IODE gathering in Yarmouth for its annual provincial meeting

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The IODE has been around for a long time and it’s still going strong say its members, who are looking forward to gathering in Yarmouth this week for the organization’s annual general meeting.

“I think we’re even more active than ever,” says Barb Rodney, a past president of the Yarmouth Leif Erickson chapter and co-chair of the local organizing committee.

Over the past year, among other things, the local chapter – which has 25 members and is always accepting new ones – has helped to raise funds for a hospital bed, given packs to the Yarmouth Boys and Girls Club for its school packs program, provided milk funding to the John and Douglas Kindergarten and knitted items to send to remote communities in northern Canada.

It’s these types of things that chapters from around the province – which involve women working for the betterment of Canada – will be reporting on when they gather in Yarmouth on Thursday and Friday.

Anne White, the provincial IODE president, says the annual meeting is useful because it gives the 29 chapters in the province the opportunity to share their progress and ideas.

Some of the guest speakers and presenters that have been lined up include West Nova MP Robert Thibault and RCMP Constable Mark Connell. Dr. John Crocker of the IWK-Grace Hospital may also be in attendance. For years the IODE has been supporting his kidney research by having collected and donated in excess of $120,000 towards it.

The AGM will feature an opening on Thursday, business meetings on Friday and a closing reception Friday evening. More than 60 IODE members from around the province are expected to attend. Another event will include a presentation on the recently launched IODE website. Both White and Rodney chuckle at the suggestion, ‘Who would have thought one day the IODE would have a website?’ That’s because websites weren’t even on the radar when the organization was founded nationally in 1900 or provincially in 1920. Locally, the Yarmouth chapter recently celebrated its 55th anniversary.

But although the IODE is keeping up with technology, and it has made some changes over the years, one thing has remained constant – the commitment of its members, which will be celebrated this week.



QUICK GLANCE

Some initiatives of the IODE:

•provides support through scholarships, bursaries, grants, awards and prizes for high school, university and college students;

•supplies amenities to the needy locally and in remote northern communities;

•supplies books to school libraries, day cares and pre-school programs;

•promotes good citizenship by encouraging an active interest and involvement in community life;

•assists crisis centres, nursing homes, hospitals, transition houses and senior centres;

•supports kidney research at the IWK-Grace Hospital.