Spectrum’s Channel 9 joined us on March 28, 2019, when we presented St. Anne’s Foundation with $17,000 of our collective giving. The funds will provide “Birthday Celebrations” for the girls at St. Anne’s. For many of these adolescent girls, it will be the first time that their birthday is acknowledged. The celebration will include a cake, gift card and recognition of their day. In addition to the caring folks at St. Anne’s, these girls will know that there are 100+ Women who also care!
The 100 Women Who Care Albany February 2025 meeting saw a large turnout in person and on the Zoom call.
During this meeting, we had a presentation from Caring Together, our November 2024 recipient. They received $25,200 from our collective giving as well as another $5,000 from the Shultz Family Foundation. Judy Masa, former Treasurer of Caring Together, shared that the money will be used by Dr. Chen in her fight to overcome a patient’s resistance to chemotherapy. The money will be used in part to support an assistant in the research lab and also materials needed for the research experiments.
During this meeting, we heard from three worthwhile local non-profits:
Ohana Foundation was the recipient of our collective giving. They were founded to provide compassion and support for families navigating the challenging journey of infant loss – not only to rebuild their lives but also feel at peace. On April 7, 2025, our donations were presented. The founders and some board members shared stories of how they have supported families affected by the loss of an infant. Our funds will help provide a special room at Albany Medical Center for these families.
100 Women Who Care Albany held our quarterly meeting on November 14, 2024 with a large turnout of members in person and also joining the meeting live via Zoom.
During this meeting, we heard from our August recipient, Bethlehem Community Fund‘s president, Paul Gutman. He explained how since 1942 this organization has been quietly, quickly and confidentially helping neighbors with requests of typically $20-$800. Our collective contribution will be funding the 2024-2025 Bethlehem schools backpack program. A.G. Irons, coach at Bethlehem Central High School, spoke to us about how he started the program 8 years ago to quietly help students with food on the weekends and vacations when school lunches weren’t available to them. During Covid, the program expanded from 20 to 85-90 bags per week. It continues today to provide much needed help to students. This year the program lost support when Hannaford chose to send their donations directly to the Regional Food Bank instead of this program. The 100WWC Albany collective giving will allow this backpack program to continue by buying provisions needed for the backpacks during this school year.
We had three worthy charities present at out November 2024 meeting:
This quarter we collectively selected Caring Together Inc for our charitable giving. Founded in 1996, this organization provides support for ovarian cancer patients and their families with focus on support, education, awareness and funding research and development. Our charitable giving will be used to fund R&D at Albany Med focused on to finding an early detection test for ovarian cancer and more effective treatments.
The collection 100 Women Who Care donations were presented at Albany Medical Center to Dong Joo (Ellen) Cheon, PhD, for her ongoing research on ovarian cancer. Caring Together has been support Dr. Cheon’s research since 2019.
Our 2024 Q3 Meeting was held August 8, 2024. During this meeting, we heard an update from Northern Rivers on how they will be using our collective donations from Q2. We also heard from three worthy charities:
Collectively, we chose Bethlehem Community Fund for this quarter’s charitable giving. Since 1942 the Bethlehem Community Fund has quietly helped children, families, individuals and elderly people living in the Bethlehem Community whose needs fall through the cracks of traditional programs. Our funds will be utilized for their “backpack program”. This program provides nutritious, non-perishable, easy-to-prepare food to children, to ensure they get enough food on weekends and holidays to avoid hunger when they can’t depend on school meals.
We had a great meeting in August with women in the room and on our Zoom call. Here are a few pictures from the meeting!
Our donations totaling $24,300 were delivered to Bethlehem Community Fund on September 26 where Board Members and students as well as our 100 Women Who Care members were present. See all the happy faces in these pictures:
During our May 2024 meeting, 100 Women Who Care Albany members showed up in person and on Zoom where we heard from three excellent nominees for our quarterly charitable giving:
Many of the charities our members nominate for our consideration provide hope to the clients they serve. These charities are no exception and we all need more hope in our lives!
Congratulations to Northern Rivers as the recipient for the May 2024 meeting. They are a family of human service agencies providing help and importantly hope to those who struggle with abuse, neglect, trauma, mental health challenges and educational difficulties. They supply career training and employment and service navigation through an innovative continuum of home, clinic, school, and community-based vocational rehabilitation. Their mission is to empower children, adults and families to change their lives and build stronger communities. Our donations will help youth transitioning out of foster care–a donation that will change lives.
We presented Northern Rivers with our largest donation to date on July 12, 2024. We were also given a tour of their facility and witnessed the amazing work they do with children in need.
Our next meeting will be held August 8, 2024. We look forward to seeing our members in person or on Zoom. You are welcome to attend our no-nonsense fast meeting where you can see how you can make a big difference in a short amount of time. Learn more about our meetings or how easy it is to join us.
Congratulations to our February 2024 recipient, Food Pantries for the Capital District, a coalition of more than 65 food pantries in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties who help those in our community who need a hand. They work diligently to ensure that our local food pantires are prepared in the face of circumstances that are devastating to our most vulnerable community members. Our funds will be used for the “Fill a Truck Challenge” ($1,600 = 10,000 lbs of foor or a Truck Full).
On April 1, we delivered nourishment in the form of $23,700 with checks from our members. With this donation, 12 Trucks will be filled with food. Nourishment for the many Capital District community members that will benefit from the availability of food on their local pantry.
