Annual Reports 2018-21

CFUW NORTH BAY’S ANNUAL REPORTS 2018-2021

CFUW North Bay’s Annual Reports for 2021-22

Presidents’ Report

Nat Brunette, Bonnie Roynon

This past year, since we became co-presidents, has certainly been a blur! Although not our favourite meeting location, Zoom has allowed us many opportunities to learn, socialize, and interact face-to-face with speakers and other members.

The fall of 2021 provided members with opportunities to get out into the community, while we toured our own club’s 80th-anniversary display at the North Bay Museum. What fun it was to browse through all the plaques and write-ups highlighting many of the community activities the club has provided for the local area! We heard from many past and present members about how enjoyable the experience was to revisit the displays over the two months with their extended families and reminisce about the adventures.

Our special 80th anniversary scholarship was a perfect opportunity to bring past winners together for an afternoon. The event also helped to showcase to the community how impactful and appreciated our annual scholarships are to young women pursuing their post-secondary goals. The extensive media coverage our club received around the 80th anniversary also brought another fully-funded, fifteen-year scholarship with the creation of the Dr. Diana Walton scholarship, which will be presented at Nipissing University.

Despite monthly meetings needing to be run on Zoom, there have been several opportunities to meet in person. In November, members created beautiful Christmas urns at Burrows. The lunch and dinner interest groups were able to dine in the community beginning in late winter. A very successful scholarship fundraiser was held outdoors in the form of a walk in nature and an outdoor social at Heli Vail’s in late April.

Over the course of the year we have reviewed our executive job descriptions and constitution, resulting in recommendations for the AGM. As we submit this annual report, we would like to thank each of the members for remaining positive and active in our club despite the many restrictions that have forced our club to temporarily adopt a different operating format this past year. Without your encouragement, dedication, and support towards CFUW North Bay, our club may not have survived these challenging times.

We certainly are looking forward to activities returning to a more public setting in the near future.

Scholarship Committee Report

Terry Blair, Heli Vail

CFUW North Bay has had an exciting year regarding scholarships in 2021-2022!

In November of 2021, CFUW North Bay celebrated our 80th anniversary, and the 80th Anniversary Scholarship of $800 was awarded to Shannon Hood, Nipissing University. Special guests were Andrea Parolin, Senior Development Officer, and Dr. Kevin Wamsley, President, Nipissing University. President Wamsley was the keynote speaker at our November 80th Anniversary Scholarship presentation celebration, held at the North Bay Museum.

The 2021-22 Nipissing University Scholarships of $500 each were awarded as follows:

• CFUW North Bay Faculty of Applied and Professional Studies Scholarship: Grace O’Neill

• CFUW North Bay Faculty of Arts and Science Scholarship: Christina Reid

• CFUW North Bay Schulich School of Education Scholarship: Sarah-Beth Raymond-Lusk

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The 2021-2022 Canadore College Bursary recipients, awarded $500 each, were as follows:

• CFUW North Bay Canadore College Non-Traditional Program Bursary: Emily Kirkton, Digital Cinematography Program, second year

• CFUW North Bay Canadore College Bursary Non-Traditional Program Bursary: Jessica Young, Digital Cinematography Program, second year

The CFUW North Bay Secondary School Scholarships of $500 each will be distributed to Nbisiing Secondary School in May 2022. Names of recipients will be forwarded to the Scholarship Committee once the school’s graduation award winners are determined.

For the 2020-21 year we gave a total of $4,300.

As in other years, events were held to raise funds for scholarships. Recently, a Spring Bonnet Scholarship Walk and Social was held on April 24, 2022. A total of $2,390 was raised as of May 1. Two other fundraisers were held earlier in the year: the Lakeside Acres Goat Milk Fundraiser and the Epicure Fundraiser (totals to be announced once received/deposited). Proceeds from these events were designated for the CFUW North Bay Scholarship account. Many thanks to our members for contributing so generously to these fundraisers, which support deserving female students in the North Bay area.

In addition, CFUW North Bay received $15,000 this year from the estate of Dr. Diana Walton to establish an annual scholarship in her memory. Details of these scholarships will be finalized with Mr. Bill Walton, Nipissing University, and CFUW North Bay; these will be formalized in a separate trust agreement. It is anticipated that the first of fifteen annual $1,000 scholarships will be awarded in the fall of 2022.

Membership Committee

Susan Fisher, Chair

CFUW North Bay had 51 members as of April 30, 2022. We welcomed Lise King’s return and two new members: Angela Hudson and Cher Harvey. In October, we suffered the loss of Mary Ann Jones.

Program Committee

Kelly Ann Smith and Kristen Ferguson, Co-Chairs

CFUW North Bay's program committee worked hard to provide another year of active and engaging programming for our members for 2021-22.Our program was mostly virtual again this year.We had a speaker-sharing event this year (Dr. Jane Barker from Nipissing University), with members of CFUW across the province joining in. We had two successful fundraising events: the Epicure night with Sarah Yackobeck and the goats milk soap fundraiser with Miranda Miatland. Other highlights include the talk by Dr. Kevin Wamsley (the new president of Nipissing University), holiday-urn making at Burrows, and our annual Charitable Trust ceremony at North Bay City Hall marking the December 6 memorial.

Issues and Advocacy

Brenda Robertson, Chair

The September meeting began with a review of actions taken on Afghanistan in support of women and children and families seeking a safe exit. A letter was sent to MP Rota about securing safe passage out of Afghanistan and securing safe corridors to facilitate the safe exit of Afghans seeking refuge.

Resource material and webinar links for International Day of Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 were provided and discussed.

Elder care was a continued focus especially with long-term care in Ontario and what is happening locally. The CFUW webinar on elder care provided a lot of sharing from across Canada and with other country NFAs (National Federations or Associations) for the International Day of the Elder on October 1.

In November, Johanne Brousseau, North Bay City Councillor, who was our guest speaker, made a presentation on long-term care. Councillor Brousseau provide information on local not-for-profit LTC facilities such as Cassellholme and for-profit groups such as Sienna Group. Her own personal experiences advocating for her mother were very enlightening.

A letter was sent to MP Rota on the Post-Pandemic Recovery for Women in Canada and Abroad to follow up on this CFUW resolution from 2021. As a follow-up to the Ontario Council Resolution on Human Trafficking, Awareness, Prevention, and Detection, four letters were sent to the four district schools boards on the Ministry of Education’s Policy/Program Memorandum 166, Keeping Students Safe: Policy framework for School Board Anti-Sex Trafficking Protocols. One response was received from the Near North District School Board with an invitation to participate in consultations on their draft policy. A submission was prepared and submitted prior to the January due date.

