ROSEMARY REID
Soroptimists are women at their best, working to help other women to be their best.
Live Your DreamAurora woman member of Soroptimists
(By David Fleischer [Jun 28, 2012] from
http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1383899–rivers-gives-back-at-home-abroad
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It’s been said the way to make a difference is to think globally, but act locally.
Corrinne Rivers has done just that through more than 30 years in Soroptimists international. The organization’s mission is to improve the lives of women and girls within the community and around the world, but for Ms Rivers, the personal connections she has made are as meaningful as anything else.
“We just come to share, celebrate and renew,” she says. Ms Rivers is a charter member of the York Region branch, which has met monthly in Aurora since 2009.
But she got involved with the international organization in 1981, as she was setting up her own law practice. Since then, she has spent time on the boards or executive of the Toronto and Cambridge chapters, not to mention a few years in Hong Kong.
Her parents instilled in her the importance of giving back and the Soroptimists, which function as a networking opportunity and a venue for making a contribution, suited her aspirations.
She was drawn to how the organization functioned as a service club for women while promoting women’s rights, she says. As an example, Ms Rivers points to the group providing toilets for girls at schools in Zimbabwe, allowing them to attend alongside boys.
The organization was also involved in earthquake relief efforts in Mexico and Haiti and helps African refugees and land mine victims.
Locally, the annual Violet Richardson Award goes to a teenager volunteering in the community. A similar award is given to an adult and an opportunity award provides a chance for women, who are their family’s primary breadwinner, to improve their education and employment prospects.
Most of Ms Rivers’ work has been closer to home, though she vividly recalls a birthday party the club hosted in a refugee camp, primarily for Vietnamese refugees, in Hong Kong.
Families of four or bigger were penned into small spaces in the camp and, if lucky, eventually resettled in government housing. Ice cream given to the mothers was quickly passed to their children, she recalls.
Like many service clubs, the Soroptimists struggle to find new members, Ms Rivers says, and the local branch now has fewer than 25 members. When new people join, it tends to be through personal contact and word of mouth.
“The most rewarding thing is the friendships I’ve made that are lifetime friendships,” she says.
These days, Ms Rivers is enjoying her role as a mentor instead of helping run the show.
“I’ve been there, done that,” she says. “I’d rather help other people work at it.”
She’s still leading the fundraising efforts this year, but her backing off of some roles in favour of others doesn’t mean she’s backing out of the Soroptimists.
“I’ll never not belong to the club,” she says.
