by Ann Brady
This year’s 100 Women Who Care North Dundas event topped the 200 participants mark – and then some! On Thursday, May 8 the Joel Steel Arena hall was packed with beautiful, talkative, jubilant women of all ages, sizes, styles and callings. In the background, several wonderful guys from the 100 Men Who Care North Dundas group collected pledges, handed out lanyards and badges, and ensured enough chairs were set out for everyone.
What captured my heart were two guests who stood out and filled me with hope for a better future: local graphic designer Susan Mariner and her young daughter. What a wonderful lesson Susan has taught her daughter, in a time when society descends into a gimme-gimme-it’s-all-about-me stance that does our world no good. That dear little girl beamed with pride, too – for her mom and for the old lady telling her how wonderful it was to see a mom and daughter there. Next year, let’s hope more moms bring along their daughters to witness the power of what women can do when we put our hearts and dollars together.
The 100 Who Care movement is simple, but has far-reaching impacts on the communities in which it is organized. Renee Moore, executive director of Naomi’s Family Resource Centre, made an important point when she said that one funder can start something big and wonderful for a recipient organization because it plants little seeds of inspiring others to give. She reported on how those seeds have benefitted Naomi’s over the past year, starting with being the recipient of last year’s 100 Women Who Care purse that led to a new roof, and then more funders helping with two new bathrooms, fresh paint and new flooring. In a place where support workers and people fleeing abusive relationships are stretched to the very limits of what the human spirit can witness and endure, such everyday renovations take on grand proportions. The comfort of a bath, of cheerful paint on the walls, of warmth and security during a rainfall, all encourage hope in a better future.
The next 100 Women Who Care North Dundas event will take place in May 2025 and I can hardly wait! If you think you can’t afford to participate in this absolutely beautiful project, I am here to tell you that you can – no matter what your financial circumstances. Every Friday night – before your weekend launches – place a toonie in a jar and put it away until the next Friday evening, when you feed it another toonie. Just in time for next year’s 100 Women Who Care event, you will have, without any stress to your home budget, saved $104! That’s $100 for the cause and a little treat for yourself at the local donut shop. And when you donate your fifty toonies to the cause, and hear the stories of the need in our community and the organizations that meet so many of those needs, you will feel like the richest woman on earth because you are part of it all. Ladies, is there a better lesson you could teach your daughters and granddaughters?