Issues on needed measures to secure safe passage of Afghan nationals prompted another letter of MP Rota calling on Canada to focus on securing and expanding options for Afghans and to fulfill its promise to resettle 40,000 Afghans.

Planning and organizing for the CFUW Resolution meeting began in February with the presentation by committee members at the March meeting. Six resolutions were presented with breakout rooms providing an opportunity for discussion with summaries and voting following. All six resolutions were accepted.

During the year, numerous opportunities to view CFUW and GWI webinars as well as those from the UN and from other sources were provided to the committee members. These sessions were on various issues from gender-based violence against women, Indigenous perspectives on education, climate change, and the pay gap. Numerous resource material was also provided.

Appreciation is extended to the Issues/Advocacy committee for their participation and contributions. Special thanks to Kelly Ann Smith for sharing her tech expertise and to Marg Mullan, who presented one of the resolutions.

Interest Groups

Adventures in Dining (Gourmet Dinner Group) - Margaret Green and Marilyn Smith

Once again, Adventures in Dining pivoted with the changing Covid restrictions. Although last year’s Zoom meetings featuring local culinary businesses were a success, we decided to return to the interest group’s long-time agenda of dining out at local restaurants. However, Covid thwarted that plan and we dined out infrequently. We hope to return to the monthly dinners.

Bon appetit!

Bridge Club - Helen Manning

As the pandemic persists, we continued to play bridge virtually using bridgebase.com for the games and FaceTime and/or landlines to chat during the gamesThis year there are six groups playing regularly every day except Sunday.As usual we plan to continue playing throughout the summer.It has been great to be able to keep in touch this way even when players have been out of the country or at their cottages.

Book Club - Caroline Haist

This year the book club continued to meet every fourth Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom. We have about 25 fairly active members.

Although one of our members (usually the one who has recommended the book) presents information about the book of that month and leads the discussion, the meetings are informal.

In June when we used to have a pot luck dinner while we talked about books for the following year, we will once again meet on Zoom to hear suggestions for next year - books that we have enjoyed reading and that we feel will result in a lively discussion. We will then take a couple of weeks to check reviews and then vote by email for the books we would like to read.

The list for 2022-23 will be available on our website (cfuwnorthbay.ca) as soon as the voting is complete, usually by the end of July. Lists of books chosen for the last several years are still on the website.

Gourmet Luncheon Group - Sue Fisher and Marianne Rogers

This year we had about 20 members. For the fall of 2021, we met mainly on Zoom. We enjoyed a cooking class with Dennis Mong. In 2022, we ventured forth in February to Average Joe’s and returned in April. The group is now looking forward to eating lunch at the Lake House Bistro in Callander in May.

Heritage Gardeners - Bonnie Cappadocia

Our CFUW waterfront garden, which is just past the boat launch parking lot on the left-hand side going east, has great blooms like tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, day lilies, salvia, mums, short asters, and different shrubs like astilbe, hydrangeas, potentilla, and rose bushes.The mums were showstoppers as many visitors to the waterfront asked what was the name of the pink flowers. We have two other gardens that are next to the roadway, the ones with the Golden Mile sign. These two gardens have weathered two winters with perennials from our lower garden as well as daisies, sedum, snow-in-summer, tall New England asters, and garden pinks. Some of the perennials near the road struggled a bit so are being replaced this spring. We are adding liatris as well to the two gardens for more summer colour. It takes about three years before the new design to be fully established. Berry white hydrangeas end the season with lovely pink and white cone-shaped flowers.

Often we get together after our Wednesday morning endeavours (8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. from May until early October with weeks off during the hot summer days) and go to our home gardens for tea and muffins. We share laughter, gardening ideas, and plants. If this sound like fun and you would like to join us, please let us know. If you are walking on the waterfront, take a look at our CFUW garden; it is quite beautiful. Bonnie Cappadocia is the team leader with Caroline Haist as alternate. Please contact Jade (heritage.gardeners@heritagenorthbay.com) if you would like to sign up or have any questions.

Really Healthy Walkers - Nat Brunette

The Really Healthy Walkers undertook numerous walks weekly in September and October before the cooler weather arrived. Throughout the winter, members walked on their own in exotic locations like Mexico, Portugal, Panama and Florida as well as in the North Bay area. Between January and March, several members pooled their weekly mileage and walked virtually between North Bay and Florida. This opportunity allowed all of those participating with an interesting goal to strive for as well as information about a few of the sites available to tourists along this popular “snowbird” route.

Roamers - Kaarina Tulisalo

Very few Roamers events were listed this year due to the COVID restrictions. As of April, community events are gradually opening up: theatres, arenas, sporting events, libraries, museums, galleries, restaurants, etc. Events will be listed on the CFUW North Bay website when information becomes available.

CFUW North Bay’s Annual Reports for 2020-21

President’s Report

Kaarina Tulisalo

As I reflected on the 2020-21 CFUW year, I decided that words matter and that I wanted to share some words that mattered to me.

Pandemic: The pandemic has had a profound effect on our club and our lives. COVID has restricted our in-person meetings indoors and out. Words such as masks, social distancing, hand washing, waivers, bubbles, lock downs, border crossings, waves and vaccines we hear frequently now. Despite the disadvantages, we found advantages. The pandemic has reframed our thinking. Creativity and resilience have become essential. We hosted a garden tour. We lunched outside. We supported local businesses by ordering take-out. New interest groups sprang up such as the Really Healthy Walkers and the Wake-up Call. We supported Coldest Night in support of The Gathering Place. My next word created a buzz.

Zoom: Technology came to our rescue. Zoom gave us the tools we needed to connect. We were challenged to learn how to schedule and join Zoom meetings, rename ourselves, move in and out of breakout rooms. Speaker sharing mushroomed. We hosted two such events, inviting other clubs to join us to hear speakers Dr. Rosemary Nagy and Dr. Rob Graham. We were able to join international events such as the UN CSW 65. Zoom has opened the world to us, locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally.

Membership: We are a diverse membership. We joined for many different reasons and participate in many different ways and levels. The most important thing is that our members support the values and goals of CFUW North Bay. One of the silver linings this year has been the recognition of how deep-rooted our fellowship is. We found ways to come together. Our interest groups have flourished, some with record-breaking numbers. New groups have been added. Our “snow birds” and travellers joined us for the winter, and now we know how they can participate in the future. We supported each other through challenging times.

Advocacy: It has been an important pillar in our club, especially this year. We have continued advocacy on issues such as violence against women, equality, human rights, peace, Indigenous issues, climate change, and the environment. We studied the resolutions, wrote letters, and met virtually with our MP Anthony Rota. CFUW National has established study groups that meet virtually. We have members that have joined the following study groups: membership, Indigenous issues and long-term care and women’s issues.

