What the Women’s Institutes Do for Others at Christmas

Christmas has always been a busy time of year for the Women's Institutes. They have always looked first to support their own communities and to make Christmas happier and more meaningful for struggling members of their communities.

In the early years this included a community Christmas Party or dinner. And Santa usually attended these events and, naturally, brought gifts for the children. So these dinners served two purposes: it was a prelude to Christmas for the children, an evening of excitement and pleasure for them, and also for the lonely and more solitary members of the community. These were not solely family oriented occasions, for everyone in the community was invited. The widows, bachelors or anyone else whose Christmas was likely to be a lonely day, having very few with whom they could share the time. No need for Christmas cards between community friends and neighbours, for the Women's Institute Christmas Party was a time of personal exchanges and shared memories of Christmases past.

Others were remembered, too. For many, many years, the Women's Institutes across British Columbia collected small gifts for the patients in the provinces mental hospitals – patients who would not be going home to loved ones for the season, but spending it in the care of medical personnel who, while offering care and what personal support they could, really could not replace the absence of that feeling of family and gifts for all.

These are but two of the ways the Institutes of the past have reached out to their community's marginalized members. This continues today, but in different forms. There are always families, who for any number of reasons, cannot provide the type of celebrations for this season that they would like to offer their family members. Women's Institutes reach out to these families in a variety of ways, from providing gifts for the children, to donating grocery store gift cards for the family to use for those extra items that make Christmas dinner so special.

We take this time to offer Christmas greetings to all our friends who follow our website. We welcome your interest, and to you send this greeting for the holidays and the New Year:

These gifts we pray for others on Christmas Day:

For all the world – the gift of peace

May goodwill in each heart increase...

That everywhere men may be free,

As God intended them to be

Leave happiness in larger store,

Than folks have ever had before

Make this a year we won't forget

The kindest, warmest  Christmas yet!

Merry Christmas and the best of New Years to you all and may each one be surrounded by the love of family and friends!

Yours For Home and Country, Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute