At our February 16 meeting, the members of 100 Women Who Care Albany choose ToLife! as the giving charity for the quarter. On March 22, a contingent of our members presented $13,000, a total of our collective giving, to this worthy charity. On hand for the presentation were directors, board members, staff and volunteers that are dedicated to educating and supporting breast cancer patients and their families.

100 WWC members toured their facility and gained more insight into the work they are doing for women (and men) with breast cancer in the Capital District. We saw the wig boutique where one-on-one women are helped with care and humor as they pick out a wig, hat and/or scarf. Another boutique assists women with mastectomy bras & breast prostheses. There are also reading rooms and facilities for support groups at their location in Delmar. ToLife! also has boutiques and similar services in Saratoga.

The organization has been wanting to open a boutique in Schenectady and they are thrilled that with our collective giving is the final piece of the funding they needed to put the plans in motion. Not only will they be able to serve Schenectady women near their homes, they will also use some of the donations to ensure that women with no insurance will also be served.

So thankful for this wonderful organization in our community and also the giving spirits of 100WWCAlbany for helping them carry out their mission! #powerof100

Despite being delayed one week due to a snowstorm, at our fourth meeting on Thursday, February 16, 2017  we welcomed 11 new members into a room filled with energy and learning about three new wonderful charities.

The three new charities presented were:

• Underground Railroad Project of the Capital Region researches and preserves the local and national history of the anti-slavery and Underground Railroad movements.
• Night Out for You creating an experience for an adult undergoing cancer treatment to allow them to remember who they are by forgetting their diagnosis for a few hours.
• ToLife! provides community education about breast cancer detection and treatments,  and support services to breast cancer patients and their families.

Congratulations to our February recipient, ToLife!.

Last quarter’s winner Mary Judd and one of the veterans, Ron, shared how SongwritingWith:Soldiers has changed the lives of many veterans. It was a very moving presentation. They also shared how they will be using our contributions for the next retreat in Rensselaerville in September. More details on the retreat will be provided as it gets closer.

Thank you to all our members for your giving spirit! #powerof100

Unfortunately we have postponed our 100 Women Who Care Albany meeting for February 9, 2017 due to the snow storm that is predicted to last into the late afternoon.  It has been rescheduled for next Thursday February 16th at the Delmar Reformed Church Fellowship Hall, 386 Delaware Ave, Delmar. Check in is 5 pm, meeting 5:30-6:30.  

If you would like to nominate a charity please submit it by Monday, Februray 13.  The nominations that were confirmed for the February 9th meeting will be in the drawing next Thursday unless we hear otherwise.

See you all next week and Happy Winter!

On the eve of Veterans Day, 100 Women Who Care Albany picked a relatively new organization, SongwritingWith:Soliders to receive our quarterly collective giving. On Thursday December 8, we gathered at the Sheehy Palmer VFW Post in Albany where member Kathy Agneta presented checks totaling $12,600 to Mary Judd, Program Director for SongwritingWtih:Soldiers.

A dozen members of 100 Women Who Care had a moving experience hearing from some of the past participants in the program. Veterans, from Vietnam and more recent wars, explained how in partnering with song writers, for the first time they were publicly able to express their bottled up military experiences. It was a life changing event for the individual soldiers as well as their families and friends. Meeting these Capital District veterans who are benefiting from this wonderful organization was very special!

Our next meeting will be February 9, 2017. We hope you will join our wonderful group of women making a difference in the Capital District. Our meetings are held at the Delmar Reformed Church Fellowship Hall, 386 Delaware Ave, Delmar. Check in is 5 pm, meeting 5:30-6:30. “A simple concept, a big impact.”

At our third meeting on November 10, 2016, we had 25 new members join 100 Women Who Care Albany. This brings us to a total of 127 members – beating our goal of 100. Welcome to all our new members as together we continue to make such a difference for Capital District charities! We are always happy to have more members join, there is no cap on the good we can do together.

We heard about the great work of these three charities at our meeting:

• Girl’s Inc. of the Greater Capital District who inspires all girls to be strong, smart and bold
• RISSE (Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus) a family-based center supporting newcomers in building sustainable lives in the US
• SongwritingWith:Soldiers who provides the gift of song & creativity to soldiers and veterans

The recipient of our collective giving was SongwritingWith:Soldiers. How appropriate on the eve of Veterans Day!

During this meeting we also had the pleasure of hearing Chayla Rubin from The Friendship Circle, our August recipient, sharing the services our donation has provided for their clients and families.

Thank you to all our members for your giving spirit! #powerof100

After our first two meetings, we have learned a few things! To streamline our check-in process and have smoother running meetings, we are making a change to our nomination process.

In order to have time to make certain the charities being nominated fit our criteria (501(c)(3), serve the Capital District and are without a political or religious component) we are requiring members to email your name and the name of the charity you are nominating to 100WWCAlbany@gmail.com no later than the Monday night before the meeting. Any charity not submitted in advance of the meeting will not be eligible for selection that evening.

The process for picking the charities that will be presented stays the same. Upon arrival to the meeting, if you choose to nominate a charity, you will be given a slip of paper – please put your name and the name of one organization you are prepared to represent. One at a time, names will be drawn randomly from a basket and the person whose name is on the slip of paper will be asked to present. ONLY THE PERSON WHO MADE THE NOMINATION WILL BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK (no substitutes please).  Again, we strongly suggest bringing the Nomination Form with you to the podium so that you have key information at your fingertips.

Thanks for your wonderful support and we look forward to our next meeting.

We are still whirling from our second meeting on August 11. A whopping 30 new members joined putting our 100 Women Who Care Albany chapter at 103 members! We are now truly the power of 100.

Lisa Cheney from the Donna M. Crandall Foundation shared how they will be using our May donation. You can view more information about our May donation here.

At our August meeting, we had 3 wonderful charities to choose from: The Legal Project, Saint Anne’s Institute, and the recipient of our collective giving, The Friendship Circle. The Friendship Circle is a non-profit organization that provides programs and support to the families of individuals with special needs. We will be posting more information on this latest recipient so stay tuned!

Thanks again to those who attended and have become members. Even though we have reached our 100 goal, we welcome new members. The more members, the bigger our impact! So plan on joining us at our next meeting on November 10, 2016.