In July 2021, over burgers at the Town House in Marietta, Jessica Huffman put out a call to action to three friends and pitched the idea of creating a local women’s group to help raise money for Mid-Ohio Valley (MOV) non-profits. Fellow MOV natives Danielle Allphin, Angie Reich and Megan Thieman were immediately intrigued and accepted the invitation to join the all-volunteer board without hesitation. As the group grew, Stacey Hall also joined the board in 2022 and has hit the ground running to contribute her talents.

Not to be credited with creating the entire model, the ‘100 Women Who Care’ model was first established in November of 2006 by Karen Dunigan of Jackson, MI. At Dunigan’s first hour-long meeting, their group of 100 women raised $10,000 to buy 300 new baby cribs for an organization in their city. ‘Women Who Care’ chapters are now forming all over North America. These groups collectively have donated more than a million dollars to locally-based organizations.

The 100 Women Who Care in the MOV group is not in itself a non-profit organization, but rather a group of women that coordinate the giving circle to collectively gather women to raise funds given directly to local non-profit groups. The group does not retain any of the donated funds, with all proceeds going directly to the selected charity. The group is reliant on the generosity of local sponsors to cover the logistical costs of event hosting spaces and social hour expenses. The 100 Women Who Care in the MOV group has recently reached a milestone of over $50,000 in collective donations raised to support needs in the region.

The first meeting was held in the fall of 2021 where presentations were heard from WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center, The Children’s Listening Place, and Wood County Society. The Children’s Listening Place, now known as North Star Child Advocacy Center, won the $4,625 donation. “Being the first recipient of this amazing organization was both exciting and humbling. North Star was able to buy some much needed items for the center, not covered by grants, that had been set aside until funding presented itself. The injection of money into the account for any non-profit is truly a blessing for not just the non-profit, but the specific community members it is assisting. I knew that this group of women was going to be special at the onset and would soon be a powerful and meaningful coalition for the MOV,” said North Star Executive Director W. Greg Collins.

In 2022, the group held four quarterly meetings. At the snowy winter 2022 meeting, presentations were heard from BrAva, Humane Society of Parkersburg and Latrobe Street Mission. Latrobe Street Mission ultimately won the $4,020 donation. Latrobe Street Mission

employee Natosha gave the presentation, first from a paper she had brought with prepared remarks. After settling nerves from speaking, she folded the paper and tucked it away while sharing her own person journey of going from a resident in need at the shelter to being an employee and helping others.

At the spring 2022 meeting, presentations were heard from EVE Inc., Gospel Mission Food Pantry, and Marietta Main Street. The Gospel Mission Food Pantry shared the desperate need for baby formula due to pandemic-related supply chain shortages and won the $4,890 donation. “The donation from 100 Women Who Care in the MOV has been instrumental in helping us provide for those in need in our community. The name of the group defines the mission!” remarked Jeff and Candy Waite, founders of the Gospel Mission Food Pantry.

At the summer 2022 meeting, presentations were heard from the Amputee Center, Gustke Shelter for Youth, and Kelly’s Closet MOV. In a very tight vote, Kelly’s Closet MOV won the $6,300 donation. “100 Women Who Care in the MOV allowed Kelly’s Closet MOV to provide brand new clothing for kids in foster or kinship care. The year 2020 hurt many of the non-profits because of closures and it’s been tough for many of us to stay operating in this fiscal climate ever since. Because of the 100 Women Who Care in the MOV, we were able to provide brand new clothing, shoes, undergarments, and socks. One young lady was able to go to the mall to find “just right” clothing and received her first ever brand new pair of jeans. We wouldn’t be able to lift up these kids like this without organizations like 100 Women Who Care in the MOV,” reflected Kelly Polinski.

Rounding out the year, at the fall 2022 meeting, presentations were heard from the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg, C.A.R.E. and the River City Farmer’s Market. The River City Farmer’s Market, in partnership with the Marietta Community Foundation Inc., won the $4,475 donation. Circling back recently with Lynn Davis, Treasurer of River City Farmer’s Market and artist/vendor, she noted that the group used the donations to purchase picnic tables and a canopy to help at outreach events. During their presentation, the attendees especially loved that the River City Farmer’s Market was going to local elementary schools to teach youth about local produce. Davis also shared that the funds donated helped to purchase a new tablet to allow farmer’s market customers to pay using EBT cards for SNAP benefits, removing a barrier to accessing healthy, fresh produce for some local residents.

