This is part of our series celebrating the award winners for 2026.
Celebration of Success
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Nagham Alyousef: Leading with Strength, Compassion and Purpose
This is part of our series celebrating the award winners for 2026.
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Khatira Daryabi: Courage, Education and Her Freedom Story
This is the first of our series celebrating our award winners for 2026.
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Our Annual Awards Event
On March 28th, we celebrated our award recipients and meet members of our club. Here's how it went!
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Growth and Purpose
Reflections on Growth and Purpose: Annelise van der Veen’s Journey Through the Soroptimist House for Women Project At HAVAN’s Agents of Change: Women Building Women event on October 16, Annelise van der Veen of Purpose Driven Development, shared how her work on the Soroptimist House for Women became both a professional milestone and a deeply personal journey. Initiated by Soroptimist International of Vancouver, this project continues to inspire collaboration and mentorship in the construction and development community. Annelise spoke about her first mentor, Carla Guerrera, whose vision to help non-profit organizations navigate development projects became the foundation of Purpose Driven Development’s mission. When Annelise first met Carla, she saw…
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Historic Groundbreaking: Soroptimist International of Vancouver Unveils First-Ever Women-Designed Affordable Housing Project in North America
Soropitimist Housing Committee members: Carla Busnardo (left), Janet Law (center), Lenore Riddell (second from the right) December 2, 2023 (Soroptimist International of Vancouver) A group of women from seven Soroptimist clubs in Western Canada, representatives from three levels of government, BC Housing, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and the project development company gathered at the site of 550 West 13th Avenue (formerly 465 West 13th Avenue) on Friday, December 1st, 2023. They were there to cheer and celebrate the groundbreaking event for the first-ever women-designed and developed affordable housing project in North America. Since 1926, Soroptimist International of Vancouver has served local community to support and improve…
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Event celebrates 90 years of service
Soroptimist International of Vancouver (SI-Vancouver) is celebrating its 90th anniversary on April 24th between 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Exactly 90 years ago to the day, in the same place, a pioneering group of women came together. They were the women who had cut their hair, raised their hemline, thrown away their corsets and stormed their way into the business world. And 90 years ago what did these women want? To help other women and over the years they have done just that. Almost immediately they joined with other pioneers, the first policewomen in Vancouver, and took over from them the operation of a hostel…
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Birthing in Pacific – reducing maternal mortality and morbidity
Everyday in Papua New Guinea 3 women die due to complications of pregnancy/childbirth. For every woman who dies, about 30 sustain significant disability. 45 out of every 1000 babies born will not live to see their first birthday. Birthing in the Pacific is a Soroptimist International project to save mother’s lives in Papua New Guinea, reducing maternal mortality and morbidity by training and equipping birth attendants, educating communities and improving facilities. The project was set up by SI South West Pacific, involves Soroptimist clubs in Papua New Guinea and is supported by Soroptimists worldwide as part of the 2011-13 Soroptimist International President Alice Wells’ December 10 Appeal. Soroptimist International of…
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Violet Richardson Award 2013 Recipient – Carole Lee
Congratulations! Soroptimist International of Vancouver recognized Carole’s efforts to make our community a better place. Recipient: Carole Lee ($250.00 Award) Charity: Queen Alexander Club at Magee Secondary School ($250.00 Award) A Grade 11 student at Magee Secondary School, she is currently the co-chair of the Queen Alexander Club for the Queen Alexandra Elementary School. She started her involvement with Queen Alexander Secondary School since she was in Grade 8. Queen Alexander School is an inner city school where many students come from single parent homes. 38% are receiving support for English as a Second Language and many families earn less than $30,000 per year. In October 2010, QAES was placed…
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Violet Richardson Award 2013 Recipient – Jennifer Zhen
Congratulations! Soroptimist International of Vancouver recognized Jennifer’s efforts to make our community a better place. Recipient: Jennifer Zhen ($250.00 Award) Charity: Key Club Coquitlam ($250.00 Award) She volunteers with Key Club International, a student-led, high school volunteer organization. Key Club has a major emphasis on serving children; it is a club led by children serving the children of the world. She started as an active member of the club and have volunteered over 400 hours to organizations and event during the past 5 years with Key Club. In 2011, she stepped up to lead as Projects Committee chair and carried out two projects that year. Under her leadership, the club…
