One hundred forty-three years ago, seven young women at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa made an important pledge. Realizing how fortunate they were to have the opportunity to further their education, the seven made a pact with a goal of helping other women accomplish what they had. On Jan. 21, 1869, when covered wagons were still rolling across the land to open the west, these seven girls became the founders of a sisterhood which is still strong today. The PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Sisterhood helps women across North America with the costs of attending post secondary school. The Campbell River chapter of the Sisterhood, which was established in 1977, presented Debra Fontaine, a tourism management student at North Island College, with a $2,000 grant. Fontaine is one of more than 83,000 women who have benefited from the Sisterhood’s educational grants, loans, awards and stewardship. The Sisterhood has grown leaps and bounds since the original seven. Today, nearly 250,000 members in Canada and the United States work to help women from all walks of life obtain educational goals that they thought were impossible. The PEO Sisterhood is celebrating 100 years in British Columbia this year. For more information visit www.peointernational.org