Growing numbers could spell a new name for P.E.I.'s 100 Women Who Care
Since 2013, the group has swelled from 112 members to now include over 300 women
The growing success of P.E.I.'s three chapters of 100 Women Who Care has its founder wondering if it might be time to change the organization's name.
Since 2013, the group has swelled from 112 members to now include over 300 women and about 100 Island men who have created their own group doing similar work.
"We've been given a few suggestions. Hundreds of women who care, I like that," said Aileen Matters, the group's founder. Another possibility, she said, could be 100-plus Women Who Care.
Every three months the group convenes to listen to pitches from three different Island-based charities.
It's just such a great simple idea that's very impactful and it's caught on.— Aileen Matters
After hearing the work that each organization does during a five-minute presentation, the members vote and the charity that wins receives the money raised. Typically $100 is donated by each member.
'Still on a high'
Matters started the group's Island chapter after moving back to P.E.I. from Saint John, N.B. about five years ago.
She had been a member of 100 Women Who Care in Saint John and decided to get a group going on P.E.I.
"You know even that first meeting, I was just like holding on hoping that we could get 100 women in P.E.I. to do this," Matters said.
As of Tuesday night, the Charlottetown chapter has managed to raise $315,000 since 2013, she said.
Charities that present to the group, and win, cannot be nominated again for three years, and on Tuesday the group had its first returning recipient.
The ALS Society of P.E.I. was successful three years ago and on Tuesday night it received $20,000, raised by the group, toward its cause.
"I'm still on a high," Matters said. "It's just such a great simple idea that's very impactful and it's caught on — and it works."
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With files from CBC News: Mainstreet