The first 100+ Women Who Care meeting for the Bancroft region happened Tuesday evening with one happy charity leaving with a big cheque.
Bancroft & Area Kids in Need, Hastings and Prince Edward Food for Learning and the North Hastings Hospital Auxiliary were the three presenting charities. The just under 100 women in attendance voted after the presentations and decided Kids in Need would get the $7,500 cheque.
Chairperson Jennifer Foster explained during her presentation that the money will go towards purchasing things for kids. She said that includes everything from a car seat to boots or other winter clothing that kids may be without. During KIN’s presentation, Foster mentioned how since they started in 1989 they have directly impacted 4,500 kids in the community. 180 kids got snowsuits and presents last year thanks to their programs.
Foster said that KIN’s only fundraising event is the Moose FM Radiothon. She added that donations do roll in throughout the year, but they are inconsistent. This year KIN will be a part of the Hilly Hundred and get a portion of the proceeds from that event.
The point of the group is to get women in the area together to donate to a selected charity. Every individual or group hands over $100 in cash or writes a cheque. The three chosen charities present and explain what will be done with the money and the women in attendance vote on who gets their money after all three are done. There will be three meeting every 12 months and the winning charity will have to come back to the next one to talk about how they used the money.
Food for Learning were looking to use the money to expand their programs in North Hastings. They are involved with all seven schools in the area. The Auxiliary wanted to use the money to buy a $10,000 OBGYN stretcher to replace the old one at the Hospital.
The next meeting will be on January 21st. You can nominate a charity to present up until December 1st. You can do that through their Facebook page.