W.I. Corner - Tragedy Turns to Success

Newspaper Article - W.I. Corner - 'Tragedy Turns to Success'AWI CollectionW. I. C O R N ER T r a g e d y T u r ns t o S u c c e ss When Adelaide Hoodless, Stoney Creek, Ontario lost her 18 month old baby from drinking contaminated milk, she turned personal grief into a campaign for training in homemak-ing. She succeeded in getting house­hold science into the public schools of her home city but this did not reach the wives and mothers who were al­ready out of school and in homes of their own. Mrs. Hoodless felt if men needed an organization, i. e. " Farmers Insti­tute" to help them grow better crops and produce better livestock, it would be equally beneficial to have an insti­tute for women. In 1897, the first Women's Insti­tute was realized. The main objective of the organization was to raise the standard of homemaking. Through this organization the members hoped to improve the skills of homemakers on a physical, intellecutual and cul­tural level. The motto, " For Home and Country" was adopted and is used today by thousands of Women's Institutes in many countries. From this beginning, the institute idea spread rapidly from coast to coast in Canada and was formed into a national organization, The " Feder­ated Women's Institute of Canada" in 1919. Mrs. Hoodless had been instru­mental in starting the first public school classes in household science in Ontario ( the first in Canada) and began a campaign for government support to give university training in Home Economics. She continued her work for women. She enlisted the support of Sir William MacDonald, founder of the MacDonald movement to improve rural life, and financial supporter MacDonald Institute ( 1903) and MacDonald Hall ( 1904). It is inter­esting to note that Sir William MacDonald, a native of Prince Ed­ward Island, was one of Mrs. Hoo­dless' greatest supporters. Thanks to the efforts of Adelaide Hunter Hoodless, a women of vision, who brought ideas into action, the influence of the Women's Institute did not stop with only a movement that spread from sea to sea in Can­ada. Similar groups were set up in other parts of the world. Sixty years ago they decided to come together as one international organization - " The Associated Women of the World" which today represents approxi­mately nine million people in over 70 countries