International: Now more than ever the world is a global community. Our club continues to support the Montessori School Under the Tree in Tanzania. This year we had the opportunity to participate in a global event, Afghan Peace Negotiations: Their Perilous Significance for Women in Afghanistan. The Stand on the Bridge event and the Walk to Kabul in time for the international webinar on the April 24 were modelled on CFUW North Bay’s Join Me on the Bridge event and our Really Healthy Walkers group that is trekking across the globe. The project involved 19 CFUW clubs across Canada, over 600 walkers, and over 500 registrants for the webinar from 27 countries. This is an excellent example of the power of women working together. Our voices are needed now more than ever.

Scholarships: We continue our strong scholarship program. In addition to our regular annual scholarships, we will be awarding our 80th Anniversary Scholarship to a deserving Nipissing student who is transferring from Canadore College.

Program: The program has been a key element in the success of our club this year. The chairs and the committee were creative, resourceful, and imaginative under challenging circumstances. Their programs generated enthusiasm and provided opportunities for learning and fun as well as raising money through two fundraisers.

Anniversary: It is a pleasure to conclude my report on a celebratory note. We are celebrating the 80th anniversary of CFUW North Bay. The club received its charter in 1941. Our focus will be on the contribution CFUW North Bay has made to the city. We have quite a story to tell. The five bins of archives stored at the North Bay Public Library and the memories shared by current members are excellent resources. The highlight will be the display at the North Bay Museum in October.

I have shared my words and I invite you to share yours. I do have one more heartfelt word to share. It says it all: thanks to all of you!

Scholarship Committee

Sheila Taylor, Scholarship Chair

The CFUW North Bay Secondary School Scholarships were given in June 2020 to Chippewa Secondary School and additionally by motion of the club to Widdifield Secondary School as it was its last year in existence: $500 scholarship to Elsa Konkal Seguin and Julia Einarson at Chippewa plus an additional $500 each to Anna Joyal and Talia MacDonald at Widdifield. The June 2021 high school scholarships will be bypassed this year as Widdifield received theirs a year ahead of schedule. The next high school scholarships will be in June 2022 to Nibisiing Secondary School.

The 2020-21 Nipissing University Scholarships of $500 each were awarded as follows:

North Bay CFUW Faculty of Applied and Professional Studies Scholarship to Malory Dominico

North Bay CFUW Faculty of Arts and Science Scholarship to Samantha Lavellee; North Bay CFUW Schulich School of Education Scholarship to Sarah-Beth Raymond Lusk. Two of the award winners met with me over Zoom in February.

The 2020 Canadore College Bursary winners awarded $500 each were as follows:

CFUW North Bay Canadore College Non-Traditional Program Bursary to Hailey Williams, Building Construction Technician Program and CFUW North Bay Canadore College Bursary to Jordan Warford, Dental Hygiene 2nd year. The 2021 recipients have yet to be announced. In early April a congratulatory letter was received addressed to the members from George Burton with best wishes for our 80th anniversary. It is posted on our website.

In addition an 80th Anniversary Scholarship at Nipissing University has been established in the amount of $800. This will be awarded in September, 2021.

For the 2020-21 year we gave a total of $5,300.

Membership Committee

Nat Brunette and Susan Fisher, Co-Chairs

As of December 2020, CFUW North Bay had 50 paid members. There were no new members. Unfortunately, six members did not rejoin the club this year.

Program Committee

Kelly Ann Smith and Kristen Ferguson, Co-Chairs (Report by Kelly Ann Smith)

CFUW North Bay's Program Committee worked diligently to provide an active and exciting mostly virtual program for our members for 2020-21. We had two speaker-sharing events this year (Dr. Rosemary Nagy and Dr. Rob Graham) with members of CFUW across the province joining in. Vicki Rivard spoke to us about Nipissing Serenity Hospice here in North Bay.

We had two successful fundraising events: the Epicure night with Sarah Yackobeck and the painting morning with Marianne Vander Dussen, both of which were very well attended. Other highlights include Zumba with Kindra McMillan, holiday urn making at Burrows, and our Charitable Trust ceremony at North Bay City Hall marking the December 6 memorial.

Issues and Advocacy

Brenda Robertson, Chair

The CFUW North Bay Issues/Advocacy Committee consisting of nine members began meeting in October 2020 with a review of the process of CFUW Advocacy and a discussion of the 2020 adopted CFUW resolutions. Two resolutions were chosen for a focus for the year: Long Term Care—Protecting Our Most Vulnerable and The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. Letters were sent in November to MP Anthony Rota for both resolutions followed with a January 13 virtual meeting for discussion of these issues. MP Rota’s office followed up the meeting sending further information on long-term care. Also in November, letters on long-term care were sent to MPP Vic Fedeli and Mayor Al McDonald. As no response came from either by January, letters were sent once again. The Ministry of Long term Care responded, leaving many questions unaddressed. Another letter was sent with further questions. MPP Fedeli’s reply still left concerns regarding lack of immediate funding for PSWs and their claim of doing comprehensive inspections of LTC homes. No response came from the mayor’s office.

Committee member Kaarina Tulisalo participated in a national study group for long-term care and

Wynne Blair joined the national education committee study on Indigenous issues.

Appreciation is extended to all CFUW North Bay members who answered our call for action to send individual letters to various local, provincial and national officials on long-term care. Our vigilance and action to raise our voice wherever possible on this very important issue need to continue.

CFUW resolutions were presented in March with Wynne Blair taking the lead and members presenting the six resolutions. Electronic voting on the resolutions followed.

Thank you to Caroline Haist, our amazing website manager, for updating our Issues/Advocacy section

of the club website with items sent in to keep the site current.

Sincere thank you to the Issues/Advocacy committee members for their keen participation, their valuable contribution of research material, and efforts to advocate on issues of concern.

Interest Groups

Adventures in Dining (Gourmet Dinner Group) - Margaret Green

Previously dining monthly at local restaurants, the group now meets on Zoom the last Thursday of each month. We decide each month which local restaurants and caterers to support, with the emphasis on female business owners. Members order and then pick up their choices.

The cooks are asked to join the Zoom meeting and share the story of their businesses and their menus, especially explaining the pivoting the lockdowns have required. Dinner Is Served, Canadore’s 100 Elements, and Bengali Catering by Monika have provided speakers. There is no obligation to order meals, but joining the meeting to hear the speakers is worthwhile.

