What can you do for International Women’s Day on Cape Cod? This breakfast is a start.
March 24, 2024
Cape Cod’s International Women’s Day event revived after two years off (capecodtimes.com)
Cape Cod Times
The League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area will revive a long-standing International Women’s Day event that was once organized by a now-defunct organization.
The Cape Women’s Coalition held its annual “International Women’s Day Breakfast” for at least 10 years. The group’s operations ceased indefinitely in 2022, as it struggled to recruit members and volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, the event will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 8 at the Hyport Conference Center in Hyannis.
“It’s an honor to be asked to resurrect the event and plan it,” said Jeanne Morrison, the co-president of the League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area, with Mary Utt. “Hopefully, this is the first of a continuation of celebrating International Women’s Day.”
The League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area will host the breakfast in conjunction with League of Women Voters of Falmouth, Amplify POC, the Women and Girls Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, and the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum.
Two panels will focus on the theme: the “Power of Women and Girls Creating Changes.”
“It’s really about using your power from where you are in life to make positive change in our community,” said Morrison.
Who are the speakers?
Mindy Todd of The Point on WCAI will moderate the first panel — “Celebrating Women Elected Leaders Making a Difference.” The panelists include Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley, Bourne Select Board member Melissa Ferretti and Falmouth Select Board member Onjal Scott Price.
Ferretti, who is also the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe Chairwoman, said she hopes her participation on the panel will empower other women like herself to consider getting involved in their community.
“I consider myself an average person in some ways and I didn’t expect to be in this role but there’s reasons I did it. I think women don’t realize how powerful and effective they can be in these roles,” said Ferretti.
The second panel — “Celebrating Young Women and Girls Making a Difference at the Local Level” — will be moderated by Erica Tso Haidas of Belonging Books. Panelists include Karibbean Lounge owner Allanah Boddah, entrepreneur Henna Monty, business owner and translator/interpreter Natalia Fros, and Cape Cod Community College student and activist member of the YMCA Achievers Program Destinee Powell.
Local organizations that serve women and girls will also be on hand to share information and services available within the Cape Cod area.
“It was most appropriate to be inclusive of all of the diversity of Cape Cod and women from all over the world who lived there,” said Morrison. “We thought planning should include representation of diverse groups of women.”
Amplify POC CEO and founder Tara Vargas Wallace said she wants people to come away from the event inspired.
“Because of my role with Amplify, my focus is on people of color, and women of color have been missing from a lot of these events … all women are powerful and we’re more powerful together and get more done when we’re all included,” said Vargas Wallace.
Registration is required and can be completed on the League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area website.
Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.
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