Female Construction Workers
I found the article below to be a very interesting read. Construction workers are in great demand, they are well paid and include good family health benefit plans All projections point to construction being a driving force of the Island economy for years to come . Women can ,and must, be a part of the financial and security that this will provide. Trish Summerhayes. Owner/Publisher Island Woman Magazine. ******************************************** Slowly perhaps, but ever so surely, more women are starting to move into careers in the construction trades...
Read MoreElder Financial Abuse:
Protect Yourself and Those You Love Elder financial abuse is the most common form of abuse against older adults, accounting for over half of all elder abuse situations reported. It impacts an older adult’s financial options, and ultimately, their ability to properly take care of themselves. Fortunately, through education, you can learn how to protect yourself and your loved ones from elder financial abuse. InvestRight.org, is the British Columbia Securities Commission’s investor education website. This BCSC InvestRight blog post describes elder financial abuse and provides common...
Read MoreMessy Churches
A program to create messy churches? As a member of the Alter Guild with St. Michaels and All Saints church in Chemainus I shook my head when I first heard of the Messy Church program. Messy churches? isn’t that what groups like Alter Guild work to prevent? This certainly seemed odd/confusing to me. This confusion was clarified whilst having coffee one morning with Jane Hird-Rutter who kindly wrote the article below for Island Woman. I am sure that many of you will be equally surprised upon reading the article below. Trish Summerhayes. Owner/Publisher Island Woman...
Read More25th Operation Christmas Child
Congratulations to all those who gave so generously to make the 25th Operation Christmas Child such a resounding success. It is amazing what can be achieved when a community commits to effecting change and assistance to others. I suggest that we need to use that spirit and energy to bring relief and hope to the thousands of children right here in Canada. We may not like to recognise that so many Canadian children live in poverty and squalor. Children to whom hunger is a constant. Children without hope. Children without a chance of achieving what most of us take for granted. An ugly scenario...
Read MoreWhat is your favourite month?
I love September. I have always loved September, it brings me feeling of contentment, peace and satisfaction. As a farmer, and a farmer’s daughter, these feeling were very real, emotionally and physically. It was harvest time. The fruits of our labour were finally there for everyone to see. All the sweat and anxiety over the crops wellbeing, the weather, the pests and many other unknown and uncontrollable happenings that are the constant companions of farm life was over. For better or for worse the crops were finally harvested. There was such a sense of relief and of satisfaction. The...
Read MoreSeniors Advocate’s latest report.
Contracted Residential Care Facilities Responsible for Substantially More Hospital Visits and More than Double the Rate of Deaths in Hospital when Compared to Publicly Operated Care Facilities B.C Seniors Advocate, Isobel Mackenzie, today released a report that compared hospitalization rates for residents of contracted long term care facilities (both not- for- profits and private companies) with residents from publicly operated care facilities. “After careful review of multi-year data, a consistent pattern emerges that shows a demonstrably greater use of the emergency department and...
Read MoreB.C. 2018 Municipal Elections
Island Woman Magazine will actively support and encourage all the women candidates on Vancouver Island that will be running in the upcoming 2018 municipal elections. We invite the candidates initially to send us biographies of who they are, why they are running for office. We encourage them to state their values and their vision of what needs to be done to ensure that we can maintain and improve the quality of life that we enjoy here on Vancouver Island. Most importantly, we ask them why we should vote for them. During the campaign we will post the details of any meetings or announcements...
Read MoreThe Bee Man
Winnie the Pooh and I have a lot in common, we both love honey. “I eat my peas with honey; I’ve done it all my life. It makes the peas taste funny, But it keeps them on the knife”. I have always loved honey. I love its texture,its smell and its taste. Each jar when its opened takes me on a journey to where the bees first started the journey of turning pollen into the nectar that we generically know as honey. One smell can take me to the fireweed covered sunny slopes on a mountain or the tangled brambles of a river estuary. The magic of...
