CFUW Stratford Scholarship

Dear Members of CFUW-Stratford Club,

I am contacting you on behalf of the CFUW-Stratford Club Scholarship Fund Committee. Our Scholarship Fund is an integral aspect of CFUW’s mission statement to support the education of girls and women. CFUW-Stratford has a long history of providing scholarship awards to Secondary School female students. In 1954, our Club established a $100 bursary for a young woman from Stratford who planned to attend University. That small bursary has grown. The CFUW-Stratford Scholarship Fund currently provides $6000 annually to young women graduating from our local Secondary School programs.

Due to these unprecedented times, the Scholarship Committee is asking for your help in order to fulfill our scholarship obligations for the 2022 Commencements. Covid-19 has prevented us from holding most fundraising events and the format of our Fall Open House, where we normally receive member donations, will be modified. As a result, we are experiencing a cash shortfall and we need to raise a minimum of $3000.

Please consider giving a donation to our Scholarship Fund to help young women who deserve recognition of their hard work and who need financial and moral support at this time. We hope to not have to decrease the value of the scholarships offered at a time when stu- dents have had limits on their income earning abilities.

All donations are appreciated and any gift over $20 will be recognized with a charitable donation tax receipt.

You may donate to our CFUW-Stratford Scholarship Fund with an electronic fund transfer by using the following email: scholarshipfundcfuwstratford@gmail.com

On receipt of your donation, Kate Welsh, (CFUW-Stratford Scholarship Fund Treasurer), will email to confirm receipt of funds and will generate your charitable donation receipt.

Alternately, you may also mail or drop off a cheque to:

Kate Welsh
10 Gregory Cres.
Stratford, ON N5A 8A5.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Kindest regards,

CFUW-Stratford Scholarship Fund Committee
Mary Fisher, (Chair)                                                                                   Kate Welsh, (Treasurer)                                                                       Cynthia Carlson (Liaison)                                                                       Denise Kane                                                                                              Eleanor Kane

CFUW Stratford General Meeting Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018

1. Jane Cook welcomed members and guests and thanked the Mahjong group for refreshments and for acting as welcomers.

2. Acknowledge First Nations – Jane Cook acknowledged that CFUW Stratford was meeting on the

traditional territory of the Neutral/Attawandaron, Anishnawbe and Haudenosaunee peoples, territory that was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Ojibwe and allied nations, to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.

3. Indigenous information moment – Anne Carbert talked about the reason that we give a land acknowledgement at the beginning of our meetings, to recognize that the land has belonged to others, and that it has been, is and will be cared for by various peoples. It acknowledges the history of colonialism, the interests of the indigenous peoples, and current issues such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

4. Minutes: Pat Reavy moved that the minutes of the September 2018 meeting, as circulated be approved; seconded by Nora Walden, passed.

5. Program: Pat Reavy to introduced Dr. Karen Houle, a professor of philosophy from the University of Guelph, mother of twin daughters, with two grandchildren. Dr. Houle teaches on environmental ethics, does research on urban organic farming, and is an activist.

Speaking on “Waste Not, Want Not” she described being challenged by an Anishnabe elder who said” “Too much talking, do something.” This inspired Dr. Houle to become involved in the clean up of dumpsters full of garbage left by students who have a day or two after exams to leave their residences. A young man spearheaded an initiative to recycle the materials left, including clothes, furniture, food etc. Some food goes to food banks, but partially used items are donated to an organic farmer to compost—-Dr. Houle empties the jars of peanut butter, mayonnaise etc. into pails for this purpose. The process is available on Vimeo, and is entitled “Diverted”. She has concluded that the things that are important are community, the environment, justice, education, health, and women and equality. She focuses her environmental philosophy classes on plastics reduction, consumer choices (value what we have and take care of it) and composting.

Jane Cook thanked Dr. Houle for her inspiring presentation.

6. Plastics Moment –Lorraine Kuepfer and Anna Stratton spoke about alternatives to using plastics, and had put up a display demonstrating the

7. Announcements –

length of time it takes for items to degrade, and had a variety of substitutes for plastics in the kitchen.

i. Jane thanked the Advocacy Committee for organizing and hosting

the very successful Women Candidates discussion on Oct 11th . Congratulations to everyone for such a wonderful event
ii.Jane indicated that the sign up lists for interest groups were available for further members. She commended Nora Walden on doing a great job as moderator and congratulated Kathy Vassilakos on her re-election.

iii. The Drinks & Conversation group are meeting this Saturday, Oct 27th at The Bruce at 3pm. All are welcome, but please let Anne know if you are attending.
iv.. The Christmas lunch and meeting will be held Saturday, December 8th at the The Queens Inn at noon. The cost is $23 and Pat Reavy and Lois Battle are taking reservations, and payments. v. Jane reminded members that dues payments are now due and donations to the Scholarship fund are always welcome.

There was a break for refreshments and visiting. The meeting reconvened at 9:00 pm
9. Membership: Anne Carbert reported that there are 50 paid up members and 10 new

members. Visitors are welcome to attend two meetings, but then are expected to join.

10. Program: The next speaker will be Sarah Merkel from the Perth District Health Unit, speaking on the issue of “Are Screens Taking over our Lives?” The meeting will be held in the upstairs room at the Library because the church is not available on that date. The next regular meeting, in January, will be back at Avondale Church.

11. Treasurer: In Bev Symons’ absence, Jane indicated that we have a cash balance of $10,486.26 of and $4,454.04 in GIC’s.

12. Scholarship: Nora Walden gave a Notice of Motion about the revision of the Scholarship Fund constitution. The document has been circulated, and copies were available for

anyone who hadn’t received one. The motion will be voted on at the Nov meeting.

13. Advocacy: Louise McColl reported that the promotion for the Women Candidates’ Debate was too good, because we ended up with standing room only, and many non CFUW members attended. Feedback after the event was good and we maintained 40% representation of women on the council. The application for twinning with a club or NFA in another country has been submitted to GWI. The advocacy committee, although mainly Anne Carbert, has prepared a letter for Randy Pettapiece, outlining our concerns about the actions of the new Ontario government, and requesting a meeting with him. We are also pushing the Ontario Council of CFUW to challenge the government on issues to do with education, climate change, poverty, and the elimination of violence against women.

14. Announcements were made about United Nations Day, which will be October 24th, and there will be an event at City Hall auditorium at 7:00 pm. Also, writer-in-residence at The Chef’s School, Jane Sigal, will be speaking on “Eating Words” at Stratford Public Library on October 1st at 7:00 pm.

15. Adjournment: Louise McColl moved the meeting be adjourned at 9:15.