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Once again, the seasons are changing and Spring is on its way. Earlier this year, I had the honour and pleasure of attending the New Year's Day Levee at Queen's Park, hosted by the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. The 2017 year promises to be an exciting one with events celebrating Canada's 150th Birthday and our own special WI milestone, which started with WI Day on the 19th of February. A special calendar sticker was created for WI Day and it is still available on the FWIO website. The Books, Blankets and Bears project has been a success once again this year. Thank you to everyone who delivered packages where you felt they would be needed to comfort children. Your photos submitted to the Provincial Office were also appreciated and they were included in a slideshow at our "Tea at the Lee" event at the Erland Lee (Museum) Home on February 19th, as well as on Facebook. Special dignitaries were invited to our celebration and, thanks to the generous donation of Dan Lee and Judy Sowden, the chandelier in the Dining Room is now operating once again to shine its light on 120 years of WI, where it all began! Other events to look forward to in 2017 are the Provincial Conference and ACWW Canada Area Conference being held in Pembroke, Ontario where ACWW World President, Ruth Shanks, will be in attendance along with other special guests. Our Canada 150 project's book launch will take place at the Provincial Conference on June 20th. Order your copy of "Ordinary to Extraordinary - 150 stories as unique as the women who lived them" early to receive a discount and help offset printing costs. Don't forget to order your WI rose bush to commemorate WI's 120th Anniversary. More information can be found on page 7. The WI 120 project is underway - take a picture of any hall, monument or structure that the WI helped to build or fund and upload it to collections.fwio.on.ca in our virtual archives. Thanks to the generosity of Hollie and Marlene Archer, the Black Smith Shop at the Erland Lee (Museum) Home will be renovated soon. Another part of history being preserved for our future generations! Special thanks to the Erland Lee (Museum) Home volunteers, FWIO Office staff and committee members for all of their hard work. They have done an amazing job. Congratulations to the "Women Involved" of the new Board. I am looking forward to working together with them to build a stronger future for WI. What we do today becomes the history of tomorrow. How can you help to build a stronger FWIO? Invite one person to your Branch meeting, hold a ROSE Session or share your issue of the Home & Country ROSE Garden with a friend or neighbour. Remember that we also send an extra copy to each Branch. "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is Success." - Henry Ford Looking to the future and wishing you all the best for a Happy 2017! For Home & Country, Margaret Byl by fwio preside nt margaret byl Mark your calendars! FWIO Provincial Conference June 20-22, 2017 in Pembroke ACWW Canada Area Conference June 23-25, 2017 in Pembroke Annual General Meeting November 30 & December 1, 2017 in Kingston 3