The group has experienced lots of growth in 2023, despite having no marketing budget and relying on word of mouth and social media to bring awareness to their efforts. At the winter 2023 meeting, presentations were heard from Feed My Sheep, Right Path for Washington County, and Special Olympics of Washington County. The Special Olympics group

took home the $6,350 donation. Erin Wojcik is the mother of an athlete on the team. Wojcik shared: “Fundraising for the Washington County Special Olympics always comes from the athletes. With this donation from 100 Women Who Care in the MOV, athletes were able to compete in the summer games without having to worry about the cost of hotel, food, and entry fees. We are greatly appreciative of this experience for our local athletes.”

In the spring of 2023, presentations were heard from Jon Six Food Ministry Inc., Memorial Health Foundation, and the Williamstown Food Pantry. Jon Six Food Ministry Inc. shared heart-warming stories from the streets and won the $7,200 donation. Founder Jon Six noted, “We are so grateful to have the funds provided by the 100 Women Who Care in the MOV. We are serving bag lunches, fruit, water and providing school supplies at Friendship Park on 13th Street in Parkersburg on Sunday afternoons this summer. We’re able to do that because of the donation.” After Six’s group won the spring presentation, Huffman volunteered at a summer meal. She reflected, “It was amazing to see the amount of people lining up along the street to be served by Jon Six Food Ministry. We served almost 300 meals in just a few hours. I am so grateful that we were able to support this need. It broke my heart to see many children being served at the meal, but I am very thankful that we have generous people in our community like Jon and his team fill this void every single Sunday.”

At the biggest event yet, the summer 2023 meeting yielded great results. Presentations were heard from Discovery World on Market, House to Home, and the Marietta College STREAM Camp. A record $10,200 was raised for the winning group, House to Home, which is operated by the Parkersburg Area Coalition for the Homeless Inc. House to Home shared that the donation will help support renovations on their new location. Funds have been earmarked for the installation of a shower and bathroom at the new shelter. “While bathing is something that most take for granted, when you’re homeless or couch surfing, your ability to bathe and address hygiene needs can be lost,” noted House to Home representative Shelly Rusen.

Many group members choose to donate at each event in person, while others have donated online once or select an optional automatic quarterly subscription online. For the fall 2023 meeting, $2,625 has already been pre-pledged by members with a subscription. The group’s collective donations raised to date totals over $50,000, at $50,685.

At each meeting, three member-nominated non-profit organizations are given approximately ten minutes to convince the crowd why their charity organization deserves to win the donation. Interactive question and answer sessions follow each presentation. To be eligible to present at a meeting, an organization must be based in the Mid-Ohio Valley area, with a primary service area of Wood County, WV and/or Washington County, OH. The organization must be a non-profit entity recognized as a 501(c)(3). No national or international charities, programs or organizations will be considered, as our purpose is to keep our contributions within the local community.

Following the presentations and Q&A sessions, each member in attendance casts their vote by ballot. The group also recently began allowing remote votes to be emailed in prior to the event with donations also submitted pre-event for those who cannot attend in-person. The charity selected by the majority vote receives all cash and checks at the end of the event. The online donation portal, Grapevine, is kept open for a short period after the event, where a range of several hundred to thousand dollars of post-event donations is often submitted. The online donation is transferred at the beginning of the next month directly to the winning non- profit organization.

At the conclusion of the meeting, donating members in attendance may nominate one organization to present at the next quarterly meeting. The nominations are randomly drawn to select the next three organizations to present at the upcoming meeting. Meeting sites are rotated around the valley. Events have been hosted at the Parkersburg Country Club, The Adelphia Music Hall in Marietta, Da Vinci’s in Williamstown, Parkersburg Art Center, and Huffman’s residence in Belpre. Sites are evaluated for accessibility for all and cost for the group to utilize the space.

