In this Newsletter... - President's Message
- Opening Meeting
- Our October Speaker
- Advocacy
- Interest Groups
- Scholarship Committee
- CFUW National
- Ontario Council
- GWI News
- Extra Extra
- Contact Information
| President's Message Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are definitely into fall, with the lovely colours and colder weather. Our October meeting is only one week away, and we have a really terrific speaker – I’m hoping everyone can come out to hear Melanie Hare share her expertise in urban planning and her work
on the Stratford Cooper site.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our September meeting so successful! Our new location seemed to be a hit with everyone, and our student tech team helped us work through some of those initial technical issues. If you haven’t seen it, the Beacon-Herald has a great article about Barbara
Collier and our Mature student awardee https://cfuwstratford.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Stratford-The-Marketplace-October-10-2024.pdf .
As a reminder, at the last meeting, we voted to include home addresses in our upcoming Membership list. All members who would prefer to exclude their physical home address and/or phone number from the list have the option to Opt-Out. Thank you to those members who responded - if you would like to
opt-out but haven’t told us, please respond ASAP to membership@cfuwstratford.com, as we will be making our 2024/25 Membership list available soon on the Members Only section of our website.
Finally, our Membership survey only takes 5 minutes to complete! And this information is really important for our planning and future. Please take the time to tell us about yourself before the next meeting.
Click Here Please | Speaker Program 2024 - 2025 | Past, Present, Furure - Living Your Best Life | Wow! What a great opening meeting! There was a terrific turnout of both regular and new members and guests as well as journalists to mark our 70 years. Cambria offered us a glimpse of our past with clippings from our archives. Our Scholarship Committee introduced us to this present year's secondary students as well as our mature student award winner. Future enjoyment was promised by the interest and advocacy group sign ups.
| October 22, 2024 - Melanie Hare
Transformational city building: creating resilient and liveable communities for all
| For more than 20 years Melanie has been working with communities across North America on city building initiatives related to growth management, transit supportive development and sustainable communities. She has been involved with the redevelopment planning of the Grand Trunk/Cooper site and will update us on the latest strategies for practical solutions to urban development challenges. | | Stop Violence Against Women
CFUW members and friends walked through Market Square on Friday, September 20th to Take Back the Night with the StopVAW Committee of Perth Wellington in coordination with Optimism Place. | Optimism Place Tour There are still two spots available for the Tour of Optimism House on the evening of October 29th. If more members are interested a second tour will be arranged. If you are interested please e-mail lrissin@sympatico.ca | If you love this planet More eco-warriors needed for the Climate Change Action group! You are invited to join us in our efforts to make a difference for the future- for our families, for nature, and for this beautiful blue-green jewel called Earth. cookies, laughter, creativity provided free! (contact Sheila Clarke, srclarke2@gmail.com) | | “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Dr Jane Goodall, Scientist & Activist
| To Remember is to work for change | We are approaching the 35th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre where 14 young women were murdered: 12 engineering students, 1 nursing student and one employee of the university. The killer said that he was fighting feminism. The youngest woman killed was only 20, the oldest was 31. Another 10 women and 4 men were wounded and have carried the physical and emotional scars of that day. On Dec. 6, again this year, CFUW Stratford will organize the lowering of the flag at City Hall in remembrance. We will again be asking members to wear white ribbons in remembrance of these murdered young women and urging you to attend the lowering of the flag. We plan to have pictures of the murdered women and to remember them by name. Ribbons will be available at both the October and November meetings so please take one for yourself and for anyone else who would want to wear this token of remembrance. Details will be posted in our November Newsletter and our website. Contact cynthiahastings6@gmail.com
