What started as an organization to educate farmer’s wives on the dangers of drinking impure milk, continues today in several communities in the Fraser Valley as a network of women who want to better home and family in the community, and around the world.
The Women’s Community Institute celebrated 25 years of service in Langley through the Langley-Willoughby Branch with a luncheon on Thursday, Sept. 8.
Attended by many of its founding members, the event celebrated the achievements of the group — which raises money for several local non-profits, including the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation and food bank — since it was started by Alice Johnson in Willoughby in 1991.
Johnson, a lifelong Willoughby resident, says she wanted to start the group after watching her mother take part in the former Langley Prairie Branch.
“As a teenager it was fun to help the ladies at bazaars, teas and any special events. I often thought then it would be great to join when I grew up,” she said in a welcome speech at the luncheon.
“Fortunately I knew many of the ladies in the community and Willoughby was still rural and most of the ladies were stay at home moms, farmer’s wives, or the men had outside jobs — construction, logging. It is so different now in many cases with both family members working.”
In September of 1991, 11 charter members signed up under the Farmer’s and Women’s Institute Act of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and by 1998, Langley-Willoughby was one of six branches in the region.
Today, three of these groups remain: Langley-Willoughby, Hope and District, and Promontory Heights.
The organization is under the international umbrella of the Associated Country Women of the World group.