CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE Feb. 19, 2020
The United Church Hall in Shawville was packed on Wednesday for the Pontiac County Women’s Institute (PCWI)’s annual information day.
The volunteer group raises . . .
money and advocates for a variety of causes, and hosts several events throughout the year. The information day is typically broken up into four speakers, who talk about a wide variety of topics, typically agriculture, education, health care and promotion. This year’s event brought out about 60 people.
President Beryl Smart explained that they altered the scheduling for the day in response to previous iterations.
“We changed the format this year to have it all in the morning, because we found after lunch people were leaving and that wasn’t too exciting for our speakers that were going to speak,” she said.
This year featured talks by representatives from the Blessed Cupboard food bank and the adult education program in Shawville, as well as local author Bill Smith and Jean Macnab of Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW).
Macnab explained that SCAW is a charity that distributes bed kits to impoverished communities around the world, and has personally volunteered in India and Uganda.
“Last year I went to Calcutta and we gave out 7,000 bed kits, so over 22 days we went to 12 different places,” she said, explaining that the bed kits are put together in the host country and their contents are adapted to the needs of the region. Usually they include a mattress, clothes and hygienic supplies. Each kit costs $35 and Macnab said that distribution is usually handled by the Rotary Club.
Smith gave a talk on the process of writing a biography about his mother, Marjorie, which occupied much of his time in 2019.
“It’s a whole new process for me, I’d never done it before,” he said, detailing the journey from pitching the story to publishers, to the editing process and finally his book launch in December.
Following the speakers, the group broke around noon for a hearty potluck lunch.
