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Balsam Hill WI celebrates 100 years by Lynn Clelland , A ceremonial can-V dielighting reminded the 11. members and 16 visitoisjof .; the Balsam Hill Women's Institute that they'w'ere' about to share the sameprth. -n gram as 16,000 , bers across the province. This unique program was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the} February 19, 1897 organize? tioml meeting. I l, ' mmflM7 'bers Miriam: \ ab out ' newsgrgrus,,1 ,f ' V 41110119175... . "- 4-H lists. .5" is,th ; ' branches. 9 " " As' intrepast. ' Vii--Ioodless withthe'pas '~'.' "I; ' edy intq tr'jumthhQ, ,4 years by WI theniQ'LSO that their born Tonight we celebrate that birthday. We celebrate the vision and the energy that created a worldwide or- ganization with the growth and development of women ""5 as its mandate. We celebrate "the fact tint this organim- tionhasevolvedarrriadapted that-it is as vital in 1997 as it was in 1897. We associate Adelaide twhen ' ' Adelaide Hoodless havé' r common? ,What would ' school and you said that it was all Greek to you? How about today's lan- guage that has people con- versing about bits, bytes, gigabytes, web sites, down- ! loading DOS, mense, 'mo- . ' dent, Windows, ROM and» the Intérnet?,You may get by without learning this new language but your ' While the Russian and ' Chechynian armies fight . each other in a civil war, the mothers of the soldiers are cooperating to release politi- cal prisoners, provide medi- cal care for both sides, and return 16-year-old recruits to their families. Because _women in Kenya must spend a large part of their travelling 'on foot to find firewood, . V w ' snarl busi- nesses providing the ba- 's .for'i'rnneh ,of the new infiiireeonomy. The .iargssit'nérceiatae'e 9f. these "was presented--"Celebrate ' ' p _ l Past T1,,Chauenge' .the -iipersonal potemial. and..tle...talk.al>0ut9v'era imp Omaha iFuture". r potential of their families ,Bothfiladflies were born in" . businesses are operated by %_ Everyonejoined enthusi-'wwouldberealized. areknowr'r'éiéwomen » - astically to sing a special :'sion'ed an, prganizatron' .allov'er'theworldBotiihave The future is indeed a é song 'foithe' centenk""'7"whichwouldprovide tlieirfi/isionspf Liaichallenge for us all. Ideas nialcelebr'atio'm. f1 Ar-'tition' and a'wcial 'supportwriDruBoifiar ' ' ' «'1? =tirat.once":iiiere'eonsideredg , The Balsm'fi" Hm " rigmup forwo'irien' ' * '1 '{our earth harnesses?» :_ sciencefictio'nare'now are-! Bi. bets entertained their'gujests - ~5 I last" - éhumblingexper'iencerhatr'eifrality. Earthts oione layer is! {by performing a short hué Thousands of women:-"é'inforced her" belief Vinithe'ié" threatened. by man-made! {mo us skit written by fel-,T.....Vhave followed her dream . i;er memberCaml Bennett need for imreaSededucati'ofi ., Icauses. We have polluted thel ,_ to prevent pollution and very water and soil that we: Meow . eladewouldhaveseen 'omer foréianted- - x, guesrg ' ;0Q;yc§ars sinee'shebang "a", to our planet; I think'Ade-j . _ _' , ' ' f a trip , *' ; theigaVel at the 'Very first; laide' would apyfuve, don't -' Aqelatdc's dream. of an firms-fiery" lanefas they sgmeeting Hemlinesthat" go- 99"]? ii- it": v ~ 'y fife? organization of women whol rused the pages of the .Tf'up and down depending on ' Forthe pastfew weeks; areleadmgthewayfighnng i History. ' the decade, women wearing , documentary TV show enti-- forthe things that matter to l ' Women's Institutes -- pants, the invention of the tiedWomenzTheTrue Story ISJustaS; ' Women Involved. This or-. carwhich changed the time has outlined the history (if unponant ...='_perhaps event ganimrion, witira history of_ helping families and com- munities throughout the world, eagerly looks for-' ward to maintaining these valuable traditiOns as we en-L ter the let century. Following is the text Of a speech read at the 100th an- niversary ofth'eBaisamI-Iiliy, e One'hundred years ago. gthe Women's Institute was required for travel (and courting rituals), the tele- phone which increased the ability 'to stare ideas, two World 'Wars and a Depres- sion which tore the very heart out of families, the de-' velopment of medical tech- nology, and drugs which Remember when you had to take Latin or French at have increased life expec-, the roles of women, their problems in society and the evolution of feminism The final episode "A Postcard from the' Future" showed how vital women's input is to the survival of this planet. Thousands of women took turns being present out- side a nuclear weapors site' inEngland forsevenyearsto protest the 'use of these weapons in the world more important today than 100 years ago. ' ' Let us celebrate the paS't: 1 give a cheer for all thosel women who lave kept the vision alive thrdugh the!' years and let us faee the future with the same willing- I ness to preserve those values ' so that our children and grandchildren will also; be able to take them for' granted. ' Lynn Clelland Balsam Hill Women's Institute Article from: The Renfrew Mercury Ontario, Canada