Archive of Events: 2019 – 2020
Wassail Party, December 10!
Fun, Games, Fancy Hats, Prizes!
Our FUNdraiser incentive draw in support of the YWCA Women’s Shelter raised over $3300!
Thank You Dolly Jewellers & Janice Mitchell, Royal LePage for providing amazing prizes.
November General Meeting
Our guest speaker, Andrew MacDonald, PAC Packaging Consortium, presented solutions for reducing plastic waste such as embracing the circular economy for plastics including more reusable containers in the retail economy. A 4th R has been added to the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Refuse!
October General Meeting Recap
All were inspired by guest speaker Robin Mednick, founder of Pencils for Kids who has truly made a difference in Niger, West Africa building schools and funding scholarships for girls, training girls to become tailors, and empowering women to grow fruits and vegetables into their own businesses to reduce poverty.
Housing and homelessness is one issue our Club is working on. How fortunate for us to have had 
Joyce Rankin, Clinical Manager at Street Health,
present at our September general meeting. Street Health serves many of the most vulnerable in our city, offering medical services and other supports both on site and through outreach. Her topic was Managing Street Health During COVID-19 . Support is needed from all levels of government to ensure the homeless are both housed and supported and integrated into the community.
Our Club has already embraced Zoom for our meetings, whether it be our Book Groups – two have discussed Washington Black by Esi Edugyan this spring – or Issues and Actions, working on our advocacy strategies.
Book Group II (left) Issues & Actions at work (right)
One of our last group activities before the COVID-19 outbreak.
We did it!
Club members walked and raised $3,375 in support of Sistering at the Coldest Night of the Year walk February 22.
February General Meeting
Guests from the ROM for You team delighted us with colourful stories and photos of Queens, Goddesses and Femmes Fatales through the ages.
Rebecca McTaggart, retired Director General of the Immigration and Refugee Review Board provided both a current and historical perspective of the issue of refugees and mass migration as a result of many causes. The countries bearing the burden of mass migration are usually located adjacent or nearby, not the more wealthy nations. Canada’s policies and current stresses were highlighted.
December Wassail Party
A festive time was enjoyed by all who attended our annual Wassail Party. The incentive draw raised over $1800 to help women and their families at the YWCA Women’s Shelter enjoy a meaningful Holiday Season. We thank our sponsors for providing prizes.
Dolly Jewellers
Academy of Culinary Arts
Janice Mitchell, Royal LePage.
November 2019
Forensic Accountant James Humter presented at the November General meeting on White Collar Crime, a term introduced in 1939 to describe fraud, a deliberate act of deception. Unfortunately, even if caught, white collar criminals often escape serious consequences such as conviction. Whistle blowers suffer risks and should be protected. Forensic auditors now have software tools to assist in uncovering fraud.
October 2019
At our October General Meeting, we enjoyed dancer Timothy Spain’s lively presentation that followed his career in ballet, from a child dancer to an adult soloist ultimately, after performing in Europe, with the National Ballet of Canada.
September 2019
We kicked off the season with an excellent presentation by Dr. Romila Verma, an Environmental Geographer specializing in water. Not only did Dr. Verma inform us about the complete journey of Ontario’s drinking water, she also provided an important global perspective on issues relating to water with a focus on environmental sustainability.
She filled us in on the amazing Trans Africa Pipeline project of which she is a co-founder.
The AGM Dinner, May 9, at the lovely Donalda Club, was a successful finale for the 2018/19 year.
Our guest speaker, investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle, presented on the challenges
and successes of her work tracking down and documented the alarming number of unfounded sexual assault charges across the country.
She received the 2017 Journalist of the Year Award for her series Unfounded about sexual-assault charges.
Photo Gallery from the 2019 AGM
May News
Members of the Issues and Actions group met with two local councillors to discuss child care and housing needs including homelessness:
Councillor Paula Fletcher: May 3
Councillor Jaye Robinson: May 7
April News
April 16 was our annual Breaking Bread Potluck Dinner, a fundraiser for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4W Afghan). $1850 was raised to support girls’ education in Afghanistan. Over the years, our Club has raised close to $19,000. Afghan entrees were enjoyed by all, and member Marylin provided an update on CW4W Afghan activities.
At our April General Meeting, graphologist Elaine Charal entertained us with a fun and informative talk on graphology, the analysis of handwriting to determine personality characteristics. Many members took the opportunity to have their handwriting analyzed by Elaine.
April 9 Equal Pay Day
Club members joined the rally at the offices of the Minister of Labour, on University Avenue.
March News
March 24th was Agnes Macphail Day. Macphail was the first woman to be elected to Parliament. Club member Pat Barnett adorned the bust of Agnes Macphail at Queen’s Park with the CFUW 100th Anniversary scarf.
March General Meeting
Writer Mary Lou Dickinson inspired us with stories of her experience becoming a published author later in life.
February General Meeting A team of volunteers from the ROM enlightened us about the culture of the Vikings. Through photos of artifacts, clothing, jewellery, maps of their travels and Viking settlements, we learned many interesting aspects of their surprisingly advanced culture.
Meeting our Representatives
In January, members of Issues & Actions, our Advocacy team, met with:
MPP Suze Morrison, Toronto Centre
MPP Peter Tabuns, Toronto Danforth, and
MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MP Beaches – East York
On the Agenda: Universal, Affordable Child Care & Adequate Housing for All, including ending Homelessness.
CFUW 100th Anniversary Scarf Initiative! The photo shoot continues.
Elno Gira sculpted this statue of beloved Canadian actor Mary Pickford, born Gladys Marie Smith.
Location: Elm and Gerrard Streets where she lived as a young girl.
January General Meeting
Guest speaker Laura Jones introduced us to Canadian women photographers from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many had their own businesses.
