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100 Women donate more than $10,000 to charity

Oct 14, 2016 | 12:00 PM

A group of local women stepped up Thursday night to make a big difference for a deserved charity in the city.

The Battlefords branch of 100 Women Who Care had its first official meeting Thursday, Oct. 13 at Empress Furniture and Decor. The 135 women and one man donated $100 each, for a combined $13,600, to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Battlefords branch after a speech from CMHA executive director Jane Zielke de Montbrun.

Zielke de Montbrun, who’s also a group member, said she was grateful for the support of the community and looking forward to telling her staff, and especially the people who use CMHA services, about the money.

“They will be so excited,” she said. “Some of our folks are just trying to help with donating 25 cents and $2 here, $4 there, whatever they can afford. They are part of this project that we have and it’s important to them as well as to us in providing that better space for everybody.”

The money will go toward a $615,000 goal to renovate the North Battleford Lion’s Den as a new and improved space for the CMHA.

The group members nominate local organizations, of which three are invited to the meeting. At this meeting, the CMHA, Battlefords Boys and Girls Club and Battlefords Trade and Education Centre made short speeches about why they each need the donation. The women then each cast a vote for who they believe should receive the money.

Organizer Roni Zakresky said it was absolutely heartwarming to see the community’s generosity on display Thursday night. She said the CMHA does wonderful work in the community to deserve such a significant donation.

“[They] address those needs and provide awareness to people in our communities to know that there is assistance there and, like [Zielke de Montbrun] said, remove the taboos from it so we can talk about it, then people are much more apt to seek help,” Zakresky said.

Also an organizer, Rebecca Fiddler, said 100 Women is a perfect fit for the Battlefords, because it’s an easy and empowering way to bring women together to help the community. For women who have families, jobs and other commitments, she said it can be difficult to spend a lot of time volunteering or organizing a fundraiser, so getting together for one night to donate money to a worthy charity is an easy way to make a difference.

“Being in the business community I know that our community is full of these powerful women every single day,” Fiddler said, “but it is overwhelming to see all of these powerful women in one group with cheques in hand and smiles on their faces and ready to make a difference.”

The group plans to have meetings four times per year and have set a date for the next one in January.

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.