The Meaford Culture Foundation (MCF) is presenting We Lend a Hand: The Forgotten Story of Ontario Farmerettes, a documentary film that tells the extraordinary story of 40,000 teenaged girls who volunteered on Canadian farms and helped to win the Second World War.
The film will be shown on Sunday, September 13, at the Meaford Hall Arts and Cultural Centre at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale at Meaford Hall: $20 for adults and $15 for youth under 18.
This project was made possible by a grant from Community Foundation Grey Bruce.
We Lend a Hand is based on a book co-written by author Bonnie Sitter from Exeter, Ontario, who was going through family photos in 2018 and found a black and white image of a group of smiling young women on the running board of a vehicle. On the back of the photo, the intriguing caption read: ‘Farmerettes 1946’. This photo sparked a compelling research journey that eventually led Sitter to write about this forgotten chapter of Canadian history.
The film is told from Sitter’s perspective, and she will be featured as a speaker at the screening.
The documentary reveals the true story of the Ontario Farmerettes – 40,000 teenaged girls who volunteered to work on Canadian farms between 1941 and 1952 in place of male farmers who were fighting overseas. The young women, from Ontario and Quebec, began the challenge of growing food with no prior farming experience. Their job was to ensure critical food production during the most perilous period of modern history.
Despite relentless weather conditions and schedules, they produced hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food that were shipped to the frontlines to feed soldiers, starving European populations, and POWs.
Through reenactments and unique archival images, We Lend a Hand recounts the heartwarming story of these magnificent young women – now in their late 90s – bringing back their most cherished memories, while reminding us, perhaps for the last time, that service comes in many forms.
The film showcases an amazing chapter of Canada’s agricultural history and will be educational for both youth and adults alike.
MCF is a not-for-profit, volunteer organization, with federally granted charitable status. Throughout the year, they sponsor or provide funds for numerous community cultural activities and for enrichment opportunities at local schools through our Community Outreach programs. To date, they have provided more than $350,000 in funding support for local arts and culture, and more than $700,000 for renovations and refurbishments to the Meaford Hall Arts & Cultural Centre.
