The Speech to Inform
Speech No. 1 in the Toastmasters "Speaking to Inform"
Manual
Date presented: 9th September,1997.
The objectives of this speech were:
- To select new and useful information for presentation to the audience.
- Organize the information for easy understandability and retention.
- Present the information in a way that will help motivate the audience to
learn.
Time 5 to 7 minutes.
20 Years with World Vision
It will be 20 years on Friday. Can you believe it? 20 years since we started
our local
World Vision Club.
What is a World Vision Club? My curiosity was aroused in 1976 when I
first saw the
article in a World Vision magazine. It was then an exciting new concept - a club
for women
who were concerned about suffering and injustice in the world and wanted to
do something
about it. Members were to work together to raise funds for World Vision
Development Aid
projects while seeking to learn more about world issues and to speak out
against injustice.
When I wrote for information about the Clubs, I was advised that there
were then no
clubs in Brisbane,and was sent a list of suggestions on how to start a club.
Me!! Start a club? No way!
So I forgot about it till the following year when I was invited to a
meeting at
Wilston where several women were interested in forming a World Vision club.
There were only a few of us from widely scattered areas, so we decided to
advertise in
our local papers and to meet the following month in the city. The Botanical
Gardens would be
a good meeting place, we thought.
On the appointed day I arrived early and eagerly waited for the crowd to
arrive. An hour
later, I found myself the centre of attention in a vast crowd.....of
pigeons! I shared my
lunch with them and went home.
So that was the end of that. I made a cup of tea and kicked off my shoes.
Then the phone
rang. It was Betty, who had been at the Wilston meeting. Guess what! She had
also waited in
the Botanic Gardens....at the other end!
"What are you going to do now?" she asked.
"Do?" I thought. "I wasn't going to do anything!" But I heard myself
feebly asking,
"Could you come here next time?" At least I wouldn't have to travel.
So that's why the World Vision Club was formed in our area. In September,
1977 - 20 years
ago, - we held our first meeting in a local hall. There
were enough of us to
form a committee. We took on a rehabilitation project in Bangladesh. Our
first fund raising
function was a Hobbytex demonstration and we raised the grand sum of $10.50.
Several months later, our vice President, Secretary and Treasurer all
resigned due to
other commitments. that left - me! I decided that if I was going to be the
only one at the
next meeting, I might as make it worthwhile, so I took a box of second hand
clothes and sold
them to people passing by. (20 years later, we are still
holding regular Jumble
Sales at the hall.) But I wasn't the only member after all. Betty came.
(She hadn't been
able to join us till then.) and a couple of others joined.
During our first year, the average attendance at meetings was four. But
it was never the
same four! Every month someone would drop out and another one would join.
We'd had no
experience in fundraising. I still blush to think I actually wrote to the
World Vision Head
Office to say "We haven't sent any money because we have a street stall
coming up and we need
the change!"
But gradually, we were joined by wonderful enthusiastic people with new
ideas. There are
20 in our club now. This has enabled us to attempt greater things.
Some of the most memorable events are our Children's Concerts, Christmas
Bazaars, Mad Hatter's
Tea Party, and a Mock Wedding. Then there's the ever popular Trivia
Quizzes, the Auctions and
Games Mornings.
We've spent a lot of time on the street, raising money. We must have
held about 150
Street Stalls during the 20 years and about 400 Jumble Sales.
By the end of the first year, we had raised one thousand dollars. Now we
usually make that
much in a month, In the 20 years we have raised over Two Hundred Thousand
Dollars.
And does the money get there? One of our members was able to see for
herself when she
visited World Vision Projects in Bangladesh and several other countries.
She met the little
girl our club was sponsoring. She took her to the Zoo and they rode an
elephant together.
She visited an old lady in the little house that our club had provided.
Through an
interpreter she spoke with the women in the project and came back to tell
us, "Yes, the
money does get there."
20 years is a long time. Why do we keep going? Partly because of the
close friendships
we have formed over the years. And because we still have a vision - a world
vision - of what
the world could be like without poverty, exploitation and injustice.
And maybe because when I feel like giving up, I can still hear Betty
saying, "What are
you going to do now?"
COMMENTS
I wrote this speech for our World Vision Birthday Dinner and also
used it as my
manual speech for Toastmasters. I'm not sure if it really met the criteria
for a "Speaking
to Inform" speech, but it was well received.
MAMALADE
You can find out more about World Vision
at http://www.wvi.org/
(Link opens in new window)
My other speeches about World Vision are
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