NeighbourLink presents at ‘100 Men Who Care’ event
Last week, our administrator Brandi had the opportunity to attend the '100 Men Who Care' event as a presenter.
These events are run by the Community Foundation South Okanagan Similkameen - click here to read more about them. It's a fantastic community initiative where (ideally at least) 100 men meet once a quarter and listen to 3 local charities give a pitch about their programs and services.
The men then vote for their favourite presentation/charity/program. The top voted charity takes 60% of the group's quarterly donations, and the other 2 charities split the remainder of the funds.
The other two charities that attended were Desert Sun Counselling & Resource Centre and St. Vincent de Paul.
Their theme for the November meeting was 'Helping During The Holidays' and NeighbourLink was honoured to tell the group about our 'Christmas Senior Care Packages Program.’ <<< click that link to read about the program more!
NeighbourLink informed the crowd about the Program's history, how many gift bags we've given out to date, how some elves sing off-key Christmas carols while making the deliveries, and how we expect to give out at least 120 gift bags in December of 2024 (the number is actually closer to 140 now!).
We also informed the group that thanks to some unexpected and very generous donations plus higher-than-expected fundraising initiatives, we are able to include grocery gift cards in the care packages this year.
As of today (Nov 26), we are going to be able to give at least a $25 gift card in each care package!
However, we still have an online GivingTuesday fundraiser next week on December 3rd, plus other potential monetary donations. All of these will be able to raise the amount we can put on the gift cards...wouldn't it be something if we could give each senior a $50 grocery gift card to help them with some extra food this holiday season?!
Winner of the Evening
After the votes were counted, NeighbourLink's Christmas Senior Care Packages Program was the top pick!
Thanks to the generous members of 100 Men Who Care, NeighbourLink was blessed with an almost $4,000 donation!
This huge influx of cash to our program has kick-started the grocery gift card idea. Not only can we show up on their doorsteps to remind our Summerland seniors that they are loved and a valued part of our community, but we can ensure they have access to a bit more food during the holidays.
We are beyond grateful and appreciative to 100 Men Who Care for inviting us to share a program that we love. And we are fortunate that the 1:1 deliveries let us see the impact the care packages make.
We are SO looking forward to spreading some Christmas spirit in our community thanks to these donations!