Men’s group supporting charities in the area

By Tyler Renaud

BELLEVILLE – A local men’s group is coming together to support charities in the area.

The 100 Men Who Care (Quinte) is a local collection of men who nominate and then vote on charities to support. Each member gets one nomination and one vote, and each time the group goes through the voting process, one charity is chosen to receive donations from all of the members. Each member donates $100 to that charity.

Ian Press, one of the organizers who brought 100 Men Who Care to Quinte, said this makes donating simple.

“One of things I found when talking to my friends is that some charities require a lot of time (from their supporters) and  we are all busy with young kids, family commitments and jobs. So one of the few rules we have is that meetings cannot last longer than an hour,” Press said. “So within an hour we can raise $10,000, if we have 100 members – minimum effort and maximum impact in the community. It’s a really simple and effective way to support local charities.”

The group has helped four charities so far.

The 30 men at the group’s very first meeting raised $3,000 for the Three Oaks foundation, an organization that helps abused women, Press said.

“At the next meeting we had 98 guys, which was fantastic because we didn’t expect to get (close to) 100 members so quickly. So $9,800 went to the Quinte Humane Society. The last one we donated to was the Open Door Cafe, which is a meal program that operates out of the Eastminster United Church.” A total of $10,800 was raised for that charity.

The group’s membership has reached 114 since the last donation, Press said.

The members will meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the Belleville Club to decide on the next charity they will donate to.

The 100 Men Who Care is not unique to Belleville; there are branches in numerous cities, including Toronto, Ottawa and Kingston.