Rhea Cote Robbins of Brewer developed the idea to create a Franco-American Women’s Institute  over 15 years ago while she was writing in her journal.

Her goal was to figure out a way to pool the creative resources of the diverse women who share the Franco-American cultural experience.

She wanted to bring these women together.

In 1996, she launched the institute and the electronic magazine “ezine” called Moe Pi Toe (Me and You). Publications posted on the institute website and in Moe Pi Toe include hundreds of stories told by Franco-American women. Many write about their cultural heritage. This year, the institute is celebrating its 15th anniversary.

After a generation of being invisible, many Franco-American women are now engaged in the institute because they are encouraged to express their culture in creative ways.  They create literature and use their other artistic gifts to reflect their special cultural experiences.  Collectively, their body of work becomes part of the institute’s archives.

“Franco-American women have preserved the culture,” says Cote Robbins.

“Women worked in the mills and on the farms to help their people prosper. They have become the women of the future in their own right,” she says.

The institute is a community of academic, professional, Québécois, Acadian, Métis, and Mixed Blood, from varied geographies, and more, says Cote Robbins.

“We are the same spirit with different gifts,” she says.

Cote Robbins sees the institute as a cultural “net.” Women are able to “net” or capture their special culture while, at the same time, release their individual creativity.

On the institute website at www.fawi.net, a list celebrating all women writers is among the special collections posted.

“Women write every imaginable type of work,” she says. The institute promotes awareness of the breadth and variety of women’s writing.

Cote Robbins grew up in Waterville’s South End bilingual Franco-American neighborhood called “down the plains.” Her undergraduate academic career began at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and at the University of Maine. She was the editor of “Le Forum,” the University’s Franco-American bilingual journal.

In 1997, she received the Maine Chapbook Award for her nonfiction book titled “Wednesday’s Child.”  Her sequel to “Wednesday’s Child” is “Down the Plains.”

In 1997, she received a master’s degree from the University of Maine. Her lifetime achievements were honored in 2004, by the University of Maine at Farmington, when she received an honorary doctorate of human letters in recognition of her community work. She is a poet, lecturer, women’s historian, teacher, mentor and writer.

Doris Provencher Faucher, of Biddeford, is among the Franco-American writers inspired by Cote Robbins.

“Rhea gave me a lot of encouragement and valuable advice as I sought to publish my first book. I am forever grateful to her,” says Provencher Faucher.

Provencher Faucher published a series of four novels about her family’s Quebecois history.

Lanette Landry Petrie of Bradley, Maine, was encouraged to publish the artistic memoir “My Mother’s Walls” as a result of working with the institute.

“Rhea gave me the confidence to write my story,” says Petrie. “It amazes me how many people are touched by what I wrote, thanks to Rhea’s support,” she says.

In a photographic story, Petrie described the love her mother showed for her family when she decorated the walls of her house with a gallery of family pictures.

Cote Robbins says she is grateful for the support women have given to the Franco-American Women’s Institute over the past 15 years.

“Without the participation of the women, the FAWI does not exis,t” she says.

   
 

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