Read MoreAdelaide Hunter Hoodless Award
Ruth Fenner richly deserves the Award. The following article outlines the dedication that Ruth has shown to the principles upon which the Women’s Institute was founded and which are still the focus of our organisation. The Women’s Institute was formed to support and encourage women, individually and collectively, as the role that they played in their families and in their communities. Through education and shared experiences the W.I. has been a leader in promoting health, nutrition and safety in communities around the world for over one hundred years. This role is as vital and...
Read MoreCreating Christmas Spirit
Christmas … portrayed in folklore, the media and commercial hype as a time of peace, happiness and goodwill. Unfortunately, the reality is that for many people, the reverse is true; it is a time of loneliness, grief and regret. The suicide rate increases over the Christmas holiday period. Why should this be so? For some, this will be the first Christmas they will be without a spouse, a child or a loved one. For others, it triggers memories of Christmas past. For me, December 23rd brings back the pain of my father dying when I was 15 years old. The unrelenting commercial pressure at this...
Read MoreAn Emotional Video With a Twist
Roy went to a Seniors Health Show in Nanaimo last week and was very enthusiastic about a project he had come across there. It involved a chair that a man, Jon Pimlott, had designed to enable a lady with mobility issues to access the beach in Parksville. The next day Roy had created an article to be posted on Seniors 101’s “Island Voices” page. The article included photos and a video. When I watched the video I was reduced to tears. To watch the sheer joy experience by this lady as she felt the sand beneath her toes was so emotional but this paled for me when I realised that...
Read MoreSomethings Don’t Change.
Island women I invite you to read this column written by Nellie McClung, in 1942 during the 2nd world war, and tell me how you felt when you came to the end. I challenge you to tell me that it left you unmoved. The words that came to mind for me are fears, doubts, survival, support of neighbours and friends. Now we have the same feelings but the battle now is climate change. Let us be aware of the need to pay attention. The years go by but our needs do not change. Let me hear from you. Trish Summerhayes. Owner/Publisher. ******************************************** This column first...
Read MoreWomen’s Institute made it happen
As a proud member of the Cedar Woman’s Institute it continues to astound me at the role the organisation has played into the fabric of the Canada we know today. Most people know little or nothing about the Woman’s Institute and its origins. The W.I. is a worldwide success story that was founded in Canada in 1897 by rural women as a vehicle to address serious health issues of the day. Their vision and tenacity has played, ands continues to play, a huge role in the well being of children here on Vancouver Island today as can be seen in the wonderful article from the Times/Colonist...
Read MoreMaria Grant
Probably the first Canadian woman to vote, Maria Grant was the first to hold public office. Maria Heathfield Pollard (Grant) wasn’t the first female social reformer to fight for women’s rights in British Columbia but she was one of the earliest and, ultimately, one of the most influential. Born into an establishment family in Lower Canada in 1854, she moved to Victoria with her parents the year that B.C. joined Confederation, married marine engineer Gordon Grant three years later and promptly bore nine children. A founder of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, she sought to curb the...
Read MoreWear a Pussyhat.
The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration.I have just learnt about this incredible gathering of women that is going to happen in Washington on January 21st. to reinforce the rights and freedoms of women, The Women’s March on Washington, from the newspaper article below. Please support the ongoing struggle for women’s rights, especially at this time, whilst the world holds its breath waiting to see what will happen when Donald Trump takes office. He has shown nothing but contempt for women. He has no social graces at all. He is a dangerous human being and will have the...
Read MoreMore Women in Leadership
Last week we got closer than ever before to electing the first woman President, and millions of young girls across the country have been emboldened to dream even bigger and see no role as out of their reach. Despite the progress made by Hillary Clinton’s historic candidacy, the campaign has forced us to reckon with issues of gender bias that emerged in the national dialogue – from tone of voice, to stamina, to what a leader “looks” like, to how the media covers gender. The sadness, anger, and motivation that women across the country are now dealing with are familiar, as we have been...
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