Chapter leader for 100 Women Who Care St. John’s, Lynn Young spreads awareness in preparation for her fifth meeting on April 24th
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There’s about 528,448 people in all of Newfoundland and Labrador, according to the 2016 Canadian Census, approximately 205,955 of whom reside in the capital city of St. John’s. What would you say if I told you that only 100 women out of that entire population getting together four times a year would make a major impact in our community?
In November of 2006, Karen Dunigan of Jackson, Michigan formed a group where 100 women gathered at their first ever one-hour meeting, raising $10,000 to buy 300 new baby cribs for an organization in their city. The outcome began a wave across the United States and Canada, respectively called 100 Women Who Care. Members in each city meet four times a year, committing to help others in their community.
A Simple Concept
Currently the chapter leader for 100 Women Who Care St. John’s, Lynn Young sat down with The Newfoundland Herald to spread awareness in preparation for their upcoming meeting.
“I’m the chapter leader, so I’m the one that calls the meetings and finds a place to have it. I take in all of the cheques and make sure the money gets distributed to the charity. Right now we’ve got like 50 active members,” Young shared.
“It’s a pretty simple concept, basically you get a group of women together four times a year and nominate a charity. I gather the list of everyone and have all the nominations ready for our meeting. Let’s say 10 charities get nominated, we put all of those names in a hat, and at the meeting we draw three names. Whoever nominated the charity gets up and does a five minute presentation on why they’re so wonderful and we do a vote. Whoever gets the most votes, everybody writes their cheque out to that charity, then and there. You can donate online as well. If you’ve got 100 people at the meeting, there’s your $10,000 donation.”
Subsequent to the startup in 2006, a couple of friends from St. John’s heard of the concept and took on the idea, just the two of them. Christy Haggerty and Carole Ann Ryan began the St. John’s chapter of 100 Women Who Care back in April of 2013. Each and every 100 Women Who Care across North America has one simple motive; help others in our community.
“People thought it was a wonderful idea because there were chapters starting all over the place. The girls decided that they were gonna start it up, and their first meeting they raised $8,200. The charity of choice was Choices for Youth,” she explained.
“I took over from Christy and Carole Ann back in January 2017, I’ve ran four meetings. This will be my 5th one now coming up. The biggest donation we’ve had so far was first when our chapter got started. The Home Again furniture bank, they got $3,800 back in September 2017 and she said they bought like 15 mattresses with it. Our last meeting, January 2018, the charity was Teachers on Wheels and they received $5,000.” 
Local Charities
The movement uses collective power to transform our community. Members are committed, with 100 percent of the donations going directly to a local charity of the members’ choice. 100 Women Who Care is perfect for people who run tight schedules and are pressed for time, with meetings only running one-hour, four times a year.
“The meeting takes about an hour. We call everyone together, the previous nominated charity who got the last donation comes in and tells you what they did with it so everyone knows where their money went. For some charities, it goes to a specific project, or it may just go into general funds, as long as the charity is somewhat local, and has charitable status. We’ve given to Children’s Wish, Home Again Furniture Bank, and Teacher’s on Wheels.”
100 Women Who Care will be having their fifth meeting with Lynn Young on Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held at Sobey’s Howely Estates, 10 Elizabeth Avenue in St. John’s. If you are a new member, registration opens one hour prior, at 6:30 pm.
To learn more about 100 Women Who Care NL, visit www.100womennl.ca or their Facebook page 100WomenWhoCareStJohns, or contact Lynn Young at [email protected]