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By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

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100+ Women Who Care just about finished 10th year of philanthropy in central Alberta

Sep 14, 2024 | 1:18 PM

Red Deer’s ‘100+ Women Who Care’ is getting ever closer to completing 10 years of philanthropy.

Started in 2015, one of its founding members, Susan Knopp, says the group is reflecting on what they’ve done and where they’d like to go.

“As we get closer to wrapping up our tenth year, we’ve been reflecting on how we started this initiative with no clear idea of how impactful it might be. We just knew that the ‘100 Who Care’ concept was so simple, effective, and efficient,” says Knopp.

“We have donated anywhere from $10,000 to $24,000 in one meeting, and more than $625,000 in total since 2015. It’s exciting and gratifying.”

How it works is members nominate non-profits to present at one of their quarterly meetings.

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The group, which is around 120 women strong, then votes for which charity to support.

All donations come from the members, who contribute each meeting.

“One of the best parts at each meeting is learning about all the amazing work taking place in our community. We’ve donated to well-known organizations, like the Red Deer Hospice and to lesser-known ones, like the Central Alberta Brain Injury Society,” notes Cindy Jefferies, co-founder.

“At our April meeting, we donated to the John Howard Society’s Community Closet Program. For CABIS or the Community Closet initiative, the donations can fund the program for a year or two and save the organization months and months of smaller fundraisers. The total donation provides a needed boost to every recipient.”

The Community Foundation of Central Alberta (formerly the Red Deer and District Community Foundation), has taken on the important task of managing the donations.

A bonus of it all is that each quarterly meeting only takes one hour of everyone’s time, plus it’s a fun, energetic and welcoming group of women, Jefferies says.

The next meeting will take place Monday, September 23 from 7-8 p.m. at the Red Deer Golf and Country Club. Doors open at 6 p.m. for registration and socializing. The website www.100womenreddeer.ca has more information about the organization and how to join.

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