The Orillia chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) hosted its second in-person International Women’s Day celebration at Creative Nomad Studios on Thursday night.
The Orillia CFUW and its over 100 members advocate for the rights and education of women. Through hosting events since 1974, the organization has raised $403,975 for 749 young women pursuing post-secondary education.
Maggie Buchanan, an organizer of the International Women’s Day celebration, says Thursday's event was an opportunity to showcase local women who are an "inspiration" in their community-minded roles.
"To me, it's really important to celebrate women who have made an incredible difference," she said.
Amber McGarvey-Morland, Madeleine Fournier, and Leah Den Bok were the guest panelists on Thursday evening. This year, the CFUW wanted to select younger women who are taking on leadership roles in the community to speak at the event which was attended by around 80 people.
"We really want to focus on up-and-coming young women in our community," Buchanan said. "I think it's important for everybody to be aware of everything they are doing."
Buchanan says McGarvey-Moreland, Fournier, and Den Bok are "the future" who can inspire the next generation of young women.
Amber McGarvey-Morland, the director of Ripple of Kindness, says it was an "honour" to be a panelist during Thursday's event.
"It's meaningful to gather with like-minded women to celebrate International Women's Day," she said. "It's important to celebrate all of our accomplishments and to inspire and encourage women to continue doing all the hard work that has been done for centuries."
McGarvey-Moreland, 40, spoke to the audience at Creative Nomad Studios about founding the Wide Awake Club for mommas. In 2015, after giving birth to her first child, she created the Facebook group to help fellow moms with postpartum challenges.
"It started with people sharing their birthing experience and their recovery journey," McGarvey-Moreland said, noting that the group has 1,600 members. "People can post anonymously, they can ask any questions, and nothing is off the table or too personal."
During the pandemic, the Wide Awake Club became an essential tool for mothers when resources were low in pharmacies and grocery stores.
"When mothers needed cough syrup or specialized baby formula, other members would find it in stores, purchasing it for them, and dropping it off on the doorstep," she said. "We really created this community which is hard to find online."
McGarvey-Moreland says her mom, her grandmother, her "fairy godmothers" and several community members have inspired her along her journey.
"I hope to be a fraction as great as some of those women I admire," she said. "Hopefully I can instill some wisdom down the road into my two daughters."
Madeleine Fournier, a community organizer who spearheads action, education, and advocacy for Green Orillia, says International Women's Day is an "incredibly" important occasion to celebrate.
"It's nice to be represented here as a young person," she said. "Youth and women in general are at the forefront of social and environmental movements, which is cool."
Fournier, 24, says women are often disproportionally impacted by social, environmental, and health issues.
"I want to encourage people to use our privilege and power that we have living in the Western world to speak out about these kinds of things," she said. "Every single day decisions are made behind closed doors of city councils, Queen's Park, and the House of Commons. If we don't participate and show up, they happen without us."
Fournier has been involved with community initiatives through volunteerism for most of her life. She says that was instilled in her by her mother.
"In recent years Margaret Prophet, the executive director of the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, has really inspired me to take a lead on Stop Sprawl Orillia," Fournier explained. "My co-workers at the Couchiching Conservancy have also really inspired me in my work."
Leah Den Bok, the photographer and author behind the Nowhere To Call Home book series, says it "meant a lot" to be included in Thursday's event.
"I think speaking like this can help me accomplish my goals of humanizing people experiencing homelessness," she said. "This really helps me get my work out there and to change the general perception of homelessness."
Den Bok, a Collingwood native, is donating all sales from the series to local homeless shelters. In her books, she shares stories of homeless women and men who suffer the effects of living on the streets.
"These people are really no different than you and me," she said. "They just fell through the cracks."
Den Bok, 23, says it's important to celebrate International Women's Day each year.
"Women have been kind of treated as a minority since the beginning of time," she said. "They've been treated as a less than, also like people experiencing homelessness."
Without International Women's Day events, Den Bok fears people wouldn't acknowledge that women have fewer opportunities than men.
"In my career of photography, women are making about half of what men are making," she said. "Without events like this, people aren't going to stop to think about the problems in our society."
Den Bok says she is inspired every day by several women in her industry, her mother, and Mother Teresa.
"My mother was found homeless as a child," she explained. "She was wandering the streets of Calcutta, India when she was found by a police officer who brought her to Mother Teresa’s orphanage where she was raised by Mother Teresa and her nuns."
Mother Teresa has inspired Den Bok's work in photographing people experiencing homelessness to help change the stigma.
"Her quote that if we judge people we have no time to love them, has turned into the motto of my work," she said.
