100 Women Who Care is calling all worthy causes

SOUTH DUNDAS – In just about a month’s time 100 Women Who Care About South Dundas will be meeting for the fifth time.

Organizers are now actively seeking applications from worthy local causes.

“We have at least $13,600 to give away this year, at this point,” said Janeen Wagemans, one of the founders of the 100 Women group. “So if you have a cause or an idea get in touch with us.”

Rosemary Laurin, another of the founders, said that they would love to see lots of new, fresh ideas that will benefit the community.

“So this is a call out to those with applications to get them in to us,” said Wagemans.

Laurin is happy to provide support and guidance to anyone considering submitting an application.

At least five worthy local causes need to submit applications for the event to proceed.

In just four years 100 Women Who Care About South Dundas has injected $71,900 into various community projects, and they are looking forward to adding to that tally when the 100 Women’s annual event takes place, this year on May 2nd at the Upper Canada Playhouse.

Wagemans is hoping that enough women will become members so that the community benefit will increase substantially.

“We’ve seen North Dundas add 100 events, and the men of South Dundas hold their own 100 men events. They had really good membership numbers, it would be nice if we, the 100 Women of South Dundas as the original local group, could do at least as well as them – if not better,” said Wagemans, offering a bit of a challenge for more women to get involved.

100 Women North Dundas set and achieve a goal of 200 members which translates into $20,000 for that group’s chosen causes. Last year 100 Men Who Care About South Dundas had 152 members in their inaugural year.

“This really is the most attractive way to give back to your community,” said Wagemans. “All it takes is $100 and one hour once a year. For members, there’s no other meetings, no other planning involved. Just show up, socialize, donate and vote.”

“That’s all there is to it,” added Laurin.

Going into the fifth year for 100 Women, Wagemans reflected on the event: “It’s pretty great, all we do is put out a call and all these people step forward to make a difference. It’s all very collegial – it’s really a great sense of community.”

“It shows how much we all really care about each other,” said Laurin. “It’s fun to be in that room on that night to see all the good will.”

Laurin added that one of the best things about the night, is that for anyone who submits an application for a project, gets great exposure for whatever they are trying to accomplish.

There are several examples of projects that did not receive funding, like Iroquois Public School’s community garden. They didn’t win the funds, but through the exposure they received that night they ended up will enough donated materials that they didn’t need any money. The same happened when Morrisburg Public School was unsuccessful in their bid to receive funds for book purchases. They didn’t get the money, but then ended up with boxes and boxes of books being donated.

On top of that, Laurin really likes to see the tangible accomplishments made with money from 100 Women.

The Morrisburg splash pad project received $4,000 to help with its construction.

“It’s really incredible that I can drive by that park anytime and feel really proud of what we accomplished there. It gives you a really good feeling to see it being enjoyed by children now, and for years to come.”

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