Home & Country (Spring 2007)

              Home and Country Spring 2007
T he Alberta Women’s Institutes are having a very important
fundraiser to help with the expenses at the Provincial Convention in
May. As we all are aware each year the cost of holding a special event
continues to rise. The present council feels that it is very important to do fund-raising
for the convention. All of the increase in costs should not be passed along
to the members who wish to attend. Fundraising will make the event much more
affordable.
We are holding a cash raffle with the draw to be held at the Banquet of
the Provincial Convention with a first Prize of $ 500.00 and a second prize of
$ 250.00. I have printed and distributed tickets to each branch in the province
along with each council member and the handicraft coordinator.
Some of the branches are so efficient that they have sold all of their tickets
and returned them to me already. This is great work and I appreciate your efforts.
If any branches or individuals wish to have more tickets please contact me and I
will send you more if I have them. We printed a small number of tickets to keep
this project to a minimum in work.
Thank you for your immediate assistance with this project. wi
Raise Funds to Keep Costs Down!
Brenda Willsie
Resolution for 2007
1. Be it resolved that the Alberta Women’s Institutes
strongly urge the Government of Alberta to provide stable core
funding for Second Stage Women’s Shelters.
Background: Women and their children can only stay in crisis shelters
for up to a month and often have to return home to their abusers because they
have no other available options.
There are currently eight second stage women’s shelters in Alberta where
women and their families can stay for up to one year while receiving counselling,
programs that focus on parenting and relationship skills, referrals to outside agen-cies
for training, legal advice and other services as required. They are located in
Calgary ( 3), Edmonton ( 2), Enilda, Fort McMurray and Lloydminster.
Childcare is usually provided while the women attend workshops, medi-cal,
employment, schooling and housing appointments. Follow up support for a
period of time following the family moving to their own housing is also provided
as leaving the safety of the shelter can be a very frightening situation for some
women.
The funding currently received consists of the rent paid from hous-ing
allowances received by the women and whatever grants and donations the
shelters are successful in obtaining. It is generally a struggle to cover ongoing
maintenance, insurance, ever- increasing utility costs and other expenses, so some
reliable government funding would give the staff more opportunity to work with
the women and children where their time could be much better spent.
Moved by Stony Plain Branch
Seconded by Darwell Branchwi
New Members and
Transfers
Darlene Wicks
District 1
Tina Bakkehaug – Valhalla Busy
Bees
District 2
Mabel Kidner – Stony Plain
Landa O’Neill - Lavoy
Marlene Landford - Wandering River
Arvilla Hess - Creighton
District 3
Alice Cahoon - Lacombe
Margaret Ward – Lacombe
District 4
Margaret Cameron - Glendale
Mabel Mitchell - Glendale
Barbara Kapteyn - Glendale
District 5
Janet Rumsey – Jackson
Georgina Primeau - Cottonwood
Books from AWI
“ Many and Remarkable,
The Story of the Alberta Women’s
Institutes” is now available for $ 8
each. Considering its quality, the book
could be used as a gift for a speaker, as
well as a donation to libraries. In the
latter case an AWI sticker should be
inserted.
“ Creative Writing” books
are now for sale at $ 1 each for the years
2001 to 2005.
Also available are Let’s Cel-ebrate
Alberta: by students of Grades
4, 5 and 6 - $ 4.25
War Memories: by Members
of the Alberta Women’s Institutes, 2005
- $ 4.25.