Retirement at age 65 is not uncommon for people.
But for organizations, it can be a sad day.
On July 5, members of the 65-year-old Canadian Home Economics Association voted to dissolve the national group.
Falling membership and income led to the decision taken at a meeting of the group in Regina. In the most recent annual report covering the year to March 31, 2002, the association spent $742,000.
Carol Christie, co-chair of the association, told the annual meeting that over the past four years the directors, staff and volunteers tried to revitalize home economics and establish a vibrant national association.
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“This effort was undertaken with the use of reserves and we knew that the reserves would last approximately three years.”
Added her co-chair Linda Ashley of Herbert, Sask.: “volunteer fatigue and the current financial situation led us to believe that we could no longer sustain CHEA in a responsible manner even in the most scaled down format. The current directors of the board acknowledged it was time to close down CHEA with the dignity and honour that is owed an association that has worked to support individuals, families and communities in Canada since 1939.”
The end of the national association follows two decades of erosion of the profession. The home ec degree is now awarded only at the University of Manitoba.
