At their May 12 fundraiser, one of three events they hold each year, Moose Jaw Women Who Care learned about Hunger in Moose Jaw and raised $1,500 in support.
“The purpose of Moose Jaw Women Who Care is to gather a group of inspired women from Moose Jaw and surrounding area to learn about a charity or agency that provides work to support families who live here, and to also raise funds for them,” said Nicole Lillico, chair of Moose Jaw Women Who Care (MJWWC).
Representatives from the chosen charity come to the meeting and talk about what they do and the service they provide.
The idea is to have a simple and efficient method of group philanthropy. Each person who comes out — Lillico noted they will not turn anyone away — donates $100 at the end of the meeting. If there are 100 people, then the group has just raised $10,000 for charity — a significant sum.
MJWWC meets three times a year. The leadership picks a different charity, agency, or other community-based organization (CBO) each time. They have no administrative costs whatsoever. The funds raised go directly to the benefiting CBO.
Their first event featured Square One Community, Inc. They have also hosted representatives of Heartland Hospice and Moose Jaw Family Services.
“I was studying innovation and leadership at the University of Regina and was taking Fund Development,” Lillico explained. “I came across the 100 Women Who Care in Regina and thought (the concept) would work in Moose Jaw.”
Lillico connected with a core group of Moose Jaw women who organize philanthropic efforts on a variety of fronts. Christine Boyczuk, Della Ferguson, Joan McMaster, Lynn Kirk, Joni Brisbin, and Krista Koch joined the steering committee. Shortly after, they hosted their first event.
This time, they learned about Hunger in Moose Jaw.
Hunger in Moose Jaw serves 350 lunches a day to children in the community — 75,000 per year, Lillico said. The pandemic has increased the need for such CBOs.
“We all know that trips to the grocery store and the fuel pumps have dug much deeper into our wallets,” she said. “This is also true for organizations like Hunger (in Moose Jaw) and the cost of these lunches has doubled.”
The MJWWC group, which now numbers around 30, learned on May 12 that Hunger in Moose Jaw volunteers work tirelessly to ensure children don’t go through their day without a lunch. They provide a community kitchen program, free Headstart Preschool, and the Junior Chef program, where children aged 9 to 12 learn how to cook. They also recently added a Youth Cooking program to their offerings.
Learn more about Hunger in Moose Jaw on their website at hungerinmoosejaw.org.
“We want to build awareness of the work being done, and the needs those agencies have in our community,” Lillico said. “We’ve had some people come and they become volunteers for agencies. And our goal is to eventually have 100 women, each giving $100, so that we can raise $10,000 in one hour for that agency.”
Get involved with MJWWC by contacting Lillico at 100wwcmj@gmail.com.
