NewmarketToday is marking this giving season by celebrating Newmarket's Community Angels, the people whose kindness, compassion and community spirit help make our town one of the best to live in the country.
With more than $200,000 raised for 20 local charities in the last five years, local women are showing just how much they can care.
The Central York Region chapter of 100 Women Who Care, with members from Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury, is celebrating its fifth anniversary — as well as successfully overcoming the challenge presented by COVID-19 restrictions preventing large events.
And it has all happened in quarterly meetings that last no more than an hour.
The milestone was marked quietly, with several members of the organizing committee presenting a cheque for $11,613 to Newmarket’s Margaret Bahen Hospice, the 20th recipient of the organization’s generosity.
Since the local chapter of the international organization launched in 2015, the number of members has steadily grown, from 40 to more than 160 now, as have the amount of the donations — and impact — to the grassroots charities vying for the gift.
The first charity supported was Newmarket’s shelter for the homeless, Inn From the Cold, with a $4,600 donation, which helped purchase a refrigerator that “totally changed things for them,” said Susanne Cappuccitti, a member of the organizing committee.
“They never got fresh food until they got refrigeration — it has changed the way they work.”
That set the course for the next five years, with the group able to take pride in the “monumental” impact of their donations to smaller charities that have limited resources for fundraising.
“For most of these organizations, a donation of this size is really tough to get,” said Cappuccitti, who herself works in the non-profit sector. “It offers them an opportunity … and they have the freedom to put it where they most need it.”
Founder and president Laurie Brakeboer agrees the unusual flexibility that allows the charities to choose how to spend the money — the only restriction is that it can’t go toward administrative costs — “is where our biggest impact is.”
When Brakeboer launched the local chapter after hearing about the nationwide movement that garners the collective power of 100 women to do good, she knew the community had the necessary capacity for compassion and generosity.
The 100 Women Who Care organization works on the premise that if each member or team contributes $100 at each meeting, held four times a year, it adds up to a total donation of more than $10,000 each to four non-profit organizations annually.
The charities are nominated by members, who make a pitch for support to their fellow members if the organization’s name is pulled from the hat.
The Central York Region chapter grew to 100 members within the first year, along with the size of the donations.
“We typically choose a charity that pulls at our heart-strings,” Brakeboer said.
Recipients have included Dragonfly Wellness, Inn From the Cold, Yellow Brick House, the Newmarket Food Pantry, Doane House Hospice, the Shop, MOBYSS, New Leaf, KC's Cancer Cushion Fund, Girls Inc., PKD Foundation, Marquee Theatrical Productions, the Character Community’s Slap Shot program and Routes Connecting Communities.
Brakeboer acknowledges that the power of the camaraderie and energy generated by more than 100 women gathering in a room to give back was something to behold — it gave her goosebumps — and there was uncertainty as to what lay ahead when COVID-19 challenged them to take the leap to virtual meetings.
Through the nationwide 100 Who Care Alliance, the chapter received access to Zoom and training through an American organization called Grapevine.
“We weren’t sure how many people would show up. Are they going to be engaged, is it going to work, we wondered. By the end of the first meeting, they were saying ‘this has been amazing’,” said Brakeboer.
Not only did the pivot to virtual happen fairly seamlessly, the organizing committee believes it actually has improved engagement — with perhaps even more members attending, and plenty of questions and comments being submitted.
Not to mention the ease of the electronic tallying of votes that follows the presentations for the two charities at each meeting, and the ability to donate electronically and receive tax receipts using the Canada Helps website.
As well, because all of the money donated goes to the charities, the group had relied on local businesses to provide locations for the meetings — Market Brewing Company and Silver Lakes Golf and Country Club were recent venue sponsors — which had become more of a challenge as the group grew in size.
“The core is giving, especially with COVID, it’s something that people feel good about — and we were not letting COVID shut this down,” said organizing committee member Gabi Armstrong.
“What was a very personal, live event is now a very virtual event, but the spirit is still there,” she added.
“For those of us who don’t go to work and don’t see people, it’s still a night we look forward to,” Brakeboer said.
Along with the impact of the donations themselves, the group recognizes that it has played an important role in creating awareness about the grassroots charities in our communities that often receive little attention or profile for the important work they do.
“We are educating (our members) about these charities — a lot of them don’t have the resources to have a voice in the community. There are so many of them doing work that never gets recognition on any level, they just silently go about and do their job,” said Armstrong. “They are all angels.”
And through the presentations about the charities, the members are also being made aware of issues in the community.
“There are a lot of serious social issues going on here — we don’t see the homeless people here on the street like you do in Toronto — and it’s creating awareness of these really important social issues in our community. That’s tremendously beneficial,” Armstrong added.
The first 100 Women Who Care group was launched in 2006 by Karen Dunigan in Michigan as a brilliant way to raise money efficiently and quickly for local charities.
“Karen saw people for their strengths and realized that when 100 or more people come together in a room, each person becomes a powerful force for doing good work while lifting up your community,” the 100 Who Care Alliance website states.
New members are always welcome, you can find out more here.
