On Thursday evening, 100 Women Who Care - South Simcoe met virtually for their final event of the year to raise money for three local charities: Shak’s World, Christmas for Kids, and Cody’s House Youth Centre.
The women host the meetings once every quarter as a way to give back to the community. The idea is to have 100 women attend with $100 each while listening to guests from three different local charities speak about their mission and how they serve the community.
After, the women vote on the charity they believe should receive their collected money.
But no charity walks away empty-handed.
The charity with the most votes takes away 80 percent of the pot, while the remaining two receive 10 percent each.
Myrlene Boken from Christmas for Kids spoke first.
Boken has been involved with the charity since it began 25 years ago. The charity helps Innisfil children and families year-round providing Christmas hampers and toys, birthday gifts and winter clothing.
Since the start of the pandemic, Christmas for Kids has been consistently helping 30 families requiring prolonged assistance. They also run a vulnerable teen program with Nantyr Shores High School, currently servicing 55 youth.
Boken says usually, by end of Christmas the charity helps out around 143 families, but that number has increased this year due to the pandemic. So far they have 139 families registered this year and are getting around getting 1-2 new clients per day, a 10 percent increase over last year.
Normally their Christmas program costs around $35K to run per year, but this year Boken says it will be more around the $50K mark. The charity has raised around $40K so far and is seeking an additional $10K to help purchase more toys and clothing.
“We’ve had more people needing warmer clothing,” she noted.
“We usually end up making it,” she said of the fundraising goal set each year, “The community is good at coming together.”
The charity has also made a Go Fund ME page this year to encourage contactless donations.
Kari Smith spoke with James Maxwell from Cody’s House.
Smith started the organization after losing her son in 2013 to suicide.
“After he took his life, I started getting a lot of correspondence from youth in the community, he had helped so many kids through difficult problems and issues,” she said.
The mission of Cody's House Youth Centre is to promote mental health and resiliency in youth, helping them and their families navigate service pathways to a happy and healthier life. The house offers services with social workers, nurses, mental health technicians and addiction counsellors who provide assessment, crisis intervention, and supportive counselling for all community members in crisis.
“We need to start building the bones of our youth to become their best selves,” she said.
She noted teens now are especially struggling with mental health due to COVID and need more support. The house aims to help youth between the ages of 12 and 19.
“We want to help them to grow the confidence and to achieve self-love, self-respect and to be their best self,” she explained. “We cannot always build the future for the youth, but we can build the youth for the future.”
Cody’s House is a grassroots organization, with 120 different supporters.
Money donated goes toward youth obtaining professional help services.
Shanicka (Shak) Edwards was the final speaker of the evening. Edwards started Shak’s World five years ago with a focus on physical and mental wellness for youth in Simcoe County. The mission of Shak’s World is to create respectful and successful athletes and community members through an uplifting experience for young athletes and teams of all ages and skill levels.
The centre, located in downtown Barrie offers a variety of programs using basketball, innovation, and mentorship as a bridge to youth employment, education, and training.
Edwards grew up in Innisfil and has played basketball her entire life. When she was in high school, one of her teammates committed suicide and since then youth mental health has been something that has always been important to her.
“Isolation has caused a skyrocket with mental health,” she noted about the effects of COVID-19.
Shak's World officially moved into their new home on Nov.1 at 59-A Maple Avenue in downtown Barrie.
Since then, the centre has seen close to 100 youth coming in, being led by youth workers, all under the age of 30.
“It’s been a great ride,” she says of building up the centre and its programs.
With 13,000 square feet of space, Edwards says it has been a struggle to keep PPE and cleaning supplies and would use the money, if selected, for more stock.
Shak’s World is privately run and owned, and funding comes from local donors and corporate sponsors. They also rely on government grants and the help of their community partners, CMHA, New Path and Youth Connections. The centre also sells apparel and merchandise which helps with their fundraising.
It was a tough choice, but in the end, it was Shak’s World who received the most votes.
Edwards was grateful for the support and donation.
She connected with Boken after the presentations, letting her know that Shak’s World would also be hosting a toy drive to help support kids in Innisfil this season.
"This was great! I love to see the collaboration between charities," said member Jenn Rae.
Shak’s World ended up taking home $1,600, while Christmas for Kids and Cody’s House each took home $200 each.
“Thank you so much and allowing us to let us see what’s going on in our communities and how we can help,” said Amy Simpson, founder of 100 Women Who Care - South Simcoe.
The women will meet again in the new year with three new charities to highlight. To learn more, visit their Facebook page here.
