By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on March 8, 2018
TODAY is International Women’s Day, and to celebrate, the Albany Soroptimists and the Albany Women’s Centre will meet on the pedestrian footbridge on Stirling Terrace at noon for the Join Me on the Bridge event.
Albany Soroptimist Pam Leamon has been a member for 36 years and said this year would mark the second time Albany has hosted a Join Me on the Bridge event.
Ms Leamon said the event began in Africa a few years ago, when two women’s groups met on a bridge connecting Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Their countries were victim to the atrocities of war, so they decided to come together to stand up for peace and for an end to violence against women.
This year’s Albany bridge event will also be the launching pad for the 2018 Albany Women’s Centre Kare Kits, designed to help the women’s refuge by providing toiletries, clothes and other necessities to women escaping unsafe homes and relationships.
Fellow Soroptimist Janet McArtney said women often arrive at the women’s centre with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
“People come to the centre with nothing,” she said.
“Some are lucky and can pack a few things, but most can’t.
“The Kare Kits and donations can help them set themselves up again, and with things like helping pay for a first rent, or helping pay for their car to be fixed.”
You can join the Albany female rights activists on the footbridge at noon today and catch up for lunch with them after their photo time at 12.15pm.
The Kare Kit donation drive will continue until April 14 and donations can be dropped off at AnglicareWA Albany office, Vancouver Arts Centre, Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre, NAB Albany, Leading Edge Computers, Bendigo Bank Mt Barker, NAB Denmark and Western Workwear.
