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Non-profits celebrate education on International Women’s Day

CFUW
CFUW
Retired registered nurse and midwife Sarah Payne speaks about her experience providing care to marginalized women at an International Women’s Day event co-hosted by the Sunshine Coast branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women and local charity CanaDares.

Heather was living on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) and battling a severe drug addiction. She knew she needed help. It took her nine attempts, but eventually she managed to recover thanks to low-barrier women’s clinics in the neighbourhood.

At eight months pregnant, she moved back to her hometown of Kamloops and sought out similar services, but there were none. So, she started offering them herself. Then she got a degree in nursing, and now she is developing outreach services in her community, including a perinatal addictions program.

“If she hadn’t been able to keep coming back … she’d still be in the Downtown Eastside,” said Sarah Payne, keynote speaker at the first-ever International Women’s Day celebration to be held at the Sunshine Coast Botanical Gardens.

The event was co-hosted by the Sunshine Coast branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) and local charity CanaDares Society for Street Children in Tanzania.

Payne is a retired nurse practitioner and midwife and active supporter of CanaDares. She worked on Vancouver’s DTES for 20 years and played an instrumental role in developing the low-barrier women’s outreach clinic Sheway. On March 21 she will be receiving a Governor-General Award for her service.

Her message for the more than 50 senior women in attendance: “With support, encouragement and low barrier services, women can achieve incredible things and go incredible places, even after they’ve been through hell.”

The theme of the International Women’s Day event was education.

“The university women’s purpose is to raise funds for women who are trying to continue their education… Ours is on the education of children,” said Val Marus, secretary of the board for CanaDares. The charity was launched in 2002, and provides schooling for underprivileged Tanzanian children. On March 8 the charity was formally recognized for the first time by the local government.

Proceeds from ticket sales, a raffle and bar will go towards CanaDares and the CFUW’s Bursary Society, which announced the opening of its application intake that day. The society makes approximately $10,000 available to women over the age of 21 seeking post-secondary education. Recipients will be announced in early May. 

Other speakers included Tegan Jackson, who volunteered with CanaDares, and Lucie McKiernan, who read a letter by Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, about the federal government’s investments in the education of women and girls.

“It was a learning experience for pretty much everybody,” said Marus.