Adventure in Dining invites anyone from the club to join the meetings. The convener is Marg Green at mjgreen@cogeco.ca

Bridge Club - Helen Manning

Until the pandemic, we played one or two tables of bridge on Thursday afternoons.Since the pandemic has restricted socialization, we have several groups playing online using bridgebase.com.There are four groups playing regularly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.To enable talking we use a combination of FaceTime and land-line phones with speakers on.It has been great to be able to keep in touch this way.

Book Club - Caroline Haist

This year the book club met every fourth Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom. We have about 25 fairly active members and because no one was travelling this year, we had many more members able to join in during the winter months.

Although one of our members (usually the one who has recommended the book) presents information about the book of that month and leads the discussion, the meetings are informal.

In June we usually have a pot luck dinner, but this year again it will be on Zoom that members will suggest books for next year - books that they have enjoyed reading themselves and that they feel will result in a lively discussion. Members will then take a couple of weeks to check reviews and then vote by email for the books they would like to read.

The list for 2021-22 will be available to members and on our website (cfuwnorthbay.ca) as soon as the voting is complete, usually by the end of July. Lists of books chosen for the last several years are still on the website.

Gourmet Luncheon Group - Sue Fisher and Marianne Rogers

In normal times, members of the CFUW Gourmet Lunch members enjoy lunches in members’ homes. Despite COVID restrictions, they all turned their focus to figuring out how to proceed for the current year. We had 18 members who indicated on a survey that they wanted to join the lunch group.

In September, we decided that we would move forward slowly, and a planning meeting was scheduled for October, the first Tuesday of the month as usual. We met on October 13 to plan in a backyard where we could enjoy the sunshine, socially distanced, bringing our chairs and our own lunches. Twelve members attended in person and one on FaceTime.

On November 3, we again met outside in a backyard, this time wearing our winter jackets. But the sun was bright, and we enjoyed take-out from the Opera Café in an attempt to a support local business. In December three members prepared Christmas baskets filled with goodies and delivered them to members’ homes. But the next four meetings were moved to Zoom. Members easily formed Zoom presentation groups to provide recipes for appetizers, leftovers, desserts, and salads.

We are hoping to meet outside in June and await the lifting of some of the COVID restrictions so outside groups are permitted.

Heritage Gardeners - Bonnie Cappadocia

Last year was an unusual year for our Voyageur gardeners at the waterfront because of COVID-19. We had to wait until early June to get started with distancing and no more than three people to a garden. Luckily we have ten members who can garden in three beds, so we could all meet every Wednesday morning around 9:00. Our members include Jeanette Wilmot, Helen Manning, Caroline Haist, Diane Steward, and Bonnie Cappadocia. We also have five helpers who are not members of CFUW.

Two years ago, the upper two beds under the Golden Mile sign were completely redesigned and are coming along nicely. You will see all the daffodils that were planted last fall in bloom right now (late April). We are waiting for the go-ahead from the city to be able to start again this year.

Really Healthy Walkers - Nat Brunette

Despite the ongoing pandemic, an energetic group of 18 members combined their love of the outdoors and walking to form the Really Healthy Walkers in January. This new interest group walked individually weekly and then submitted their mileage to help the group "travel" on an adventure that has taken us across eastern Canada and overseas.

With the initial goal of walking to the Ottawa Tulip Festival, we quickly realized that we needed to set our sights much higher as we met the goal in our first week. To date, we have walked to the East Coast, paddled our club's Voyageur canoe across to Greenland where we explored this unknown country before moving on to take in the sights of Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Germany.

The group has enjoyed not only learning about the new countries but also seeing the sights with help from personal pictures and memories provided by our own members. We were extremely happy to also have contributed our weekly mileage to the CFUW National's Walk to Kabul.

CFUW North Bay’s Annual Reports for 2019-20

Co-Presidents’ Report

Kaarina Tulisalo and Catherine Whiting

The CFUW North Bay year 2019-2020 was one of brilliant highs and challenging lows. The program was outstanding, fundraisers were successful, special events added variety and as always, the interest groups and fellowships thrived.

Program: The goal of the program committee was to add variety and something new to the programme. The year opened with a lively and colourful presentation of Culture Days, a community and national celebration at the end of September. CFUW North Bay was one of the many community partners planning and hosting the events. In October Johanne Brousseau, a first-year municipal councillor, gave an insightful presentation titled Women in Politics, Just Do It. We also welcomed CFUW National President Grace Hollett as a guest that evening. She brought greetings from the National Board and outlined national initiatives. It was an inspiring evening by two exceptional women in leadership roles. We rolled into the New Year with a presentation by members of the Nipissing Roller Derby team. Some members were in full competition gear including skates. It was a fun programme by women dedicated to a sport we knew little about. In February Kaneez Merali shared her story titled From Mom to Entrepreneur. Little did we know at the February meeting that it would be our last regular general meeting of the year.

Special Events: Once again special events added variety to the programme. The Countdown to Christmas and Silent Auction was an enjoyable evening and raised $1,231.31 for scholarships and the fundraising account. Members knit scarves for the Red Scarf Project in recognition of AIDS Awareness Day and participated in the Coldest Night event raising $335 for the Gathering Place. Members donated Christmas gifts for women and children at True Self and Transition House. Members donated to the Montessori School Under the Tree in Tanzania. Brenda Robertson visited the school in March and took over items for the children donated by members. The Charitable Trust Dinner was a moving evening and raised money for the Ecole Polytechnique Commemorative Award. Our members are very caring and generous women. Together we make a difference. Thank you.

Advocacy: Once again advocacy was an important part of the program. Education was identified as an area of focus and the advocacy committee in partnership with Nipissing University hosted a community event titled Perspectives on Safe and Accepting schools. An education highlight was the presentation of the 100th Anniversary Scholarship in November to Melissa Corrente, a doctoral candidate at the Schulich School of Education. In April Melissa successfully defended her dissertation. Other advocacy initiatives included participation in the Women’s March, the Coldest Night of the Year, and International Women’s Day events.

The Challenges: There were many challenges this year. In September we unexpectedly faced facility cancellations at Cementation, the North Bay Library, Holy Name Church, and the Community Living Centre. However, the biggest challenge has been the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed all programs as of March 17. We have had to conduct virtual Zoom meetings to complete the year. There is so much uncertainty presently that it is a challenge to plan for next year. However, we will find creative resourceful ways meet the challenge and move forward together.

Catherine and I would like to thank you for the spectacular highs and for facing the challenges with purpose and the spirit of women working together.

