Megan Grittani-Livingston/The Question

Mollie Ronayne, one of the longest-serving members of the Pemberton Women’s Institute, says the organization has worked hard to meet the community’s needs throughout its history.

Long a force to be reckoned with in the Pemberton Valley, the Pemberton Women’s Institute chapter is now marking the centennial of the B.C. Women’s Institute, recognizing the efforts of the B.C. organization over its 100 years of activity in rural communities throughout the province.

Supporting everything from agricultural initiatives and community action to health care organizations, the B.C. Women’s Institute has a membership of 1,000 women in more than 115 communities across the province.

On Tuesday (July 7), the Pemberton Women’s Institute (PWI) members will host their popular Strawberry Tea at the Pemberton Museum, and the annual delicious dessert-fest will be accompanied this year by a celebratory exhibit in honour of the B.C. organization’s centennial.

“Everyone in B.C. owes a debt of gratitude to the Women’s Institute,” Claude Richmond, then MLA for Kamloops, said in a March 2009 statement announcing that the organization had received a Century Farm Award from the province.

According to Molly Ronayne, who joined the Pemberton WI chapter around the time she came to the valley in 1948, the group was then essentially the only active organization for women in the area, and a significant proportion of the population of local women were WI members. Ronayne and Elsie Miller are now the group’s longest-serving members.

Along with the work PWI members put in to address community needs, Ronayne said the group’s meetings and events offered much-appreciated opportunities to be with other community members in the somewhat isolated times. Meetings with the B.C. chapter members offered further chances to discuss issues and broaden horizons.

Held in members’ homes, the Pemberton chapter’s meetings were full of chatter and discussion, since the members often might not have seen each other since the last meeting, Ronayne said.

“Anything that came up, people had to talk about it a lot,” she said.

Ronayne said the founders chose to form a Women’s Institute chapter in 1940 because they wanted a group that would have a broad-based appeal and be open to all.

Helping the war effort in early years, the members made clothes, sought donations for the Red Cross, preserved food and sent parcels to Canadians serving overseas. They also made time to host everything from quilting bees to dances and picnics and offer catering for events.

The chapter became an active force to advocate for and fulfill the community’s needs.

“We tried to back up, give help in those cases where it was needed,” Ronayne said.

PWI members helped pressure B.C. Electric and B.C. Telephone to provide service for Pemberton, and they were involved with medical initiatives such as aiding the efforts to establish a local health centre, holding dental clinics for children and cancer clinics for well women, and providing tools such as an examining table for doctors visiting Pemberton and furnishings for a ward in the Squamish hospital.

“We were involved in lots of issues then,” Ronayne said.

She laughingly remembers speaking up one day to defend a doctor’s right to use the examining table paid for by the WI against the encroachment of some surveyors.

PWI members raised money for their initiatives by staging everything from bazaars and bake sales to plays and talent shows, and by providing refreshments and catering for events.

And they were greatly involved in community life, hosting their popular community banquets, fall fairs, flower shows, picnics at One Mile Lake, Christmas parties for local children, sports days and more.

The current members continue the legacy, hosting major events such as the Pemberton Country Fair and the wildly popular spring Plant Sale to raise money that is then directed to a vast variety of community groups that need support.

The PWI now answers the call of “basically any (group) who writes and says, ‘We need help,’” chapter president Linda Ronayne said.

Tuesday’s Strawberry Tea is set to run from 2 to 4 p.m., and $5 will get you a piece of scrumptious strawberry shortcake with tea or coffee.

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