Continuing to be a strong presence
A number of organizations have benefited lately from the South Berwick Women’s Institute.
During a recent meeting, it was noted the group made donations to various community projects such as school breakfasts, Pathfinders, Camp Brigadoon, Food Bank, Annapolis Valley Music Festival and the South Berwick Community centre.
Also during the gathering it was shared that a scholarship form was received from the head office in Truro. The scholarship is open to student relatives of WI members.
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Carolyn Newman introduced the guest speaker for February. Sandy Morrow, registrar and administrative co-ordinator at Brigadoon Village, spoke on the history of the organization. Brigadoon Village, an $8.5-million recreational facility located on Aylesford Lake, is a Doug Hill, centre, was the guest speaker at a recent women’s institute meeting. He is pictured with group members Joanne Hill, left, and Mary Walsh.
year-round operation dedicated to meeting the needs of children and youth in the Atlantic provinces who are living with a chronic illness, special need, or other life challenge. The first camp was held in 2011, with construction still not complete, and there were 43 children in attendance.
The next year (2012) they had 313 campers and this year they anticipate hosting 700 children. In the next five years they aim
to expand their facilities so they will be able to accommodate 1,000 campers per year. In the summer months they operate a residential camp program, which presently includes 12 different camps varying from Camp See-ya (blind and visual impairment) and Camp Carpe Diem (epilepsy) to Camp Seelyyak (celiac disease). As summed said by Morrow, Brigadoon Village gives extraordinary kids a chance to be ordinary. Karen Chute thanked Morrow for her excellent talk and presented her with many craft materials from the WI members for use at Brigadoon.
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In January the guest speaker was Judith Wells, who spoke about “Sewpowerful” purses. Her organization has a web page (sewpowerful.org) and is international. The purses are sewn and sent to Zambia as gifts to be provided to girls as part of health training. This enables girls to stay in school the whole month. The goal for 2018 is to forward 8,500 purses to Zambia. Wells’s three passions in life are education, anything empowering women, and sewing. She had many purses on display that she had made.
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In November, Remembrance Day was observed by having Doug Hill as the guest speaker. He gave a very timely talk on the First World War, including its causes, significant events from a Canadian perspective (including the victory at Vimy Ridge 100 years earlier), and its aftermath following the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918. Mary Walsh presented Hill with a large bag of apples from the farm. ***
The next meeting will be held March 13 at 2 p.m. On the program will be Janice Lutz and Janice Wagner.