Loading...
The Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-04-03, Page 17Crossroads lite weakly bantuP14 rear gAtiowel Bauer, W1n nt . Advance, Times Ig�,n 1, t Fore t tYonfe» Is Orate liread by p.mpeople la the "hea. nd 9( ldnfesters' Ontario". (Based on 3.5 tendon ilk eaeb of 9p5I0 homes.) 0 r � r;,y0,M` • PublishecleverYwAteit The Listowel Banner, The Wingham Advance -Times and The Mount forest Confederate by Wenger Bros. Limited. Macphail: helping young: women to .get established in Torxto. • Macphail: it doesn't sound par- ticularly• feminine, and the building that bears its name --a 13 -story' apartment -like edifice in downtown Toronto—doesn't ap- pear ver ,feminine, at least from the outside. But, once you enter, all that changes. You are in a world of women, mostly young women, and the place fairly zings with femininity. ✓ For in the time it has been open, this unique YWCA resi- dence has become, in almost every sense, a home away from home—in many cases, far away from home -for hundreds of girls from Cornwall to the Soo. Designed to encourage co-op- erative living in an apartment- * style setting, Macphail features clusters of four and five bed -sit- ting rooms grouped around a common kitchen -living area and bathrooms. "We're -so close to everything here, -the _stores, restaurants, the subway. I can even walk to the conservatory and to work," says 21 -year-old Janice Boswell of Ot- tawa. Before coming to Toronto last September, Janice found out about Macphail through the YWCA in Ottawa. "Because the rent here is geared to a girl's in- come, I can afford to study violin at the conservatory of music by working only part-time," she says. Rents are set according to a sliding scale which is roughly 15 to 25 per cent of a resident's in- come, with the minimum rent at $37 per month., Six-month leases are required with options to re- new. Experience has shown that most residents remain at Mac- phail until their incomes rise and they can afford an apartment of their own. "When a young woman's . sal- ary goes over the $6,000 range, she is able to pair off with another girl and rent an apartment any - where in the city," says Mary Frizzell, project director at Mac- phail. ' `During the past 18 months, many of the women who moved out were able to do just that," adds Mrs. Frizzell. v The building, named in honor of the late Agnes Macphail, Cana- da's first woman member of par- liament, is located at 389 Church Street. It is a joint venture of the YWCA and Ontario Housing Corporation. OHC developed it for just under $2 million, borrow- ing 90 per cent of the capital costs from the federal government, and 10 per cent from the provin- cial treasurer. The YWCA manages, operates and adininisters the project. However, any deficit is shared 50 per cent by the federal govern- ment, 421/2 per cent -by the prov- ince and 71/2 per cent by Metropo- litan Toronto. During the first year of operation (not a full fiscal year) the federal government picked up $44,305 as deficit, the E THIRTEEN STOREY Macphail apartment -style CA residence is shown In its downtown Toronto location, provincial government $370 and Metro $6,646. Although the building is fur- nished, the kitchen -living areas and the individual rooms permit the residents to add peraortal touches. Each girl must provide her own bedding, towels, lamps, dishes and cooking utensils. "I really like the way the build- ing has been designed," says 20 - year -old Trish Edmonds of Nia- gara Falls. "The small groups of rooms—the clusters—give us a chance to make friends, and this is very important when you come from out of town and don't have any friends in Toronto. At the same time, if we want privacy, • we have our own rooms." Trish, who is deaf, is in her sec- ond semester of an electronics data-processing course at George Brown College. "I came to Macphail primarily so that I could study at George Brown," she says. "You see, the college has teachers specially trained to teach people who have : s1�> 1 ten•: loper4 • ^,b4118' triur• •r . „r . trey. • tres Wi,. 91. fr tom"+ •r�r prim gm, vim re. 0./9 } pa •am, 77171,717 1 9 close to sources of employment, education, shopping and entertainment. earing problems. Since Mac - ail is a nice place and I can af- rd to live here, e'rerything is orking out beautifully for me." The building is designed to ring the residents out of their lusters. The laundry room is on e top floor. Radiating from it re halls which lead to a large undeck, a television room, and a unge with a fireplace and sky- ght. , There are also rooms for usic, games, a library and a rge room for activities such as adminton, dances andvolley all. Scattered throughout the round floor are meeting rooms. A community services worker, usan Luker, works with the esidents in whatever area they appen to be interested. Particu- ffrly successful has been the speak easy" group 'which meets e- evening a week to discuss , pits of importance. Susan acts as a staff member or a resource person on these Occasions. She also organizes pot- luck suppers, skating parties and volley ball games. "Self defence classes have become so popular that they are now held weekly," says Susan, "whereas in the fall there was a great deal of interest in macrame." For activities such as these, Susan brings in experts from the Y. She also operates an active lending library which has a fine collection of books on women and the problems they face in today's world. • During their placement inter- view, the residents make a verbal l ntratt to live on a cooperative ''Balis, to use Compton sense and courtesy and to take other people's feelings into considera- tion at all times. "They really try to place com- patible girls together in