Working Together to Make a Difference

Quota clubs collaborate to increase service impact in communities around the world.

AUSTRALIA
Quota Clubs Support an Inspiration

Long-Term Service Projects Benefit Liverpool

CANADA
Sixty Bears for Sixty Years in Ottawa

CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES
Quota Clubs Help Their Communities by Supporting Law Enforcement

AUSTRALIA
Quota Clubs Support an Inspiration

Penny Harland once lived in a dark, silent world; now she has music and laughter. Following a cochlear implant supported by several Australian Quota clubs, the 1992 South Pacific Area “Deaf Woman of the Year” can hear.

The Quota club of Beenleigh, Queensland, recently organized a gala dinner, featuring Penny as guest speaker, to raise funds to cover Penny's training and device maintenance required after implant surgery. Attended by Quota members from Jimboomba, Gold Coast, and Brisbane City, the gala raised Aus.$2,500, including a donation from QI of Beaudesert.
Penny is a native of Maryborough, where the local Quota club often invites her to help raise awareness of issues related to deafness and blindness. She lost her sight and hearing as a child but refused to let her losses become obstacles, earning three university degrees, publishing her memoirs, and becoming an inspirational speaker.

AUSTRALIA
Long-Term Service Projects Benefit Liverpool

Quota members in Liverpool, New South Wales, spent Quota Cares Month last year instituting several new service projects that offer long-term benefits to Australia. In a country with a very small percentage of registered organ donors, the Liverpool club set a good example by officially signing up their own members for organ donation. In addition, the club established quarterly visits to the local blood bank to give blood year round.

The club partnered with the Red Cross to sponsor a two-day fund-raising drive in mid-March to benefit various Red Cross programs. Quota volunteers spent 34 hours at a local shopping center gathering nearly Aus.$1,000 from shoppers. To finish a month of caring, they reached into their own purses to help victims of a cyclone in Queensland and to demonstrate the difference even a small personal donation can make to people in need.

CANADA
Sixty Bears for Sixty Years in Ottawa

Quota members in Ottawa, Ontario, recognize the abundance they enjoy in their lives. To celebrate their sixtieth anniversary as a club, they agreed to transform their annual holiday gift exchange into a service project to benefit less fortunate families in the community.

Sixty people, including members, guests, and the society editor from the local paper, gathered for the anniversary celebration to make 60 Quota bears. After dinner and congratulatory remarks by Past International President Ilse Mitchell and Canada Area Director Suzanne Prosser, the crowd rolled up their sleeves to make the bears for needy children in the Canadian capital. A local restaurant owner who distributed the bears along with Christmas meals said the plush toys were the only gifts some of the children received for the holiday.

CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES
Quota Clubs Help Their Communities by Supporting Law Enforcement Efforts

Through Cops 'n' Kids literacy programs, sponsored by the We Share Foundation, a number of Quota clubs have established good relations with local law enforcement agencies such as QI of Kenosha-Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A. (pictured above). Quota clubs in the U.S. and Canada work with police in other ways as well to support those who protect their communities.

The Silver Q Club in Mariposa, Ontario, Canada, helps Provincial Police by role playing with police cadets. During evening training sessions, Quota volunteers play crime victims to give future officers experience taking effective histories and filing complete reports. Members also make a point to introduce the cadets to Quota International goals and service.

Two clubs in Connecticut, U.S.A., also help police efforts. QI of Bristol assists police in the annual Child Identification Program (CHIP). Members work with Girl Scouts and dental students to prepare files on local children that include photographs, fingerprints, dental impressions, and notes on other physical characteristics to help police find the children, should they go missing.

Also in the 5th District, QI of Candlewood Valley provides projects for prisoner rehabilitation. Club members gather materials and provide instructions for inmates at Danbury Federal Correction Institute, so they can make items for various Quota service projects. Recently, inmates made and decorated 200 comfort pillows and a number of colorful "chemo caps" for cancer patients as well as scarves and mittens for disadvantaged women and children. The collaboration introduces prisoners to the joy in helping others and gives them meaningful activities to do while incarcerated.

QI of Massillon, Ohio, U.S.A., works with young women, aged 16-21, who live in a group rehabilitation home after serving time for criminal activities. Aiming to boost the girls' self-esteem and encourage a new way of life, the club recently provided art lessons for the residents, then organized an auction of their work at the Massillon Museum. The young women attended the unforgettable evening, wearing new party dresses and accessories provided by the club.

In North Carolina, QI of Greensboro focuses efforts on inmates' children. The club provided backpacks filled with school supplies and an afternoon of storytelling and snacks for a first-grade class at the Peek School, attended by children whose parents are in prison.

QI of Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.A., collects and wraps toys for Operation Santa Claus, a program organized by the local police department to provide Christmas gifts to underprivileged children. Members also join officers at a local learning center dedicated to kids with developmental delays to read stories and donate books. Also in Louisiana, QI of Ruston supports police efforts to curb child abuse. The club provides anatomically correct dolls of all races to encourage young victims of sexual abuse to share their stories.

In North Dakota, U.S.A., QI of Grand Forks enhanced club relations with police by putting the police chief to work in Quota service. As a model for their fund-raising fashion show, "It's My Style," Grand Forks' top cop helped the club raise more than U.S.$14,000 for diagnostic equipment for a local breast cancer center.

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