On Thursday evening, 100 Women Who Care - South Simcoe, hosted its quarterly fundraiser online, raising money for three local charities.
Typically, each event would have 100 women come together to meet in person, but due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions, the group has had to move their fundraisers to an online platform via the Zoom app.
At every event, each woman brings $100, which gets put toward a local charity. Every quarter, the group invites three different guest speakers from local charities to speak to the women about the goals of their organizations and their involvement with the community.
At the end of the evening, the women then vote on which charity they would like their money to go to. The charity with the most votes receives 80 percent of the money.
But no charity goes home empty-handed. The the other two charities split the remaining 20 percent.
Local ladies Amy Simpson, Ashleigh Hrynyk and Rose Ficco are the founders of the 100 Women Who Care - South Simcoe group.
This month, 20+ women attended the online fundraiser, where they had the opportunity to hear from: CONTACT Community Services, Autism Ontario - Simcoe Chapter and Salvation Army - Barrie.
Emily McIntosh spoke on behalf of CONTACT Community Services. CONTACT has been helping the South Simcoe community for the past 40 years.
“Our mission is to listen to community needs and respond accordingly,” said McIntosh.
CONTACT offers a variety of programs including employment services, community workshops and clinics, clothing for those in need and most notably, their housing services.
“A lot of the homelessness we see, it’s invisible, we don’t see it,” McIntosh told the group, noting that many people actually end up homeless due to trauma.
“We work with people at a point that is focused on prevention,” she explained. “We facilitate access to government funding.”
Stephanie Watkinson from The Salvation Army spoke next to the women about the Salvation Army in Barrie.
The Salvation Army provides a number of community services, including a community meals program, offered 364 days of the year, with 300 meals served a day by staff and volunteers. With the current pandemic, bagged meals are now being provided.
They also offer sheltering programs, with an emergency shelter, a shelter for men, family shelters and space for those coming out of correctional facilities.
“We provide help for any families experiencing homelessness,” noted Watkinson. “We will help them overcome their barriers so they can be permanently housed."
“We try to transform lives by providing the basic needs,” she added.
The last presenter was Tammy Skrabek from Autism Ontario, Simcoe.
“Right now one in 66 children are diagnosed with ASD, so, so many families are supporting people on the spectrum,” explained Skrabek, adding that their organization has become the go-to in Simcoe for supporting autistic individuals.
“Those families face a lot of uncertainty and can feel isolated,” she explained. “Our priority is getting those families together and providing recreational programs which are critical to those on the spectrum.”
After the presentations, the women had the opportunity to ask the speakers questions. On any other evening, the women would normally mingle and socialize, but online, the women wasted no time and got straight to the voting.
Simpson created a poll and sent it through the Zoom call for everyone to vote for their charity of choice.
The votes were tallied, and CONTACT Community Services was the charity who received the most votes.
They walked away with $1,680, and Autism Ontario and The Salvation Army each received $210.
At the end of the event, Hrynyk thanked the women for participating.
“Trying to do this in the middle of COVID, we really appreciate the support, even more so now,” said Hrynyk.
“It’s spectacular to see 20+ women trying to expand and help these organizations out."
Simpson noted there were happy to see everyone and was happy to have gained a few new members from Thursday's event.
"Unfortunately, due to COVID, we did have a few ladies that were unable to participate, but more importantly we can share the charities' information and what they do in the community," she said. "The more our community knows about these organizations, the more we can support them financially and hopefully in time, physically as well."
The group is planning to host two more events in 2020, possibly over Zoom again. They are also looking for more members to join in their fundraising efforts.
“The more people we have in this group, the more we can help these organizations,” explained Hynryk. “It’s open to everyone.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the organization or joining, can contact them through their Facebook page here or on Instagram @100womensimcoe.
