The Westlock 100 Women Who Care (100 WWC) held their 30th quarterly meeting at the Ramada Inn conference room in Westlock March 20.
After hearing presentations from the Fawcett Ag Society, R.F. Staples Parent Fundraiser and the Social Work Compassion Fund, the voting declared the Social Work Compassion Fund the group to receive this meeting's funding — a total of $10,000.
Stacey Rinas, a Registered Social Worker at Westlock Healthcare Centre had made the presentation of the needs for funding, and said the funds will help with patient discharge planning and acute care, as well as supporting persons in dire need. In short, she said the funds will help her and the workers take care of various needs.
“When I started my position here in Westlock, I was not alarmed at the number of social issues ... but I was concerned about the lack of resources to support these clients (for various issues)," said Rinas.
Prior to taking her position in Westlock, Rinas said she had worked as a registered social worker at the Sturgeon Hospital in St. Albrt for 14 years. She said during that time, there was a wonderful compassionate fund for social workers that could be used to help, but added, unfortunately, Westlock Healthcare Centre does not have that funding. She added such funding would certainly help. And with the $10,000 from the 100WWC, that will certainly go a long way towards helping with various needs she and her group experience.
Westlock and district is well-known as a caring and compassionate community that often steps up to help out where needed, and one of the ways has been through quarterly funding provided by the Westlock 100 WWC.
Westlock’s 100 Women Who Care was brought to Westlock by Deneen Ducharme, with the first meeting held in November 2016. The idea is simple. One person donating $100 does a little, but if you can get 100 women donating $100 collectively, it can make a huge impact on the recipients. Each of the 100 women (the number is not always 100) donates $100 for each quarter of the year, a total of $400 plus a small administration fee. At each meeting, three groups, each suggested by a member of the 100 Women, make a presentation of the needs for their group. After hearing the three presentations, the women present at the meeting vote on their choice as to which group they feel should get the funding. Some voting is also done by proxy, with those not at the meeting having someone vote for them.
Presenters not chosen for funding have the opportunity to return at a later quarterly meeting to make another pitch for funding needs.
Going into this 30th meeting, the Westlock 100 Women Who Care had given out a total of $261,300 to various community groups to help fund their needs and projects. With this past Wednesday’s presentation to the Social Work Compassion Fund, the total is now $271,300.
The next meeting of the Westlock 100 Women Who Care will be held Wednesday evening, June 19, 7 p.m. at the Ramada Inn in Westlock. And there is always room for more members, and it doesn’t have to be women! Anyone interested in helping this simple yet very effective way to help your community can contact the organizers at [email protected] for more information.