A sponsored social hour is held from 5-6 pm followed by a business meeting from 6-7 pm once per quarter. Generous local sponsors that have supported the group include: Adelphia Music Hall, Angie Reich, Chris Bender/da Vinci’s, Comfort Clips Mobile Grooming, Danielle Allphin, Dr. Cathy Dailey, Dr. Erin Wells/Mountain Ears Clinic, Dr. Jonathon Harris, Drs. Noorbakhsh & Bobbitt, Dr. Paula Galupo, Dr. Renee Caslow, Elite Real Estate Group, Jessica Huffman & Family, JustAJar, Megan Thieman, Peoples Bank, Scott Smith/Riverview Credit Union, Tina Henniger/Peace Love Beautiful, and WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center.

No two events are the same, with new refinements at each meeting. One popular meeting staple that hasn’t changed since the first meeting are giveaway gifts, which are randomly drawn throughout the night for attendees to win prizes donated by local businesses and individuals. Some fan favorite gifts have included artwork by Nicole Harris and JustAJar. Each one of the board members typically donates a “favorite things” gift basket with gifts from various local stores. Jon Six paid-it-forward after his non-profit won last quarter by donating several salon-grade beauty supplies on his own personal behalf. At a few of the meetings, local businesses have donated swag bags for the first 50 attendees that arrived. Swag bags have been sponsored by Chris Bender/da Vinci’s, Hall Financial Advisors, Holl’s Chocolates, Patterson

Farms, Tranquil Intentions Wellness Center, and Wildroot Flower Co. Support from these great local businesses and individuals aligns with the group’s theme of staying local with our funds and supporting the community in which we live.

Up-and-coming young women have also been a highlighted focus of the summer meetings. In 2022, Marietta budding culinary professional Anna Staudt, daughter of Dr. Paula Galupo, catered the food for the summer meeting social hour. Stella Huffman, daughter of Jessica Huffman of Belpre, also donated handmade jewelry from ‘Stell’s Styles’ as a giveaway prize. For the summer 2023 meeting, local folk/country musician Charlie Brewer, an elementary student from Marietta and daughter of Wendy and Brian Brewer, charmed guests during the social hour with singing and guitar performances. Introducing young women to the spirit of community and philanthropy while also highlighting their talents has been expressed as something the members have really enjoyed and want to continue to include at future meetings.

An important part of the group’s mission is to amplify the voice of MOV women for a great cause. Knowing how valuable time is as a commodity, the 1-hour meeting begins and ends on time out of respect for the various obligations members are juggling. The group has donating members ranging in age from elementary school to late 80s. Bringing together a diverse group of women to learn about important causes in our community has been a silver lining. Originally creating the group with the main purpose to get funds to community causes in the area, the unexpected ripple has been the impact of the networking and learning. “I have lived in this area my entire life and am learning new things at each meeting about issues in the community I would have never otherwise known about. There’s so much good work that occurs in the MOV by our non-profit organizations for very important causes. It has been my distinct honor to help lead this group and see the impact we are making together,” noted Huffman.

Presentations from the local non-profit organizations often draw visible emotions throughout the crowd as the speakers share very dire needs to be met. As a secondary benefit to the group, the awareness that each non-profit receives beyond the financial impact has resulted in personal spin-off donations and new volunteers in their organizations. Danielle Allphin, board member, provides a $100 donation to each of the two non-winning organizations at each meeting. Allphin is a training specialist at Peoples Bank. Beyond serving as an event sponsor at several events, in 2022 Peoples Bank also surprised two non-profits that didn’t win the grand prize with $1,000 each as part of the bank’s 120 Days of Giving campaign.

New members may join in-person at a future meeting. 100 Women Who Care in the MOV is not an invite-only group. The group welcomes all women who desire to make an impact

in the MOV to be a part of this club by joining for friendship and fellowship. The next meeting will be held on Thursday November 2nd, with a sponsored social hour from 5-6 pm and the business meeting from 6-7 pm. Featured non-profits will be: Good to You, Jess’ House, and Washington County Homeless Project. Event location and sponsors will be announced soon. The group also welcomes inquiries from businesses or individuals interested in donating giveaway prizes or serving as an event sponsor at a 2024 meeting.

For more information go to 100womenmov.com or follow the group on Facebook: “100+ Women Who Care in the MOV.”