Kristi Ortega, one of the founding members of 100+ Women Care, addresses Kiwanis Club members. Photo by Brooke David

BY BROOKE DAVIS
Kiwanis Club

At the February 19 Kiwanis meeting, Kristy Ortega gave an interesting and enjoyable presentation on the local “100+ Women Who Care”. She outlined the background and operation of the organization as well as its value to non-profit entities in Los Alamos County.

Women Who Care is a national organization, with a local branch that was founded in Los Alamos in 2015 by Ortega, Stephanie Garcia Richard, Debbie Shelton, Marvel Kellogg and Carol A. Clark. It has been attended since that time by over 200 women in the community and has granted more than $90,000 to benefit dozens of local non-profits. Non-profits are asked to send applications to 100+ Women Who Care and prior to each meeting, held quarterly, and three are selected by a random drawing. Those selected are then asked to give a 3–5 minute presentation at the meeting and the organization members vote on their choice. Each vote
costs $100 and all funds are awarded to the non-profit with the most votes, who come back to the next meeting to give a brief summary on the use of their fund.

There are many reasons that 100+ Women Who Care is good for local non-profits. As opposed to typical grants which can be tedious, time-consuming and costly, the application for 100+ Women Who Care funds is short and easy. There are no on-going reports required. It provides an easy way for women to learn about non-profits serving Los Alamos and an easy way for no- profits to network and potentially recruit volunteers. It is also a good way for Los Alamos to raise money for the county’s non-profits who cannot easily access Federal or State funding.
Applications are available at womenwhocarelosalamos@outlook.com.