BY DIANNA MARTINEZ
Volunteer
100+ Women Who Care
After a pause during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 100+ Women Who Care-Los Alamos is again inviting nonprofit organizations, located in or serving Los Alamos County, to submit an application to be eligible for quarterly giveaways in 2024. The same application may also be submitted to the 100 Men Who Care organization for consideration.
Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis, but charities wanting to be eligible for the Women’s first quarterly giveaway on Feb. 1 should email their application by 4 p.m., Jan.22. New applications are required for both the women’s and men’s organizations for consideration in 2024. The application with email submittal information is linked.
The Women’s and Men’s groups host their own quarterly gatherings, which are open to community members who attend a free sponsored dinner and open their checkbooks for a local charity. Ideally,100 women donating $100 each provides $10,000 for a local charity, and the philanthropy hosted by the men’s group provides a separate sum.
Ahead of each quarterly meeting, a volunteer advisory group reviews applications for eligibility. The names of the approved applicants are placed in a drawing. Three are randomly selected and notified to prepare a 3- to 5-minute presentation of need to share at the upcoming gathering. The people in attendance vote for one of the three charities, with the charity garnering the majority of votes taking home that evening’s donations. Donors’ names are not to be sold or resolicited.
The 2024 schedule for quarterly charitable gatherings for the 100+ Women’s group is 5:30-7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 1, May 2, Aug. 1 and Nov. 7 at locations to be announced. Enterprise Bank & Trust is sponsoring the first dinner on Feb. 1.
The Men’s quarterly dates are to be announced.
About 100+ Women Who Care: Founded in August 2015 by Kristy Ortega, Stephanie Garcia Richard, Debbie Shelton, Marvel Kellogg and Carol A. Clark, and attended since that time by more than 200 women in the community, the organization has granted over $90,000 to benefit dozens of local nonprofit organizations. Anyone wishing to join the advisory group, or who has a question, or who wants to be added to the email list, please email WomenWhoCareLosAlamos@outlook.com.
About 100 Men Who Care: Inspired by the 100+ Women Who Care group previously founded in Los Alamos, 100 Men Who Care was organized in 2019 with similar goals, and held four events until COVID shut us down. We are delighted to collaborate more closely with 100+ WWC and look forward to holding our 5th event this Spring. If you would like to join our team, let us know at 100menwhocarelosalamos@gmail.com.