| Beginners' Bridge Free Beginner/Rusty Bridge lessons this fall/winter. A big time commitment -- 11 lessons all together - but bridge is worth it - a great workout for both long and short term memory with lots of team building and socializing opportunities.If you are a card player, bridge is (perhaps arguably) the most interesting and challenging of games. Please let me know if you are interested, and we'll try to get it going. vernagmdennis@gmail.com | | We are planning a trip to The Museum in Kitchener on October 30 or 31 (TBD). The museum is featuring the work of Ann Innis Dagg, a giraffologist who was the first biologist to study giraffes in the wild. Ann Dagg was born in Kitchener and is the author of several books on this subject. The exhibit is based on the documentary The Woman Who Loved Giraffes which is available on Kanopy. Should be a fun adventure + lunch! Contact helenefortincrabb@gmail.com | | Mystery Book Clubs - Openings | Mystery Book Club 1 meets monthly on the 2nd Thursday at 7:30pm. We each pick an author and a series to discuss each month. Many laughs and munchies. Contact lshannon8547@hotmail.com | Mystery Book Club 2nd Ed. meets monthly on the 3rd Tuesday at 7 or 7:30pm. We dive into our favourite mystery authors and series. Snacks and plot twists. Contact bgsymons@gmail.com | | Take a Hike! Started last week with the three intrepid hikers pictured here: Wendy Mc, Charlotte and Andrea walking 10.6 km in gorgeous sunny conditions. We are not fast but we have fun. You are invited to join us for a leg or two (or more!) of the Avon Trail. Contact wendyannemcnaughton@gmail.com for more information. | | Don't be shy - Check out our website for other great interest groups! Interest Groups
| Our initial General Meeting marked the fact that CFUW Stratford has been giving scholarships to secondary students since 1958. We celebrated one of our current members, Barbara Collier-Blackburn, who received a scholarship from the club in 1959. | Those at the meeting were treated to a slide show introducing June 2024's recipients. We were delighted to welcome Melissa Miller, who received our mature student scholarship from Conestoga College.
| | | UN - New York City - CSW69 Delegate Applications | | | | | | | | CFUW is inviting applications from members wishing to attend the 69th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in New York City. While CSW lasts from March 10-21, 2025, the self-funded CFUW team usually arrives on Saturday to register (in-person) for a UN Grounds Pass and then attends the first week of in-person sessions. The focus in 2025 will be on review and appraisal of the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Read CFUW’s CSW69 Written Statement here, which focuses on “Education as the Pivotal Implementation Tool of the Beijing Platform for Action”. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Speaker Series
Saturday October 26, 2024
10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on ZOOM | | Funding for Ontario colleges and universities affects students and their parents. The subject is an ongoing issue of discussion and has become of greater concern with the institutions’ reliance on enrollment of foreign students, who pay higher fees than local students. To understand the ongoing base funding and the role foreign students play in ongoing funding we have invited two speakers to provide some insight: - MPP Peggy Sattler (London West), Official Opposition Critic for Colleges and Universities.
- Jenny J.H. Ahn, Executive Director, Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA)
| | | Please register by 5 PM on Thursday, October 24th, 2024
Advance registration is required.
| | | Graduate Women International | A successfully completed Bina Roy Project earns our member, Jolie Massay, a finalist nomination for this year's PAWES award! | The Bina Roy Partners in Development Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to member countries with a Gross National Income of less than US$12,616 per annum. Our 2019 grant to the Democratic Ruepublic of Congo went towards the empowerment of school girls in Kinkole, rural area in Kinshasa through a mentorship programme and included sensitization to the issues of sexual and gender-based violence. An estimated 445 people, from a total of 89 families directly and indirectly benefited from this project. Maryam, 12 years old: “I have learned that as a girl/woman, I should not be limited, I should dream big and become an important person in my country”. Benedicte, 14 years old: “Thanks to mentorship sessions, I know now that I can be a President of D.R. Congo… maybe the first female President of my country”. Congratulations to Jolie Massay, President of the Congolese University Women's Association on her nomination. | Health and Safety Please note that all buildings within the Avon Maitland School Board are scent free environments. Please refrain from wearing products that have strong scents. As we head indoors, flu, cold and COVID incidences are on the rise. Please keep yourself and your community healthy by wearing a mask if you are experiencing symptoms and stay home if you are unwell. Please check out this link for Huron Perth Advice regarding the spread of respiratory illnesses. In alignment with our Climate Action goals Carpooling is a great way to come to our meetings with friends already on board :-) Refreshments - Bring your own mug ☕ It is so nice to return to social time during our meetings. We are happy to be providing water and lemonade to our members, if you prefer a different beverage, you are welcome to bring your own beverage in your own mug. | | | | |
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