Photo Arthur Chauvineau on Unsplash

So, what happened at the meeting?

Sharon Lewis and Mike Brookbank provided opening remarks.  Mike delivered a land acknowledgement and recognized the valuable contributions of sponsors, particularly Cutten Fields, for their generous donation of the meeting space at no cost.  

Sharon gave a whole-hearted shoutout to Sandra Lastovic, of Skip the Bank, who has been a longstanding sponsor of 100 Women Who Care Guelph. She also thanked members for their continued support over the years (70 members have been with our group for at least 5+ years and 37 have been with us for 3+ years). Exciting news – 100WWCG recruited 4 new members at this very meeting!

Mike delivered regrets from Mayor Cam Guthrie, who had hoped to be our keynote speaker. He relayed Mayor Guthrie’s sincere appreciation of the incredible contribution that both 100 Women Who Care Guelph and 100+ Men Who Give a Damn have made to the Guelph charity community.  He stressed that we are always stronger when we all work together and that our joint meeting is a perfect example of that cooperation for the better good.    

We listened to Michelle Peek, Co-founder and Executive Director of Art Not Shame, who thanked 100 Women Who Care Guelph for our April donation.  (To see the heartfelt thank you from Art Not Shame, follow this link.)

Tracey Schlosser, Market & Fund Development Lead and Joan Knox, Kitchen Co-ordinator of  Hospice Wellington  also thanked 100+ Men Who Give a Damn for their most recent donation.

Following opening remarks, chosen charities were announced. Members listened to enthusiastic presentations from the representatives and Executive Directors of our chosen charities, and cast their votes…

Chosen Charities

At the beginning of May 2023, members of the executives of 100 Women Who Care Guelph and 100+ Men Who Give a Damn selected the names of four charities (two for each group) which qualified to make a presentation to our June meeting.

The four chosen charities were:

Michelle Martin presented on behalf of  Alzheimer Society Waterloo Wellington.

The mission of this organization is to alleviate the personal and social consequences of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and to promote research, to be a sustainable and responsive leader in the field of dementia offering specialized services to all persons along the dementia journey.

Funds from a joint 100WWCG / 100+MWGAD donation would be directed toward Minds in Motion,  a community-based social program that incorporates physical and mental stimulation for people with early to mid-stage Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia and their care partners.

Kristin Beaver presented on behalf of Central Ontario Leadership Seminars (COLS)  requesting a donation to support COLS.

Every year, Central Ontario Leadership Seminars provides a three-day leadership conference to grade 10 students across Central Ontario, at no cost to the students. The aim of this conference is to empower young people to “be the change they want to see,” to foster personal growth by promoting positive thinking, goal setting and community involvement, to develop independent and critical thinking skills and to build lifelong relationships.

Funds from a joint 100WWCG / 100+MWGAD donation would be directed toward subsidizing operating costs for the 2024 conference, including insurance, room and board for approximately 120 students.

Kyle Hare, Development Outreach Co-ordinator presented on behalf of Community of Hearts Lifelong Learning Centre.

Community of Hearts supports youth, adults and seniors with developmental exceptionalities to achieve the level of independence they desire, curriculum-based quality programming and a person centred focus.  This support builds self confidence, self advocacy and independence, reducing social isolation and increasing community engagement. 

Funds from a joint 100WWCG / 100+MWGAD donation would be directed toward construction of the organizations first-ever accessible washroom for their facility. 

Ann Caine, President of the Board, presented on behalf of Sunrise Therapeutic Riding and Learning Centre.

As an accredited member of the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association (CanTRA) and The Ontario Camps Association (OCA), Sunrise has a mission to develop the full potential of children and adults with special needs through therapy, education, horse riding, recreation, and life skills programs, farm-related and social activities.

Funds from a joint 100WWCG / 100+MWGAD donation would be directed toward subsidizing Sunrise as it provides lifeskills programming to 300 to 400 clients, including camps and a leadership in training program.

Effort and engagement yield results!

So, nothing that’s successful happens without the hard work and participation of the people involved. 

We are so happy to thank the executive and members of 100 Women Who Care Guelph and 100+ Men Who Give a Damn, for their enthusiasm and engagement over the past few months. Without their efforts and co-operation we couldn’t have achieved this success.  

More than 200 people turned out for our joint meeting and our successful charity will have the opportunity to receive a donation which could make an incredible difference in the outcomes it will see in 2023.

It is great to see that there is no shortage of enthusiasm in the membership of either of our groups to support local charities.  Let’s move forward with increased enthusiasm and confidence that we can make a HUGE difference to those who need our support the most.  

We’ll let you know what the date is for our next 100WWCG meeting, as soon as we have firmed up our plans for the next year!

Sharon, Tannis, Miriam, Lisa, Peggy and Dianne

The 100 Women Team