Ryder Lake Women's Institute

British Columbia Women's Institute

The Ryder Lake Women's Institute (RLWI) is a member branch of the BC Women's Institute and was incorporated as a society in 1935.

Women’s Institutes are active across Canada and throughout the world, originating in Ontario in 1897. All BC members are also part of the National and International organizations. For more information visit the BCWI website.

About us

The Ryder Lake Women's Institute is open to women that live in Chilliwack and meets at the Ryder Lake Hall at 7 pm on the first Wednesday of every month. Guests are welcome! All meetings are listed on the the Events page

The membership fee of $50 p.a. is paid to the BCWI, and new members are welcome at any time. Our local branch does not receive any of these dues and therefore relies on fund raising and donations to support our programs.

For those interested in our history, check out these links to digitized documents and scrapbooks and our 90th Anniversary celebrations.

Programs and Events

As well as collaborating on community events with the Farmers' Institute Community Association, the RLWI also organizes educational workshops, speakers and tours for our members.

Events open to the community have included Christmas wreath and swag making, paint nights, sausage making and more! These are listed on the Events page.

Our monthly meeting presentations have included a mixture of hands on workshops, and member presentations such as their work at the Sto:lo Services Agency, Fraser Health, and maternity education in Somalia. We have also had speakers from Days for Girls, and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

Community

The RLWI supports various community initiatives such as the Vedder Elementary food programs, and is a sponsor of the annual Chilliwack Fair, awarding prizes in the Kitchen Arts section for canning and dehydrating.

As a co-owner of the Ryder Lake Institutes Hall, the WI appoints members to sit on the joint hall committee and is actively involved in projects to enhance and upgrade the Hall. We have successfully applied for and received grants for several major projects including the Connections Cafe.

Cookbook

The Ryder Lake Women's Institute Cookbook was published in May 2021 and contains over 180 recipes submitted by our members and friends.

Each recipe includes personal notes plus there are some fun old heritage recipes and snippets of historical information about the WI. This was a wonderful virtual collaborative project undertaken during COVID.

The cookbook is now out of print.

Contact

Contact rlwiinfo@gmail.com for more information or download a membership application.

Membership fees can be paid by e-transfer to rlwitreasurer@gmail.com.