The McKellar Women's Institute
In February of 1933, Mrs. S.F. Bice, the District President of the Women's Institute, was visiting her son and his wife who were teaching the junior and senior rooms of the McKellar School. In a talk she gave to seventeen of the local women, Bice encouraged the women of McKellar to form a branch of the Women's Institute in McKellar with the goals of improving women's skills in homemaking and childcare.
Encouraged by Bice, the Women of McKellar got together on 4 February, 1933 and formed the McKellar branch of the Women's Institute with the following positions:
The women were often devising methods of fundraising, especially through picnics and quilt raffles. They also would as a group give gifts to any of their young members who became brides, gifts of flowers and fruit to the sick, funeral gifts to the bereaved, and a gift to anyone who moved away. They would knit blankets for new babies whose mothers were members of the Women's Institute (they later tried to give each newborn a sweater, bonnet and boots, but this was too much due to the growing number of babies, so they had to cut back to just blankets). They donated to the Agricultural Society for the Fall Fair and started a Travelling Library. From their fundraising they were able to purchase two drinking fountains for the school. And one of the most frequent donations they made was to families who had lost their homes in house fires.
During the course of World War Two, the Women's Institute knitted for the soldiers overseas and made donations to war charities and the local cemetery. They would also send care packages to the soldiers, and even more frequently they would send packages of smokes. The Women's Institute had the school teachers put on an essay writing contest with the subject of 'Canadian Industry' and the winners received War Savings Stamps as prizes. As the war wore on, the Women's Institute organized themselves into a branch of the Red Cross, though they continued to run initiatives with the Women's Institute as well.
It was after the conclusion of World War Two, in 1946, that it was decided that the Women's Institute should begin compiling a village history.
Encouraged by Bice, the Women of McKellar got together on 4 February, 1933 and formed the McKellar branch of the Women's Institute with the following positions:
- President: Mrs. Wesley Moore
- 1st Vice President: Mrs. Jas. E. Taylor
- 2nd Vice President: Mrs. P.E. Harvey
- Secretary/Treasurer: Mrs. John Campbell
The women were often devising methods of fundraising, especially through picnics and quilt raffles. They also would as a group give gifts to any of their young members who became brides, gifts of flowers and fruit to the sick, funeral gifts to the bereaved, and a gift to anyone who moved away. They would knit blankets for new babies whose mothers were members of the Women's Institute (they later tried to give each newborn a sweater, bonnet and boots, but this was too much due to the growing number of babies, so they had to cut back to just blankets). They donated to the Agricultural Society for the Fall Fair and started a Travelling Library. From their fundraising they were able to purchase two drinking fountains for the school. And one of the most frequent donations they made was to families who had lost their homes in house fires.
During the course of World War Two, the Women's Institute knitted for the soldiers overseas and made donations to war charities and the local cemetery. They would also send care packages to the soldiers, and even more frequently they would send packages of smokes. The Women's Institute had the school teachers put on an essay writing contest with the subject of 'Canadian Industry' and the winners received War Savings Stamps as prizes. As the war wore on, the Women's Institute organized themselves into a branch of the Red Cross, though they continued to run initiatives with the Women's Institute as well.
It was after the conclusion of World War Two, in 1946, that it was decided that the Women's Institute should begin compiling a village history.