At our November 2023 100 Women Who Care Albany meeting, we took the time to celebrate crossing the half a million mark in donations to twenty-nine worthy Capital District charities! An incredible milestone celebrated by 100 roses for our members, provided by Trader Joe’s.
In addition to the donations from our 100 Women Who Care Albany chapter members, each of the organizations selected each quarter is submitted to the Richard M. Schulze Fund for a matching $5,000 additional donation, making the total funds raised from our joint efforts even more!
An update was provided by Wizard’s Wardrobe, the August 2023 recipient. They offer literacy support in the South End of Albany – an area that has a low literacy rate. Our collective giving donation will be used to modernize their library and to add more books to be sent home with the students. They will also be expanding their offerings to Saturday programs to add enrichment for these children. Wizard’s Wardrobe is looking for reading tutors if any one is interested in volunteering.
The three worthy organizations presenting at this meeting were:
Grassroot Givers was selected as the recipient of our collective giving for this quarter. We look forward to hearing from them at our next meeting in February with the details of how the garage conversion to much needed storage space is proceeding.
Our donation checks from this meeting were presented on Friday, December 15, 2023.
New members are always welcome! Next meeting is on February 8, 2024. Learn more about our meetings, how to join and how to nominate a charity (you must be a member to nominate).
At the August 100 Women Who Care Albany meeting, we were treated to a great turn out – both in person and on the Zoom call. During this meeting, we heard from three incredible Capital District non-profits:
Congratulations to our August recipient, Wizard’s Wardrobe – where reading is magic! Wizard’s Wardrobe is an after school tutoring program. Students are young readers living in Albany’s South End. They all come to the program reading below grade level. Some students are eager to read, some are emerging as readers, and many are struggling. ALL are capable of learning to read. ALL are given the confidence to practice and improve reading skills.
On September 15, the checks were delivered to Wizard’s Wardrobe totally $22,400. We also informed Chief Operating Officer, Diane Hester Brown that they will be receiving the additional $5000 from the Richard M. Schulze Fund!
Thanks to all our members for their continued participation. New members are always welcome, learn more here. Consider joining us at our next meeting on November 9, 2023.
It was a tough choice between these three worthy charities. When the votes were counted, Sidewalk Warriors Troy was selected. This worthy organization is dedicated to supporting those experiencing poverty in the Troy, NY community through humanitarian assistance; distribution of food, hygiene products, and other necessities for daily living. Our funds will be used to purchase and provide hot meals and other food to the friends at their weekly distribution.
On July 6, 2023, a subset of the 100 Women Who Care Albany chapter met with volunteers from Sidewalk Warriors Troy. They are 100% operated by dedicated volunteers to help those struggling in the Troy area. Every Thursday night, regardless of the weather, they distribute hot meals, food, cleaning products, hygiene essentials and so much more. We were fortunate to see them setting up and spoke with Robin Fontanelli, the founder of the group. For the past 2 1/2 years they have made an incredible difference for so many in need.
In addition to the $22,200 in funds donated by our local chapter members, the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, a nonprofit created by the founder and chairman of the national electronics retailer Best Buy, will also be donating an additional $5,000 to Sidewalk Warriors Troy.
The 100 Women Who Care Albany chapter held our February 2023 meeting fully virtual. Members presented these three deserving nominees via a shared video:
When our voting concluded, our chapter voted for Capital District Women’s Employment & Resource Center (WERC). WERC works to advance women’s success in the workplace by building their economic and personal independence. They provide workforce development services to women in the Capital Region who have lost their source of support due to divorce, separation, other spouse’s job loss, disability or death. WERC’s training programs also serve women who are pending loss of public assistance benefits.
On March 23, the collective giving checks were delivered to WERC. Beth Guthier, WERC’s Director, gave us a great review of all the wonderful services they supply.
We look forward to meeting in person at our next quarterly meeting on May 11 at the Delmar Reformed Church in Delmar.
We always welcome new members and we hope to see you then!
100 Women Who Care Albany met on November 10, 2022 for our second in-person meeting since the Covid pandemic began. We had a great turn out of members meeting in person at the Delmar Reformed Church. We also had approximately twenty-five members participating through Zoom to see the presentations and vote on-line. The on-line votes were then added to our in-person votes to determine the winning recipient. We are excited to be able to continue offer this hybrid option to our members and sincerely thank Eileen Howe Bird for supplying the computer and Zoom meeting software.
The three excellent non-profits chosen to present at this meeting were:
Congratulations to our November recipient, Joan Nicole Prince Home whose mission is dedicated to providing a safe, comfortable, caring residence for terminally ill patients in need of a home during their final days.
Just before the Christmas, a group of 100 Women Who Care Albany members presented the checks and took a tour of JNP Home.
It was such an emotional experience visiting their beautiful home, which is a place of comfort for patients in the final days of their life.
The picture above the fireplace is of Joan Nicole Prince, a young mother of four, who lost her battle with cancer. In her honor her husband gave a notable donation which allowed the Home to originally open in 2006.
Our next meeting will be February 10, 2023. We will be holding this meeting fully virtual as we were doing during the Covid pandemic. This will enable us to avoid issues with the weather and to keep us all healthy during the winter months. Members will be nominating non-profits in late January. Three will be chosen and the associated members will record a five minute video to share. The videos will be available to members starting February 10 with online voting closing on February 13.
100 Women Who Care Albany, NY 