theclust- ers," satys Mary Ann Ross of Sudbury who is fortunate enough to live across the street from her work. - "Some clusters consist of all non-smokers while others have all smokers," says Mrs. Frizzell. "Similarly, we have some groups that live very quietly, while others are partying all the time. They make their own -rules. As long as the women within each cluster are happy, that is our prime concern," she said. "Macphail is a good place to learn about sharing and respect- ing other people," agreed Janice and Trish. Of the 266 women now in resi- dence, some 60 per cent work and 12 per cent are students while the rest are referrals from the Chil- dren's Aid Society or are on a disability pension, unemploy- ment insurance, or welfare. Many in the latter group are studying or. working part time. They range in age from 16 to 30, with 21 as an average. More than 70 per cent of the women come from outside Metro Toronto. Although she relies on a wheel chair to get around, 21 -year-old Robin Hadley is enjoying a full life at Macphail. She shares the housekeeping duties with the other girls in her cluster, even getting down on her hands and knees to scrub the kitchen floor. "I always wanted to move some place where there were other girls my own age—but not in wheel chairs—and Macphail is just great," Robin says. How- ever, she really appreciates the fact that Macphail has ramps for wheel chairs and grab bars in the bathrooms. "These facilities let me and the other girls in wheel chairs be completely independent," she says. Robin lives on a disability pen- sion and attends George Brown College. "I like the friendliness here. It's not like a typical Toronto apartment building where you don't even get to know your next door neighbor," says a Ann. "And I really feel s'af, . ^ ing 'the security guard is NI dUly. I just hope they have something like this in Quebec City when I move there this summer." "We're pleased with the con- genialatmosphere here," says Mrs. rizzell. 'qt's a credit to the residents. We're just glad to be able to help the young women get a start in Toronto." TORI - c , oads-4,,r 3,:5 LINDA NIXON (left) and Janice Boswell prepare dinner in one of the many central kitch- en areas located amid clusters bf bed -sitting rooms. Linda, of Hamilton, is taking an education course of the University of Toronto.; Janice, of Ottawa, works parttime be- tween violin lessons. Seed men advocate use of No. 2 seed corn for planting Spokesmen for DeKalb Canada Limited, addressing a gathering in Chatham last week, advocated the use of No. 2 seed for 1975 plantings as a money -saving method of producing a crop of satisfactory yield. The No._2 seed is in strong supply because of the early frost last September which affected a considerable acreage of the corn destined for use as hy- brid seed. Several speakers contended that all that is needed to assure a good crop is a slight increase in the amount of seed sown to each acre, to make up for the seeds which might fail to germinate. The gathering was the occasion of DeKalb's annual Yieldmaster Club, at which the company pays suitable tribute to those growers who have secured better -than - average yields in the past grow- ing season. Witness to the success of these farmers was a list of the winners, largely from the Lake Erie counties. Proven yields ranged from a high of 151.47 bushels to the acre, down to 89.30 bushels for a grower in Quebec. One exceptional yield was re- corded by Glen A. Smyth of RR 4, Chatham, who harvested 161.4 bushels. George H. Schleicher, general manager of DeKalb Canada Ltd., outlined the purpose of the meet- ing, which was to provide an ex- change of ideas between profes- sional experts in the corn -grow- ing business and'the growers who have practical experience in the commercial production of corn crops. He said that "teetering" world markets have made high production for the money in- vested a necessity for every farmer who grows corn. Fluctua- tions of as much as $1.20 per bushel in the price of seed corn are not uncommon. Citing the reasons for such, ex- treme fluctuations, Mr. Schlei- cher said that in two states, Iowa and Illinois, some 23 million acres are devoted to the pri)duc- tion of corn, and it takes only a few days of bad weather to seriously alter the amount of crop which'can be expected from those acres—and the loss in a bad sea- son can run into many millions of bushels. By comparison only about 2 million act es are planted to grain corn in the entire' Domi- nion of Canada. Another factor which drasti- cally affects -the price of corn is the prosperity of the importing nations. If Japan, for example, is in a temporary slump, that coun- try's imports may be sharply re- duced and Canadian and Ameri- can growers left with a huge sur- plus. Richard VanDamme, district sales representative from Wal- laceburg, discussed the effects of early frost on corn yields, point- ing out that in 1974 the growers who had planted short -season seed did fare better than those who had used full -season varie- ties. However, the import of his message was that full -season varieties are a safer bet in most years and that even Last season, when a very early frost affected the crops, the full -season varieh ties were only slightly less profit- able than the shorter maturing varieties. Another point brought out by this speaker was that tests at the Please turn to Page 2 CORN GROWERS GATHER—Huron County corn growers attending the DeKalb Yield - masters' Club meeting in Chatham last week included Murray Cardiff, Grey Township, who plants from 800 to 1,000 acres annually; Don Buchanan, Londesboro; Joe Gibson, Hullett; Wilson McClure, McKillop; Eric Anderson, Hullett and Ken Campbell of McKil- lop. (Staff Photo)