Home & Country (Spring 2008)

              Alberta Women's Institutes

District One
Zella Pimm, Director

I

was very pleased that so many were able to attend the District I Workshop at Rycroft, which is half way between our two Constituencies. Everyone brought an item for the silent auction and we had a wonderful variety on which members were pleased to bid. The proceeds covered costs and added to the District funds. Hope all those present were able to take some information home from the great discussions. Unfortunately one speaker whose topic was the dangers of taking some vitamins and herbal supplements with your prescription drugs was unable to attend. We also held a round table

discussion with the five members who had been to the ACWW Conference in Turku, Finland, which was very informative and a great way to tell others of our many experiences. Members were encouraged to attend the Farm Women's Conference, where I was able to place a WI display board, and I am pleased to report that several WI members attended and enjoyed the experience. Since then, I have been in contact with the Enilda Sucker Creek Second Stage Women's Shelter. They have four units where the women and their families can stay for one

year. They are given education which should enable them to get a good job, their children are sent to school, supplied with clothes and other needs, but there is no money for activities such as swimming, hockey and so on. Donations to help with these physical activities for the children would be very much appreciated. We are having a speaker on these shelters at our Provincial Convention in June. I hope to see all District One members at your Constituency Conferences and at the Provincial Convention in June.

District Two
Maxine Allen, Director

Why Collect and Recycle Cell Phones?

H

elp protect our environment by recycling cell phones and rechargeable batteries which contain hazardous and toxic materials that should not go into landfills. Re-use some of the 60 million plus old cell phones sitting in a desk drawer or at the back of a closet. They can be refurbished or remanufactured for re-use in emerging countries where they rely on wireless communication.

condition. They are then sent to emerging countries where the price of a "new" cell phone is unaffordable for most people.

It Recycles cell phones and batteries that cannot be reused by having their materials recovered. Cell phone waste is harmful. Within three years,

Raise Funds with no Investment or Risk `PITCH-IN

CANADA'S' National Cell Phone Collection Program pays local community groups registered with `PITCH-IN' CANADA for every cell phone handset collected. The National Cell Phone Collection Program accepts all cell phone handsets that are new, old, broken or working, and refurbishes or remanufactures them to "as new"

Americans will discard about 130 million cell phones a year, and that means 65,000 tons of trash, including toxic metals and other health hazards, a study says. "Because these devices are so small their environmental impacts might appear to be minimal," says Bette Fishbein, a researcher at `Inform' an environmental research organization, who wrote the report. But, she says, the growth in cell phone use has been so rapid and enormous "that the environment and public health impacts of the waste they create are a significant concern." Therefore it is in our best interest to collect as many old cell

phones as we can. By doing this we can help with our environment and also help our project of "Second Stage Women's Shelters". The cell phones you collect can be brought to your Constituency Conference or to the Alberta Women's Institutes Convention in Camrose. "Learning is nothing without cultivated manners, but when the two are combined in a woman you have one of the most exquisite products of civilization."

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