‘100+ Women Who Care’: Giving back to C. Oregon
Lisa Connors and Lisa Shropshire of Bend are the dynamic duo behind “100+ Women Who Care Central Oregon.”What started as an idea has morphed into an incredible reality.
“Our inbox was just exploding — it went from 90 members to 150 members in three days, which is just so cool!” Shropshire exclaimed.
“We had our first meeting here at the Oxford hotel last Wednesday,” Connors said. “We had over 160 women in the room. We are now officially at over 200 committed members.”
Here’s how it works: The ladies meet for one hour, four times a year, and each member brings a check for $100.
Every woman can nominate local charities, nonprofits or worthy causes, whose names are put into a hat.
Three charities are drawn at random. The nominating member makes a five-minute presentation about each cause. The group votes — and the checks are filled out right then and there.
At the first meeting, the group raised more than $16,000 and voted to hand it over to the Bethlehem Inn, Bend’s largest homeless shelter.
“That truly is remarkable,” said Chris Clouart, the shelter’s managing director.” I actually heard from a friend of mine who was there that night who called me and just said, ‘Congratulations!'”
As we creep closer to winter, the shelter’s busiest months, the money is needed now more than ever.
“This represents a truly remarkable ability for us to be able to add more resources to that program for our families,” Clouart said. “I can’t create another room for $19,000, but I can make things work better.”
“I just have to say that this group came together and showed that in a short amount of time, you can have an incredible impact,” he added.
For the women, it’s all about keeping the “green” local — and having some fun, too.
“I always say, at the end of the day we are a bunch of women sitting around writing checks, and maybe enjoying a glass of wine while we do so,” Shropshire said.
The group is still accepting members, so if you’d like to join, visit 100wwcco.com
The next meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 2 at the Oxford Hotel in downtown Bend.
