Making a difference in the community
South Berwick Women’s Institute has been a blessing to many
The South Berwick Women’s Institute has had a very busy summer.
During a recent meeting, a number of items were discussed.
Carolyn Newman made a suggestion that instead of exchanging Christmas gifts, we would each provide a new teddy bear to the Teddy Wishes Society.
Also, some members recently attended Margaret West’s 106th birthday. West was a member of South Berwick WI for many years and has resided for the past 10 years at Evergreen Home for Special Care.
Terry Drahos from Uncommon Common Art was the guest speaker. Drahos is originally from Chicago, where she received a Bachelor of Design from Southern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Education from Acadia University and NSCAD University in Halifax.
Uncommon Common Art (UCA) is a not-for-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors. During the past 11 years UCA has grown from an ad hoc group of artists installing casual artwork and printing 3,000 foldout maps to a fully juried exhibition of locally, nationally, and internationally renowned artists, as well as printing 10,000 copies of a 52page guidebook that is distributed throughout the province. In 2013 they expanded to educational programming including two weeks of summer camp at the Irving Centre and an art education program in Kings County Elementary Schools in October.
The group’s next meeting will be Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. Eleanor Ernest and Karen Chute are on the program.
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The Lakeville Women’s Institute also recently met. Keith De Vries was presented with the provincial Erland Lee Award of Appreciation. This was a surprise to De Vries and he was overcome with emotion. The Erland Lee award is presented annually by the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada to a man who has contributed his time and talent to help the local women’s institute. Erland Lee was a farmer, teacher and government employee in Stoney Creek, Ont. He was the president of the Farmers’ Institute in the late 19th century. After hearing Adelaide Hoodless speak at the agricultural college in Guelph, he invited her to come speak at the Farmers’ Institute Ladies night. Adelaide was a wife and young mother who had lost her 18-monthold son to unpasteurized milk. She felt women needed to organize an institute and learn food safety, nutrition and good health for raising and feeding their family.
In a day when women had little say, Erland lent his voice, his position, his contacts and his influence, and together with Adelaide’s ideas, the first women’s institute was formed in Stoney Creek in 1897.