100 Men of Kawartha Lakes
Submitted by Brad Campkin
My name is Brad and I would like to share my story about the 100 Men of Kawartha Lakes.
My wife and I lived in Whitby/ Port Perry where I had ran a business and we had raised our family. I got asked to join many charitable groups, but I never had the time.
Then a friend of mine through business - he was a banker - asked me to join a group called the 100 Men of Oshawa. My initial response was “I’d love to, but I can’t as I have no extra time.” Then he told me about how it works, and I was in!
Our group consisted of the Mayor, Councilors, Bankers, Insurance Brokers, Business owners, Rotarians, Optimists, Knights of Columbus and many others including retirees.
When my wife and I moved to The Kawartha’s 4 years ago, I looked to see if there was a local group and low and behold, Richard Gauder of CMS Web Solutions , one of the founding members of the Port Perry, Oshawa and Whitby groups (as well he helped Clarington and Ajax groups start) had also moved up here and started a Kawartha Lakes Group. So, I called him up and told him I wanted to join.
I have met so many great local guys and feel very fortunate as they have welcomed me into the community. It seems like everyone knows each other and often have grown up together in the area. From Bobcaygeon to Fenelon Falls and everywhere in between. We are a super group of local, caring men that have collectively donated $34,900 as of March 2020!
Here is a list of charities we have donated to so far:
March 13, 2018 – Kawartha Lakes Wildlife Centre
June 12th, 2018 – Community Care Foundation
September 11 2018 – Habitat for Humanity
December 11, 2018 – Women’s Resources of Kawartha Lakes
March 12th, 2019 – Lindsay Army Cadets
June 4th, 2019 – Crime Stoppers
Sept 4th, 2019 – Therapeutic Horse Riding In Lindsay
December 4th 2019 – Kinsmen Toy Drive
March 4th 2020 – Kinmount & Area Food Bank
A quick overview of what and who we are:
HOW IT STARTED
The first 100 Women Who Care group was formed in November 2006 in Jackson, Michigan, USA. At their first 1-hour meeting, the Jackson chapter raised $10,000 which went toward the purchase of 300 new baby cribs for an organization in their city.
Today, there are over 83 chapters 100 Women groups in North America including a dozen or so in Canada.
The movement is spreading across Canada and at last count, there are now over 27 “100 Men” groups and 211 groups total including women, children and people groups!
HOW IT WORKS
As an individual member, you commit to donating $100 per meeting. There are 4 meetings per year lasting 1 hour in length.
Each individual member can submit a charity by nominating an organization of their choice for consideration.
Three registered charities will be randomly chosen before the next meeting. The organization will have the opportunity to make a 5-minute presentation about the charity to the group.
After the three charities have been presented, each individual member will vote for one of the three chosen charities. Note: You are allowed 1 vote per individual member.
After all votes are tallied, each individual member will write a cheque for $100 to the organization receiving the most votes and the selected organization will receive the total donations. There is no limit, as many members as we have times $100, ideally, 100 x $100 = $10,000 but the sky’s the limit!
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
We know that people’s lives are hectic. Most charities demand the one thing we have less of every day…TIME!
You only need to commit to 4 one-hour meetings or send in a PROXY VOTE with a fellow member if you cannot make it. THE ONE THING YOU MUST COMMIT TOO is the $100 x four meetings.
Also, we have no administration, cheques are made out directly to the charity and tax receipts are sent directly to the members.
So if you want to join an amazing group of local men drop us a line at info@100menkawarthalakes.ca or go to www.100menkwarthalakes.ca and let us know that you are in!
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