee families seek support.
It’s undetermined if the club will pursue further funding support, Klinefelter said.
For more information about charities supporting Ukraine refugees, visit the Better Business Bureau’s give.org.
Local efforts
Soroptimist International of Sequim was chartered in 1947 to support women and girls in Clallam County through scholarships and awards for teens and adults totaling more than $350,000.
Club members seek contacts and stories of the group’s work and scholarships to celebrate its 75th anniversary later this year. To participate, email Cat Xander at sispresident@outlook.com.
The club offers an annual garden show, gift show and a shredding event. A medical loan closet is closed but will reopen per the club’s COVID-19 protocols, according to the club’s website.
The 24th annual Soroptimist Virtual Garden Show and Auction runs in late April with the auction to support scholarships open April 27-May 1, and presentations on April 23 and 30.
The Soroptimist Gala Gift Show may tentatively return in person this winter, Klinefelter said.
Find the latest about the Soroptimist International of Sequim at sisequim.org.
