INTEREST GROUPS

 

Connect, learn and socialize…

CFUW Southport offers many opportunities to connect, learn and have fun through Interest Groups.

A member may join as many groups as she wishes; however only CFUW members in good standing (membership fees paid) are eligible to attend CFUW interest groups .

Members are encouraged to form new interest groups. Presently, we offer:

  • 7 Book Groups, 3 daytime and 4 evenings, one of which will continue via the ZOOM Platform to facilitate participation in book club discussions wherever in the world you find yourself!
  • Rovers
  • Dinner Group
  • Advocacy
  • Scholarship (See Scholarship Page)
  • Program
  • Communications

CFUW Southport Interest Groups

Rover's Group

 Visiting a Lavendar Farm

The Rovers group makes day trips to local and regional destinations and events. Members can signup for each excursion separately. Rovers have visited destinations such as Beth Ezekiel Synagogue in Owen Sound, Kepplecroft and Larkwhistle Gardens, and a gothic architecture church in Formosa. Rovers enjoy lecturers and authors, attend theatre events and follow the Holiday Home Tour together. More fun is coming up soon!

Click here to contact Dee Schilling  for more information

Advocacy Group

The Advocacy Group meets once a month on the first Wednesday of the month to share topics of concern locally, regionally, nationally and globally. Research, guest speakers and and background of current issues often results in recommendations for action put forward to CFUW Southport’s President and Executive.

Current Membership as of January, 2023 – Available on Members Only Page

Click here to contact Judy Moir for more information

Dinner Group

December 2024 Dinner Group 

The Dinner Club is open to members as couples or as singles. A “Dinner Club” may sound daunting, but it’s not, you don’t have to be a “gourmet” cook, but you do need to be an adventurous eater. The facilitator mixes participants into groups that are manageable in size. Members take turns (about once per year) hosting. Members as of January 2023 – Available on the Members Only Page.

Click here to contact Kathleen Wallace for more information

Bookmarks Book Club

Members as of January 2023.

The members of the Bookmarks Book Club meet in the afternoon of the first Monday of each month from September to June to discuss books that comprise a combination of fiction, non-fiction and biographies. 

Available on Members Only Page.

Click here to contact Catherine Taylor for more information

Circle of Readers

This evening book club meets at 7:00 PM on the third Wednesday; every other month throughout the year (January, March, May, July, September, November).This fits the schedules of many of our working members and for Snowbirds. Members as of January 2023 – Available on Members Only Page

Click here to contact Michelle Jardin for more information

Playing with Pages

This evening book club meets on the third Wednesday of alternate months to the original Circle of Readers and reading the same titles. This allows for sharing of ideas between the two clubs and more members, as well as the sharing of books. Members as of January 2023 available on Members Only Page

 

Click here to contact Brenda Greenwood Vernem for more information

Zoomers Book Club

The Zoomers Book Club meets only via Zoom and is therefore perfect for travellers and many more members (up to 100). The Book Group meets monthly on the third Monday of every month at 7 PM EST. A Zoom link is sent to members a few days ahead. Members as of January 2023 – Available on Members Only Page

Click here to contact Mary Jane Moreau for more information

First Editions

This is CFUW Southport’s original book club since 1990. Although some of the faces have changed over the past 32 years, they still have a lot to say about the books they read. Members meet the first Friday of the month from September to June to read
a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and others genres. Members as of January 2023 available on Members Only Page

Click here to contact Shelleen Nelson for more information

Skoob (Books Spelled Backwards)

This This book club is accessible for members with low vision. All books chosen must be available in audio format, either through our Bruce County public library system, on Audible or through the CNIB. Skoob members meet on the 1st Monday of the month at 1:30 PM at Members’ homes Members as of January 2024. Available on Members Only Page 

Click here to contact Pat Sanagan for more information

The remaining Interest Groups are Program ( See MEETING AND EVENTS) and Communication Group which manages this website, the newsletters, social media accounts, and develops promotional campaigns and campaign tools e.g. Grandma Asked Me to Vote

For Program Information, Contact Lorraine Boucher – cfuwsp@gmail.com
For Communications Information, Contact Marcia Hesse – cfuwsp@gmail.com

Past Meetings

2021-2022 Program – Some of these meetings were recorded and are available on request

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 – 1:30 pm.
Welcome Back Outdoor Membership Meeting
Pioneer Park if weather permits
Evening Zoom meeting if necessary.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 – 7:00 pm. via Zoom
Chris Allum, Senior Advisor, Ontario Securities Commission, Investor Office, Investor Engagement and Stakeholder Partnerships
“Protect Your Money: How to Protect Yourself from Fraud”

Wednesday, November 10, 2021 – 7:00 pm. via Zoom
Jami Smith, Saugeen Shores Councillor and a Planning Team Member from electHER Grey Bruce, will discuss their goals, strategies and action plans to increase the number of women elected to Municipal Office.

