Our Third Meeting of Year Five

Three Inspiring Presentations Yield One Successful Charity!

Here’s your recap for last night’s meeting.
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If you still have to submit your cheque, payment instructions are at the bottom or
 You can follow this link to make your payment online!

Spirits were high among members at our meeting on Wednesday night – perhaps it was the appearance of the sun on a day where Spring seems to be slow to bloom.  Perhaps it was just our enthusiasm to listen to new ways to support valuable community not-for-profits.  With 153 committed donations, we held our nineteenth meeting of 100 Women Who Care Guelph at Cutten Fields.

At 6:00  pm, we kicked off the evening with our networking session, sponsored by our valued 100WWCG member, Sandra Lastovic of The Mortgage Centre.   Sharon expressed the group’s sincere gratitude for Sandra and her organization’s generosity and encouraged members to check them out skipthebank.ca or on Instagram and Facebook.

Sharon also let those assembled know that several members had stepped forward to take on volunteer positions in charge of specific tasks which will help the organization.  At this point,  Erin Moore  has assumed the role of volunteer co-ordinator and Carol Dillworth and  Peggy Brightwell will be our cheque chasers. Sharon thanked our new volunteer “work crew”  for offering up their time to the organization and invited them to the front for a photo op. (missing from tonight’s admin team introduction was our charity nomination vetter, Lisa Hood).  We are still hoping a member will step forward to become our meeting photographer.  Interested members should contact Sharon Lewis (519) 780-0468 or Tannis Sprott (519) 763-1172 as soon as possible.

1. Lillian Wilson presented on behalf of Hospice Wellington.  This organization provides a variety of services to support those individuals of Wellington County living with a life-limiting illness, as well as to their families and caregivers.  Hospice Wellington offers group support programming, art therapy, one-to-one volunteer visiting, hospice palliative care in a 10-bed residence and Day Away respite for caregivers.  Money requested would be dedicated towards refurbishing the residence’s sun room, a comforting space where patients share memories, reflect and make final plans.
2. Lorna Ronald presented on behalf of Hope House,  a poverty relief organization which provides compassionate assistance, with the emphasis on providing clients with “a hand-up, rather than a handout”.  This organization’s initiatives include backpack and hamper drives and a free choice food market, as well as dental and haircut programs.  Money requested would be dedicated towards the Hope House community backpack program which provides children with a backpack filled with school supplies for the first day of a new year of school.
3. Margaret Middleton presented on behalf of  Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a lay catholic organization with branches found around the world, which has been active in our community for decades.   This organization has the goal of serving those in poverty among us with love, respect, justice and joy, regardless of religious affiliation, and with a heavy emphasis on the personal touch.  As part of that mandate, the organization supports local thrift stores within impoverished communities.  The Guelph thrift store is committed to providing emergency food, clothing, furniture and household items to its clients.  Money requested would be dedicated to a bed program which would furnish brand new clean beds to clients in need.After each presentation, we took the opportunity to dig a bit deeper into the charities with a few questions to clarify any issues which had not been addressed.  Members enthusiastically asked for more information about the programs supported by our targeted donations and funding models of each organization.  Once all presentations had been made and all questions were answered, members voted for this quarter’s successful charity.As members’ votes were being tallied, Jennifer Harrison, the administrator of last quarter’s successful charity, took the opportunity to  express her sincere thanks to members.  At a time when Rainbow Day Camp is facing cuts to grant money and when families with children who have special needs are seeing reductions in funding, the support we are providing through our January donation will  pay for 3 inclusion counselors for the entire summer – an incredible benefit to the organization and the children it serves. Members were thrilled to watch a short video which demonstrated the substantial impact their donations will make to this valuable Guelph community organization.To read the full transcript of her comments, follow this link.

And the successful charity is…

The second chosen charity of 2019 is Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Our donation is slated to be used to assist with their bed acquisition program.
By following this link, you can read our press release which provides even more information about this quarter’s chosen charity.  
If you missed the meeting, you’ll find instructions about how to send in your cheque below.
You can also make your payment online by following this link!

Please arrange to make your donation as soon as possible.

Congratulations to our newest 3 Year Pin recipients!