Scholarship Committee Report

Sheila Taylor, Scholarship Chair

2019-2020 Scholarships and Bursaries

The CFUW NB Secondary School Scholarships given in June 2019 were awarded to Melena Levasseur and Aleone Villeneuve of Ecole Secondaire Catholique Algonquin in the amount of $500 each. In June of 2020 the Secondary School scholarships will be awarded to Chippewa Intermediate and Secondary School.

2019-2020 Nipissing University Scholarships ($500 each)

• CFUW NB Faculty of Arts and Science Scholarship: Jacqueline Cottrell

• CFUW NB Faculty of Applied and Professional Studies Scholarship: Tracy Ashfield

• CFUW NB Schulich School of Education: Lauren Goodridge

• 100th Anniversary One-Time Special Scholarship to a Graduate Student awarded in 2019 to Melissa Corrente, PhD Candidate ($1000)

2019-2020 Canadore Bursaries ($500 each)

• CFUW NB Canadore College Non-Traditional Program Bursary TBA

• CFUW NB Canadore College Bursary TBA

For the 2019-20 year we gave a total of $4500.

Gift of Reading

Nat Brunette and Kristen Ferguson

This year's Gift of Reading was presented on March 4 at Phelps Public School in Redbridge. Thanks to the generosity of our CFUW members, seven kindergarten students each received two new books, and the class library received a variety of greatly appreciated new books.

Membership Committee

Nat Brunette and Susan Fisher, Co-Chairs

As of December 2019, CFUW had 56 paid members. There were four new members. Unfortunately, nine members did not renew their memberships this year.

Programme Committee

Kelly Ann Smith and Kristen Ferguson, Co-Chairs (Report by Kelly Ann Smith)

CFUW North Bay's Program Committee worked to provide a varied and interesting program for members. Planning takes place in late June and early July. We usually meet for two to three hours. While our program was cut short this year, a few of the highlights were North Bay City Councillor Johanne Brousseau in September, the Charitable Trust dinner at Cecil's in December, and the Nipissing Roller Derby team in January. We also distributed a survey to members asking for feedback about speakers and annual events. We will use this survey information for planning next year. We also will work to reschedule for next year speakers whose events were cut due to COVID-19, for example Dr. Rosemary Nagy's talk about human trafficking,

This year we continued to promote CFUW in the local media. New this year was the addition of promoting club events on BayToday and on the public library information screens. We also developed a Facebook page and are currently using social media to share our local club's events and also share notices and announcements from Ontario Council and National with our members.

Social Committee

Karen Montcalm, Chair

I would like to thank Marianne Rogers and Diane Wallace for their help and support. This year presented a few hiccups; however, with the help of great club members everything worked out. Thank you to those who contributed our delicious treats.

Issues and Advocacy

Heli Vail and Bunty Swanson, Co-Chairs

With no resolutions to focus on last year, the club chose education as our theme in the spring. Then the club narrowed this broad topic to Perspectives on Safe and Inclusive Schools. Consequently, CFUW North Bay, in partnership with Nipissing University, presented a panel discussion on this topic on September 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Nipissing University.

Panelists gave their own perspective on Safe and Inclusive Schools. Members of the Issues and Advocacy committee all worked hard on this presentation, and it was excellent according to the audience. Unfortunately, only a handful of people showed up. In hindsight, we should have handled publicity ourselves and invited teachers, parents, and students to attend.

The Panelists:

• The Dr. Arja Vainio—Mattila, Provost and VP Academic, Nipissing University

• Dr. Mike Parr, Associate Professor of Education, Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University

• Taylor Valnion, Student, Faculty of Education, Nipissing University

• Dr. Joe Madden, Paediatrician

• Chantal Phillips, Digital Community Manager, North Bay and District Multicultural Centre

• Christine Misch, Ministry of Education Gisele Hebert, Executive Director, Children’s Aid Society of Nipissing and Parry Sound

The Issues and Advocacy members met in October to decide on what to do as a follow-up to the September panel discussion and voted to work on Part 2 of our original topic. Brenda Robertson and Bunty Swanson did some preliminary work on Part 2, but it is all on hold and possibly irrelevant if the Ontario Government chooses to address the reporting and problem solving of violence in schools.

Interest Groups

Adventures in Dining (Gourmet Dinner Group) - Margaret Green

The dinner group meets the last Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at various restaurants. In October we met at Casey’s to decide where we would dine. The group enjoyed dining at The Green Papaya, The Crown and Beaver, Lot 88, and Casey’s before the restaurants were closed. We enjoyed fellowship, fun, and delicious meals.

Bridge Club - Helen Manning and Caroline Haist

In normal times our bridge club meets on Thursday afternoons in each others’ homes from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Numbers vary as our members are travellers. We usually have only one table. Sometimes a fifth person participates and we take turns sitting out. On the odd occasion, we have eight people to play two-table bridge. Although we play duplicate rules from lessons taken at the North Bay Bridge Club, we take time to discuss the hands. Anyone wishing to join us can email Helen at hmmanning@gmail.com or Caroline at carlilh43@gmail.com.

This is the way bridge club functioned until February. Since then a number of our members have played with each other virtually using a website (bridgebase.com) and just recently added FaceTime so that we can chat while we play. Bridge club members have received invitations and instructions for getting together for bridge virtually. We hope to continue to play with each other this way until we can meet again face to face.

Book Club - Caroline Haist

The book club meets every fourth Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in members’ homes and did so this year from September to February. In December we changed the venue and the time and enjoyed a lunch along with our discussion at Churchill’s, and of course we have not met since February.

We have about 25 fairly active members and have had close to that many at some of our fall and spring meetings when most of our members are in town.

Although one of our members (usually the one who has recommended the book) presents information about the book of that month and leads the discussion, the meetings are informal.

Because we have not been able to meet to discuss books selected for April and May, we are scheduling these books for September and October of next year. We are, however, planning to use Zoom to discuss our March book on May 26.

In June we usually have a pot luck dinner, but this year it will be through Zoom that members will suggest books for November to May for next year - books that they have enjoyed reading themselves and that they feel will result in a lively discussion. Members will then take a couple of weeks to check reviews and then vote by email for the books they would like to read.

The list for 2020-21 will be available to members and on our website (cfuwnorthbay.ca) as soon as the voting is complete, usually by the end of July. Lists of books chosen for the last several years are still on the website.

Gourmet Luncheon Group - Sue Fisher and Marianne Rogers

This year we had 17 members but not all at the same time. If the group was over 12 for a lunch we moved to buffet style.

We had an organizing meeting at the Urban Café in October followed by wonderful lunches in November, December, and February. The March lunch was held at Churchill’s in the sunroom with 13 members present. It turned out to be a highlight. We then had to cancel the April, May, and June lunches. If by chance June becomes a possibility we will come up with a suitable plan.