Monday, December 6, 2021 – Noon Coulter Parkette
Vigil Against Violence Against Women

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 – 7:00 pm., via Zoom
Membership Holiday Celebration

Wednesday, January 12, 2022 – 12:30 via Zoom
Patti Shales Lefkos, Journalist, Author, Adventure Traveller
Her adventure travel memoir, “Nepal One Day at a Time”, is the story of her solo trek to that country.

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 – 7:00 pm. via Zoom
Odette Bartnicki, “Climate Change”

Wednesday, March 9, 2022 – 12:30 via Zoom
Lee Johnston, Meditation Teacher and Novelist
Lee will introduce “Mindfulness Without Borders – compassion education for a kinder world” and lead a variety of short, secular and gentle meditations.

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 – via Zoom
CFUW Resolutions

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 – 7:00 pm. via Zoom
Julie Campbell, Nurse Practitioner, MAID Assessor and Provider (Medical Assistance in Dying)
The new Bill C7 legislation and her experiences implementing it will be discussed.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022
End of Year Dinner and AGM

DECEMBER 6 VIGIL AGAINST VIOLENCE

 

The Montreal Massacre at Ecole Polytechnique occurred in 1989. CFUW Southport began its Vigil Against Gender-based Violence the next year and has held a vigil annually since.

Donations are raised to support the three local women’s shelters:

  1. Kabaesiwim Respite Women’s Shelter Serving Bruce Grey (Saugeen First Nation #29)
     
  2. The Women’s Centre Grey Bruce (Owen Sound).
  3. Women’s House Serving Bruce & Grey (Kincardine).

16 Days of Activism:

Monday November 25 is the beginning of “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence”.

Over the following 16 days, we will share information and resources to increase awareness, and support action against gender-based violence. Our information will be shared across all our social media outlets.

We will also be promoting the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women to be held on December 6, CFUW Southport’s  33rd annual Vigil Against Violence which began the year after the Montreal Massacre. On that day, one man killed 14 young women who were studying to be engineers at École Polytechnique.

We will also remember the thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Join us on this awareness journey. See our Facebook  and Instagram  accounts and share the information with your networks.

Join us on December 6 at 12:00 Noon in Coulter Parkette (at Green and Goderich Streets) in a community-wide remembrance of women whose lives have been impacted by violence.

 

Grandma Asked Me to VOTE

“Grandma asked me to vote!” is a voter engagement campaign that includes a website, social media tools, discussion videos, promotional items and the Southport Suffragettes. The campaign can be modified for municipal, provincial or federal elections.

Campaign goals include:

• Fostering intergenerational connections to share the passion for democracy with young adults

• Providing information how elections work, the voting process in Saugeen Shores, our local candidates ‘ platforms and how to register to vote wherever one resides

• Encouraging non-partisan, non-judgemental choices – not about the issues, it’s about getting young people to vote

Contact Us

3 + 8 =

Mailing Address:

CFUW Southport
144 Trillium Drive
Port Elgin N0H 2C2

Email Us:
cfuwsp@gmail.com

LAND AND WATER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We meet on the traditional territories (which includes lands and waters) of the Anishinabek (An-nish-nah-bek) Nation: The People of the Three Fires known as Ojibway, Odawa, and Pottawatomie (Pot-aw-wot-a-mi) Nations, whose historical boundaries include Goderich in the south, the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in the north and the Nottawasaga River in the east. We support the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will work with the Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation and the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation to fulfill these recommendations.

We also recognize the contributions of the Métis Nation of Ontario, whose history and people are well represented in Saugeen Shores.

Read more

CFUW Southport asks Council to declare gender-based violence an epidemic.

 atSee 

 "Each year on December 6th, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Southport, holds a Vigil at Coulter Parkette in Port Elgin to remember the 14 women students of École Polytechnique in Montreal, who were killed in a mass murder simply because they were women, and also to raise awareness of violence against women today.

On November 11th (2024), CFUW President Odette Bartnicki, made a presentation to Saugeen Shores Town Council, following a letter on November 4th (2024) that was sent to Mayor and Council.

In the letter, Bartnicki laid out the reasons for her delegation, and the fact that Councillor Cheryl Grace has brought a Notice of Motion to Council to declare that intimate partner violence (IPV) is now an epidemic."

See More at