Our mission is to provide opportunities for women of the congregation to gain a sense of community and fellowship within our church.

All women at Chalmers are members of Women of Chalmers. We encourage women to join groups to meet others for fellowship and to contribute to our work in the church. There are women willing to help develop new groups when interest is expressed. Some of the present groups are: Tuesday Noon Discussion Group, The Lunch Bunch, The 4 T’s (Take Time To Talk), and two women’s spirituality groups. There is an executive/planning committee consisting of both representatives from the various women’s groups and those simply interested in our work. This committee meets every other month, or as needed, to plan and organize activities, events, and projects for the women of Chalmers Church. It also makes decisions about the contributions that we would like to make to our church community and beyond. It spearheads, coordinates and assists at church fundraising projects and congregational events. The chairperson represents the women of the congregation at the Co-ordinating Council of Elders.

Some of the ongoing functions our members have been responsible for this year are buying coffee hour supplies, enlisting coffee hour hosts, organizing receptions after funerals, and refurbishing the MacCallum Hall kitchen.

With the departure of Martha’s Table we have been busy cleaning and restocking the kitchen. Martha’s kindly left us donated articles that they do not need in their new premises and these have been sorted by a small kitchen committee. If you have been to one of our congregational events you may have noticed that we now have a set of matching stainless cutlery, new dessert dishes and soup bowls, as well as many new coloured tablecloths. They also left us a freezer, shelving units in the basement, and the utility sink in the kitchen. The new tables and chairs in MacCallum Hall were recently purchased with funds that have been raised over the years by Women of Chalmers events.

Congregational events we have organized this year are the Christmas Cookie Tray Deliveries in December, our Congregational and Family Christmas Potluck and Carol Sing in December and the annual Congregational Pancake Supper in February.

We have also provided interesting/fun programs at women’s potluck dinners. Nan Hudson, Conference Minister of Stewardship and Mission, spoke to us about the recent trip she led to China. Dawn Broughton’s niece, Gianne Broughton, told us, with slides, about the time she has spent in Barundi, Africa. The Kingston Grandmothers’ Connection raised our awareness, with a Stephen Lewis video, of the grandmothers in Africa who are raising their grandchildren orphaned by the death of their parents due to AIDS; the Raging Grannies also moved us with songs based on the same theme. We had a potluck supper with Emmy Dieplinger and Gail Blackwood presenting “Keeping on Your Feet: How to Prevent Falls”.