Heritage Gardeners - Bonnie Cappadocia

During the spring and summer of 2019, our team (Voyageurs) planted new perennials for two redesigned beds. They are one ones next to the road where the Golden Mile sign is located. We will see what plants survive as these are very sandy beds, and we are still in the process of getting more perennials to finish the design. The third bed is in front of the lilac bed on the promenade by the lake, and this garden is growing very nicely.

This spring, however, our team is not permitted to garden until the province lifts the ban on park use. It is possible that our team will not be able to garden at all this year. We are hopeful that we will be able to get the weeds out, prune the deadwood, mulch and compost the three gardens before the gardens start looking the worse for wear. As with everything else we all have to deal with in this difficult time, we will wait and see.

Sunrise Breakfast - Susanne Carr

The Sunrise Breakfast group meets on the last Friday of every month, even during the summer. We meet at 9 a.m. at the Home Style Café, 741 Wallace Road.

Sunrise Breakfast is a very informal come-as-you can group of members, and sometimes friends or family join us. We talk, network, and catch up with each other while enjoying a great breakfast. Everyone is welcome to join us as soon as restaurants are allowed to open again.

CFUW North Bay’s Annual Reports for 2018-19

Co-Presidents’ Report

Catherine Whiting and Kaarina Tulisalo

CFUW North Bay has enjoyed a spectacular 2018-2019 year. It has been a year of many memorable highlights. Join Catherine and me on a trip down memory lane.

Speakers: We welcomed exceptional speakers on a variety of topics, speakers such as Karen Strang, Marianna Couchie, and Shannon Palmer. We danced with Joany Gauvreau, explored global perspectives on women and education with Dr. Arja Vainio Mattila, lunched and learned with Dr. David Tabachnick, sang with John Balfe and enjoyed musical moments with the Woodwinds Ensemble.

Special Events:

• 100th Anniversary: 2019 began with the celebration of CFUW’s 100th anniversary. The kickoff event in January complete with the 100th anniversary cake and special guests from the Professional Women’s Newcomers Network (PWNN) began an eventful year. Celebrations continued with the flag raising of the anniversary flag and the proclamation of April 10 as CFUW Day, the scarfing and photo shoot of Lynn Johnston’s Elly Patterson, the magical evening of music with the Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir and the North Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Notable Woman Award. Celebrations will continue with the June anniversary dinner, the summer social and the presentation of the 100th Anniversary Scholarship.

• International Women’s Day: The day turned into a week of celebrations. Some events were hosted by CFUW North Bay such as the On The Bridge. The club assisted in the running of events such as The Art Show and attended events hosted by Nipissing University. A new adventure was our participation in the Trade Show at the IWD 2019 events at the Capitol Centre on March 8.

• Community Connections: We reached out into the community in order to raise our profile. We now have a business card and are on Facebook. We are now connected with Activism North Bay, Solidarity Nipissing , the Professional Women’s Newcomers Network (PWNN) and The Business Centre. We continue our partnerships with NEWHA, the AIDS Committee and North Bay Grandmothers for Africa. Connections such as the ones listed are vital to the continued growth of CFUW North Bay.

• Fundraisers/Community Support: Members continue to support our fundraisers with generous support for scholarships through personal donations, the annual silent auction, the summer social, and special events such as the evening of music. Locally we support the Gathering Place with the Coldest Night Walk, the Gift of Reading, collecting Christmas gifts for True Self and Transition House. Nationally we support the CFUW Charitable Trust. Internationally we support a school in Tanzania and the IWD project in Colombia. It is said that the secret to living is giving. CFUW North Bay members give generously and willingly.

Other Highlights:

• Scholarships: We awarded over $3500.00 in scholarships to Nipissing University, Canadore College , Algonquin Secondary School and the CFUW Charitable Trust Ecole Polytechnique Memorial Award. We will be awarding a special !00th Anniversary Scholarship Award in the amount of $1000 to a deserving student in a graduate programme in celebration and recognition of the 100th anniversary.

• Issues and Advocacy: The membership established Education as the primary focus in the coming year. We met with our MPP and the mayor and sent numerous advocacy letters.

• Delegates to UNCSW63: Brenda Robertson and Lisa Long were members of the CFUW delegation to the United Nations Commission Status of Women63 in New York City in March. Congratulations!

These are just some highlights of the 2018-19 year. Catherine and I invite you to add your highlights to the trip down memory lane. We are women making a difference locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Our accomplishments demonstrate the power of women working together. Thank you for helping make 2018-19 such a spectacular year.

Scholarship Committee Report

LIsa Long, Scholarship Chair

2018-2019 Scholarships and Bursaries

The CFUW NB Secondary School Scholarships given in June 2018 were awarded to Kristen Jackson and Katie Caliccuri of St. Joseph-Scollard Hall in the amount of $500 each. In June of 2019 the Secondary School scholarships will be awarded to Ecole Secondaire Catholique Algonquin.

2018-2019 Nipissing University Scholarships ($500 each)

• CFUW NB Faculty of Arts and Science Scholarship: Taylor Blacker

• CFUW NB Faculty of Applied and Professional Studies Scholarship: Taylor Hummel

• CFUW NB Schulich School of Education: Brittany Mantha

2018-2019 Canadore Bursaries ($500 each)

• CFUW NB Canadore College Non-Traditional Program Bursary

• CFUW NB Canadore College Bursary

For the 2018-19 year we gave a total of $3500.

2019 CFUW 100th Anniversary Award

In recognition of the 100th Anniversary of CFUW $1000 in the scholarship account has been reserved for the CFUW Anniversary Scholarship. This one-time 100th Anniversary Scholarship will be awarded to a deserving woman attending a North Bay post-secondary institution as per criteria established by the 2019 CFUW 100th Anniversary Award Committee and awarded in the 2019 calendar year.

Membership Committee

Nat Brunette and Susan Fisher, Co-Chairs

As of December 2018, CFUW North Bay had 60 paid members. There were three new members. Unfortunately, four members didn't rejoin this year.

Programme Committee

Mae MacDonald and Kelly Anne Smith, Co-Chairs (Report by Kelly Ann Smith)

It has been my privilege to serve for the first time as programme co-chair. Our programmes would not be as varied as they are without the assistance of those members who willingly serve on the committee. Planning takes place in late June and early July. We usually meet for two to three hours. Since everyone on the committee takes an active part in obtaining speakers, we need meet only three to four times. This past year a few of the highlights were the silent auction in November, Christmas Memories with John Balfe, and belly dancing with Joany Gauvreau in January. In February, Dr. Arja Vainio Mattila of Nipissing University gave a presentation on global perspectives on women and education. April’s Lunch and Learn featured Dr. David Tabachnick of Nipissing University, who spoke about populism and its effect on democracy. May is our annual general meeting, and June is our final meeting, when we will gather at Terrace Suites for our end-of-year dinner that will also mark CFUW’s 100th anniversary.

