Provincial Convention 2009: Organization Oral Report

Submitted by: Nancy Simms

Good morning, I have wonderful news! For the past two years we in BC/Yukon increased our membership by 7%! And that is all due to your unceasing hard work and dedication to the League! So congratulations everyone!

But, now what I see as the challenge that lies before us is not only to continue increasing in membership, but to also retain the members we have. How do we do this? Well, there are a few things we as can do; the first would be hosting workshops. Workshops are an inspirational way to educate members about the League and help them understand all that they personally have to offer in their service to God and Canada. In this past year we as a provincial council travelled throughout the province facilitating workshops for members to become more comfortable with public speaking, conducting meetings and with their overall understanding of the League. Members took away from these workshops a confidence to accept positions within the League and not only willingness, but a desire to stand up and tell their stories to all of us. We are still offering this workshop to any councils that would like to host it for their surrounding area. We have also developed another day long workshop that we would love to facilitate throughout the province. This workshop will help members realize their beauty within, discuss maintaining peace and will challenge members to be leaders. So please contact me and we will set up at date for either of these workshops to be presented. I would also recommend for diocesan executives to facilitate your own workshops within your diocese as a way to grow together in confidence and knowledge of the League.

How else can we not only retain members, but develop members with a desire to be involved? I believe the answer is in our themes. We must continue to be women of peace and hope serving with faith and joy! We must have peace within our personal beings, and this can only be accomplished through spiritual growth, then peace amongst ourselves, within our meetings, while we work side by side in the kitchen, or visiting the sick and shut-ins, or sitting together discussing and developing resolutions, there must be peace amongst us. If we are truly seen as women of peace, members will want to continue being a part of us and we will achieve at promoting peace in a world so extremely hungry for it!

Then by attaining true peace we will emanate hope. Hope for the League, hope for the future, hope for the world. Let us always be women of hope. But that’s not always easy, is it? When we watch the news and hear about so many dark and terrible things happening all around us how can we be hopeful? We can because we have faith, faith in a loving God who will overcome all darkness by using us as his gentle hands of caring. Our unwavering faith allows us to be women of hope who want to serve all God’s people. And serve we do, in so many ways! Yet, when we serve we must do it with joy, for who would be around us if we all were miserable and cantankerous! As Mother Teresa reminded us “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.”

So let us love with burning hearts and continue on growing in our work for God and Canada!