The newly formed charity Muskoka 100 People Who Care has made its first donation, providing a cheque for $10,840 to Andy’s House on June 24.
The funds were collected at their inaugural meeting on June 18. Supporters came together at Bass Lake Roadhouse to hear presentations on Andy’s House hospice facility, the West Muskoka Food Bank, and Muskoka Family Focus & Children’s Place. After the presentations, attendees voted for Andy’s House as the first fundraising recipient. Founding members Marion Mochrie, Aly Brown and Alex MacDonald decided to form the group after a similar charity dissolved a few years earlier.
“Aly, myself and Alex, we were members of 100 Women Who Care in Bracebridge,” Mochrie said. “When it folded, we had the urge to keep it going because [there’s] a great need in the community.”
The idea behind the groups is that 100 people donate $100 and vote on which local charity should receive the money. When they came together to create the new version of 100 People Who Care, the founding members decided to keep membership open-ended.
Members aren’t required to commit for a specific amount of time or attend every meeting, so whoever comes to contribute is welcome. Since the event only runs about an hour to an hour and a half, it’s meant to accommodate busy families and individuals. They also made the group inclusive of all genders.
During the first meeting, restaurant goers with no connection to the event decided to donate. They even had a dozen donors or so who couldn’t attend but still provided money.
“We’re not exactly doing 100 Women Who Care,” Mochrie said. “We’re not following that exact mandate, but hopefully we are successful in the way we want to do it.”
Since all the founding members are from Port Carling, the area was a natural choice for the first place to host a meeting and select charities, but they hope to expand to include the whole district. The venues for the meetings will change, both to make it easier for people around Muskoka to attend and to promote different businesses within the region.
Nearly all of the meeting attendees had dinner before, during or after the event, so it was a great chance to showcase Bass Lake Roadhouse alongside the charities. Other local businesses contributed coupons and vouchers for loot bags and door prizes.
“We want to continue to make it a fun night and a night that everybody wants to attend, not only to support and represent charities but also to encourage a fun night out with friends while doing something impactful,” Brown said.
Even though the group chose Andy’s House for the funding, it’s not the only charity that benefited from being nominated. Reed Curry, who owns and operates the Brackenrig Butcher alongside his family, attended the inaugural meeting and ended up selecting the West Muskoka Food Bank for their Meals on Hold program.
“It’s very simple,” he said. “There’s a jar on the counter. Any patron of the shop is encouraged to drop $5, $10, whatever they feel like, in the jar and in exchange for that, anyone who needs it can walk in our front door any day of the week, no questions asked, and take basically a meal ticket off of the wall.”
The ticket allows people to get a protein of their choice without proving need or sharing personal details. Curry encourages anyone in the community to use the program if they’ve fallen on hard times or know someone who has. Because it’s still in its early days, he also selects a charity each quarter to support with any additional funds.
The shop launched the Meals on Hold program during the Civic Holiday weekend last year. As of this month, the shop has facilitated $5,000 worth of food put back into the community. Curry attended the Muskoka 100 People Who Care meeting because he admires the efficiency of the program, so it was a happy coincidence that he was able to learn more about West Muskoka Food Bank.
“Since then, we’ve teamed up with the West Muskoka Food Bank, and we’ll be helping to supply their protein via our Meals on Hold program to help offset their ongoing growing grocery costs and help them get on for the next month or two,” he said.
Curry also helped the food bank sell an extra freezer to one of his farmer friends in yet another win-win from the event.
These kinds of connections are exactly what the founding members of Muskoka 100 People Who Care were hoping to facilitate. All three of the presenting charities get the chance to spread the word about their cause, increase their potential pool of volunteers and create other partnerships within the community.
“For the charities that necessarily don’t win the large donation, a lot of good has still come out of it, and that’s a prime example,” MacDonald said.
Though 100 Women Who Care ran quarterly meetings, the team behind Muskoka 100 People Who Care elected to go with two meetings a year to reduce the financial strain on participants. They plan to host one in late spring and another in late summer or early fall.
The next meeting is set for August 28, though the founding members have yet to select a venue or charities for the next round of giving. They encourage people across the region to nominate causes by emailing muskoka100pwc@gmail.com. Though the meetings are somewhat close together, they want to ensure they’re bringing in as many contributors as possible.
“Cottagers have always expressed interest in attending events like this, but normally they’re not up due to the time of the year that the meetings are held,” MacDonald said. “We feel with the next event on August 28, [it accommodates] our local crowd as well as our cottager crowd, who are also committed to making an impact on the community that they love so much.”
Mochrie, Brown and MacDonald got a tour of Andy’s House before the cheque presentation on June 24. The facility opened in October 2020 after years of fundraising and preparation. It offers eight palliative care rooms and a pediatric palliative care room to families in Muskoka Lakes, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and beyond.
MacDonald said she and the other women were moved to tears after seeing what a special place Andy’s House is. They’re thrilled to provide such a large sum of money for their first donation, and they’re looking forward to the future of Muskoka 100 People Who Care.
“We had an overwhelming amount of support and attendance,” MacDonald said. “We’ve raised $10,840 with our first inaugural meeting, which was much more than I think any of us had anticipated, and our hearts are full that the community came out so strong and supported each charity by coming to listen and ultimately choosing Andy’s House to be the recipient of the donation.”