Gift of Reading

Nat Brunette

The Gift of Reading was held on March 5 at Mother St. Bride Catholic School. This year, 17 senior kindergarten children received new books generously donated by CFUW members.

Media Relations

Kristen Ferguson

Social Committee

Heli Vail, Chair

The CFUW Social committee had a busy year. Many thanks go out to Karen Montcalm and Heather Strachan, hardworking, conscientious members of the committee. Also thanks to all the members who contributed the goodies to go with the tea and coffee.

Issues and Advocacy

Heli Vail and Bunty Swanson, Co-Chairs

The 2018-19 year was slightly different for the Issues and Advocacy Committee as there were no resolutions forthcoming from the provincial office because local clubs did not submit any resolutions.

The directive from CFUW was to have each individual club develop its own initiative. Thus the Issues and Advocacy Committee met and developed a process where the members could participate in a process to establish a focus for the 2019-20 year at the March resolutions membership meeting. At that meeting, the membership decided the focus would be on education.

The committee met after to discuss strategies the club could engage in for the upcoming year. These suggestions will be brought forward to the May executive meeting. If the executive approves the committee will share the plan at the May AGM.

Additional initiatives include the following:

Meeting with MPP Vic Fedeli onMarch 29

• Letters to the MPP concerning proposed cuts to education, the elimination of the Provincial Child Advocate, equitable access to provincial curricula and social justice education for all children

• Meeting with Mayor McDonald on March 13

• Letter to mayor regarding concerns about City Council motions about our wetlands, water, and endangered species

• Letters to MP Anthony Rota concerning the ending of youth homelessness, fair and non-discriminatory management of refugees and asylum seekers, equitable access to provincial curricula and social justice education for all children

Interest Groups

Adventures in Dining (Gourmet Dinner Group) - Margaret Green

The dinner group—Adventures in Dining—meets the last Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. at various restaurants. This year we have enjoyed dining at The Lookout Eatery, the East Indian feast in Callander, Lot 88, Farina’s, Average Joe’s, Indulge, The Green Papaya, and The White Owl. Everyone is welcome to join the dining evenings.

Bridge Club - Helen Manning

Our bridge club meets on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Numbers vary as our members are travellers. We usually have only one table. Sometimes a fifth person participates and we take turns sitting out. On the odd occasion, we have had eight people to play two-table bridge. Although we play duplicate rules from lessons taken at the North Bay Bridge Club, we take time to discuss the hands. Anyone wishing to join us can call Helen at 705-495-4271.

Book Club - Caroline Haist

The book club meets every fourth Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in members’ homes. Although one of our members presents information about the book of that month and leads the discussion, the meetings are informal.

In June at the annual pot luck dinner, members suggest books for the following year - books that they have enjoyed reading themselves and that they feel will result in a lively discussion. Members then take a couple of weeks to check reviews and then vote by email for the books they would like to read. The list for 2019-20 will be available as soon as the voting is complete, usually by the end of July. Lists of the books chosen for the last three years are still on the website.

Gourmet Luncheon Group - Sue Fisher and Marianne Rogers

The 2018-19 Gourmet Luncheon Group increased in size to 17 members. In October, we met at the Urban Café to decide who would cook with whom in November, December, February, March, May and June. It was also decided to forgo the January luncheon as the season is so busy.

The recipes for our lunches are on the website. Each meal this year was beautifully presented and very yummy. Our times together are special - lots of laughter and entertaining conversation.

Heritage Gardeners - Bonnie Cappadocia

Our CFUW waterfront garden, which is just past the boat launch parking lot on the left-hand side going east, has gone one year through a major design change, and the blooms were spectacular with tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, day lilies, salvia, mums, asters, and different shrubs like astilbe, hydrangeas, potentilla, and rose bushes.We have two other gardens that are next to the roadway, the ones with the Golden Mile sign. These two gardens will be changed this year as the junipers will be removed, and perennials from our lower garden by the walkway will be transplanted soon to the two garden above.

Often, we get together after our Wednesday morning endeavours (8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. from May until early October with weeks off during the hot summer days) and go to our home gardens for tea and muffins. We share laughter, gardening ideas, and plants. If this sound like fun and you would like to join us, please let us know. If you are walking on the waterfront, take a look at our CFUW garden; it is quite beautiful. Bonnie Cappadocia is the team leader with Caroline Haist as alternate. Please contact Bonnie if you would like to sign up or have any questions.

Roamers - Kaarina Tulisalo

Roamers events provide excellent opportunities for members to educate, advocate, and socialize. We bring community events to the attention of members through the newsletter, our website, emails to members, and local news outlets. CFUW North Bay is now on Facebook and is using social media to connect. We have also added contacts through Activism North Bay, Solidarity Nipissing and The Business Centre. Our contact list also includes the North Bay Symphony, North Bay Grandmothers for Africa, Near North Voices Community Choir, Rapport Singers, North East Women Health Alliance, AIDS Committee of North Bay, Sunday Cinema, Live at the Met Opera and Callander Library. Special events included Fall into Fashion, Chili Lunch In a Bowl, Indian Cuisine Dinner, Women’s March, On the Bridge March, Coldest Night Walk, and Dinner with the author Terry Falllis.

Special thanks go to Caroline Haist for her excellent posts on our website and in the monthly newsletter. Thanks to members for continuing to submit suggestions and attending events.

Sunrise Breakfast - Susanne Carr

The Sunrise Breakfast group meets on the last Friday of every month, even during the summer. We meet at 9 a.m. unitl March at Auntie Jane’s until it closed. Now we meet at the Home Style Café, 741 Wallace Road.

CFUW North Bay’s Annual Reports for 2017-18

President's Report

Brenda Robertson

CFUW North Bay consists of 61 members in the rural and urban areas of North Bay. The 14 executive positions consist of President, Vice-president, Past president, Secretary, Treasurer, Chairs for Membership, Programme, Social, Scholarships, Advocacy, Publicity, Archives, CFUW Liaison, and a Member-at-Large. These positions are often co-chaired. At our four executive meetings, we have had an open, respectful, environment to express various viewpoints, participated in informative, meaningful discussions and tried to be conscientious in decision making. Sincere appreciation is extended to each of the executive members this year for giving of your time and expertise in supporting the growth and wellbeing of our club.

