BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in regard to the 25th anniversary of the CFUW Barrie and District.
As the Canadian Federation of University Women’s club (CFUW) Barrie and District turns a quarter of a century, our members are feeling reflective.
Granted, our club is not as old as the national CFUW, established in 1919. During the decades that followed, members participated in such fights as votes for women, feminism and pay equity. They joined forces with those struggling to advance the rights of women and human rights more broadly.
Just start with thinking back on what Barrie itself was like 25 years ago in 1998. With a population of around 70,000 and growing rapidly, we were a small city at the beginning of expansion and modernization. Our hospital, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), had just moved to its new building and location; our new city hall building was nearing completion; and the Spirit Catcher had just moved onto the shores of our waterfront. While Georgian College was a part of our community, the new and expanded Georgian campus was still over 12 years away.
That’s when Barrie residents Anne Snell, Carmen Della Valle and Barb Munroe decided – why not a CFUW club in the growing metropolis of Barrie, too? So along with a few charter members in 1998, they made it happen. Anne, Barb and Carmen continue to be very active in our club; however, sadly, Barb Munroe passed away this year.
In our 25 years in Barrie and District, we’ve built alliances with like-minded organizations — women’s shelters, Youth Haven, the Barrie Native Friendship Centre and affordable housing activists, to name a few. We’ve lobbied MPs, MPPs and city hall on issues of concern to our community. Our advocacy committee, headed by the still-indefatigable founding member Anne Snell, makes sure that continues to happen.
We’ve also found plenty of time for just plain sisterhood and fun, too, with our book clubs, lunch groups and outings playing an important role in our members lives, especially during the recent COVID period.
What we’re extremely proud of, however, is our ongoing commitment to supporting local scholarships for women and girls pursuing post-secondary education. We are a volunteer organization of members who have awarded nearly $70,000 worth of scholarships during the life of our club.
Through individual donations, community support or grassroots fundraising such as our annual garage sales, our CFUW volunteers have worked hard to assist where we can through support to needy students. Our club also established a scholarship especially designated for youth in care and may not have family to help them with the sky-high costs of education these days. In honour of our anniversary, they’ve added another special 25th-anniversary scholarship.
The CFUW Barrie and District is 25 years young and still volunteering to step up and make a difference in our community. And so, if you see us in September at our annual garage sale, please stop by and wish us a happy anniversary and perhaps drop a donation in the scholarship collection jar.
Vi Andersen
CFUW Barrie and District, president
