Celebrating 50 years of helping women and children
KITCHENER — Fifty years ago, a small group of women gathered with the intention of helping their community in a profound way.
The enthusiasm at that first meeting in 1968 led to the formation of the Kitchener-Waterloo chapter of the May Court Club, a national organization with nine chapters across Canada.
The group was founded in 1898 by Lady Aberdeen, wife of the Governor General of Canada and an active social reformer. The local chapter followed the founder’s lead and has supported women and children in this region for five decades.
“I like that we’re a little club, we’re humble, but we make a lot of difference,” said member, Arlene McIntosh.
During the early years, the club wanted to raise money, which they did through craft and bake sales and other small events. Before they had their own projects to work on club members also volunteered at what was then the Rotary Children’s Centre, now known as KidsAbility.
Then the growth started: May Court organized bridge games, home tours, fundraising concerts and for the past 28 years the club has operated “Christmas Dreams” at Conestoga Mall. The raffle includes Christmas trees donated and decorated by local businesses and put on display at the mall. To date, the fundraiser has raised $650,000.
It seemed that with each passing year, the club came up with
new, innovative ways to raise money.
“We started from scratch,” said member Jan Ashton, who has been there since the club started.
“In the beginning, you had to commit for eight years,” she recalled. “We kept adding to the membership and it grew and grew.
“I love having that long association.”
Judy Proctor remembers the early days of the club and how much they enjoyed the social life it provided.
“Most of us were young moms and we had young children at home,” she said. “It was an opportunity to get out of the house and we all became really good friends.”
This month is another of the club’s main fundraisers, the annual May Court Flower sale. The club takes order for flats of begonias, geraniums, ferns and herbs which are purchased from Meadow Acres. The flower sale orders are being accepted until April 20, with pick up scheduled for mid-May.
The club has never just been about raising money. One of their first outreach programs was in 1969 when they purchased an audiometer, a device that tested hearing. The club used the equipment to test the hearing of kindergarten children, addressing problems early in the child’s life.
Today, public health provides the preventive tests but there was no such service when May Court got involved. The club continues to test children in nursery schools.
From that early project, May Court next stepped into the arena of entertainment, but with a purpose. They started a puppet program, creating fun but educational puppet shows which are taken to the schools, often shown in conjunction with the school’s communication program. The kids are also encouraged to make their own puppets and learn how to put on a production.
They opened a Monday Afternoon Centre at a church, with a program that engaged mothers and preschool children. They also started a program where volunteers would visit women formerly institutionalized in psychiatric institutes.
“We develop a close relationship with the clients,” said McIntosh, to which Ashton added “we spend a lot of time laughing.”
The local club is perhaps best known for the consignment shop it runs in Belmont Village, a shop that earned the club $50,000 in profit last year.
McIntosh, a widow, joined the group in 2009 when her life was taking a new turn.
“I retired from teaching, I needed to do something useful with my time,” she said. “They’re a great supportive group.”
Proctor said she joined knowing this was a group that knew how to get things done.