Convenors of the interest groups - Book Club, Bridge, Gourmet Lunch, Gourmet Dinner, Heritage Gardening, Issue/Advocacy, Roamers, and Sunrise Breakfast - are congratulated for providing opportunities for stimulating discussions, opportunities for friendship, and new learning experiences.

Thank you!

Communication is essential in any organization. To our Website/Newsletter Manager Caroline Haist, gratitude is expressed for sharing your technology gifts and knowledge to ensure clear and timely messaging for our members and the public. Thank you very much to our members for your participation on committees throughout the year. Your generosity has encouraged others, supported special events, and created a welcoming atmosphere.

As we reflect over the past year, we can consider how we were involved with our purpose in being a club. In the Pursuit of Knowledge, we were engaged with excellent programme speakers.

In the Promotion of Education, members gave generously to our scholarships, the Gift of Reading, the Montessori School Under the Tree, and International Women’s Day projects. In the Improvement of the Status of Women, we wrote letters on behalf of True-Self and stood together On the Bridge. Participation in Public Affairs has taken us to the offices of our Mayor, the MPP and MP. In our community, members walk for the Coldest Night and for the Serenity Hospice. The needs of the community are also met with collections of socks/mitts, red scarves, toiletries, and Christmas presents.

CFUW North Bay is fulfilling our purpose through numerous activities and actions. We do not always meet the recipients of our good will, but please know, I am sure their smiles would light up your day.

As a proud member of CFUW North Bay, I would like to thank you for the privilege of serving as your President. I extend best wishes to the incoming executive, and to each of our members for a successful, exciting year ahead as we celebrate 100 years of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW).

Scholarship Committee Report

Heather Chambers, Scholarship Chair

Follow-up from 2016-2017

Two Community Awards

In the summer through the Transition House, Demi Buffy Nakogee was given a $500 CFUW award. She was attending a twelve-week course for Aboriginal Women in the Trades.

In the fall through Amelia Rising a $500.00 CFUW Award was given to Kayleigh Bastin, a Nipissing University student.

The CFUW NB Secondary School Scholarships in June 2017 were given to West Ferris Secondary School in memory of Christine Whatmore and Nancy Ferguson. The recipients were Veronica (Roni) Neil, attending Nipissing University (BA Criminal Justice), and Kelsey Melnychuk, attending Canadore College (Biotechnology Technician Program). This June St. Joseph- Scollard Hall will be receiving our awards.

2017-2018 Scholarships and Bursaries

2017-18 Nipissing University Scholarships ($500 each)

• CFUW NB Faculty of Arts and Science Scholarship: Shaelyn Tyers

• CFUW NB Faculty of Applied and Professional Studies Scholarship: Lauren Beatty

• CFUW NB Schulich School of Education: Brittany Mantha

2017-18 Canadore Bursaries ($500 each)

• CFUW NB Canadore College Non-Traditional Program Bursary: Ursula Ullrich - Civil Engineering Technology

• CFUW NB Canadore College Bursary: Leila Caster - Graphic Design

For the 2017-2018 year we gave a total of $3500.

2019 CFUW 100th Anniversary Award

We did not have extra funds to give any community awards for 2017-18, but we have $1000 in the scholarship account marked for the CFUW 100th Anniversary Scholarship. On March 15, 2017, the following motion was made at the North Bay General meeting: “CFUW North Bay celebrates the CFUW 100th Anniversary in 2019 by awarding a one-time only special award in the amount of $1000.00 to a deserving woman attending a North Bay post-secondary institution.” This information was sent to CFUW National to be tallied with the other clubs’ intentions. The criteria for this award will be established by a committee. Bunty Swanson and Heli Vail volunteered to sit on this committee; others may join. This award must be given out between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019.

Membership Committee

Nat Brunette and Marilyn Smith, Co-Chairs

As of December 2017, CFUW North Bay had 61 members. There were 9 new members. Unfortunately, 9 members did not rejoin this year.

The new members social gathering with the executive will be at the home of Marilyn Smith on Wednesday, May 30.

Programme Committee

Mae MacDonald, Chair

It has once again been my privilege to serve as Program Co-ordinator for CFUW North Bay. Our programs would not be as varied as they are without the assistance of those members who willingly serve on the committee. Planning takes place in late June and early July. We usually meet for two to three hours. Since everyone on the committee takes an active part in obtaining speakers, we need meet only three to four times. This past year a few of the highlights were the Silent Auction in November, Christmas Memories with John Balfe, and fun activities with Gord Hamden in January. April brought Lunch & Learn with our panelists explaining how they have been able to help newcomers settle in North Bay. May is our annual meeting, and June is our final meeting as we gather for a dinner meeting and social time.

Gift of Reading

Nat Brunette

The Gift of Reading was held on March 7 at Woodland Public School. This year 52 senior kindergarten children received new books generously donated by CFUW members.

Communications

Mary Catherine O'Hagan and Marg Mullan, Co-Chairs

Each month, we notify media about upcoming CFUW North Bay meetings and special events. We send out emails at least two weeks ahead of scheduled events to local radio stations, cable television, The Nugget, and Community Voices. Notices include time, meeting location, topic, and guest speakers. An invitation is always included to guests and anyone interested in finding out more about CFUW North Bay.

Social Committee

Joan Barner, Karen Montcalm, Heather Strachan, Heli Vail, Co-Chairs

Venues:

• Cementation: Many thanks to Cementation and Brianne Bourke for accepting and booking our CFUW meetings. Brianna recommended the club review emergency exit procedures, which was done at the beginning of the September meeting. The bookings are done by the social committee chair in August once the programme is set for the year. The key fob pick-up and return requires signage. The key fob must be picked up at front desk before5 p.m the day of meeting. A phone number is required on the back entry door for late-comers. This has been used often.A thank-you to Kaarina Tulisalo, who took on the responsibility this year.

• Holy Name Church: Kaarina Tulisalo books this venue as she knows all the people there, especially Tony who helped us.

Food and Drink:

• Thanks to all members who contributed such tasty snacks/nibbles, cookies, and squares over the year. A sign-up sheet is available at all meetings so members can choose dates for their convenience. We phone a week before as a reminder.

Expenses:

• Receipts are submitted on a regular basis to the treasurer and duly reimbursed. The total is in financial report.

• A kettle ($37.77) was purchased this year for club use. Additional expenses were for decaf coffee ($7.00).

Telephone Team:

• Set up for implementation.

Analysis:

• All seems to have run smoothly.

• Thanks to members who have done a great job as greeters at meetings and events.

• Members who remember to bring their mugs and wear their name tags are very much appreciated.