Long Island Lake Society president Nicole Stadnyk was over the moon March 21 after the ballots were counted at the latest 100 Women Who Care event.
At this latest installment — the sixth since the first presentation was made in the fall of 2016 — Camp Mackinicolea received $10,200. And since 100 Women Who Care began they’ve handled out $63,800 to variety of local non-profit groups.
“We (the Long Island Lake Society) are registered as a non-profit organization, completely, entirely ran by volunteers. We have no fundraising budget,” Stadnyk told the women gathered in the meeting room at the Ramada Hotel.
“We do it all with blood, sweat and tears and a lot of love. Our focus is youth.”
The camp has been around for more than a half century — the history book Jarvie Our Continuing Legacy published in 1984 contains an article written by the late Dobson Lea that notes in 1945 a 26-acre lease was arranged with the Provincial Government by Rev. J. W. Bainbridge of Westlock.
Regardless of age of the facility and work that has been done in recent years, there is still more needed, as lots of young people, including 4-H groups, make use of the camp yearly. Stadnyk said the lake is one of the very few swimmable one in the area.
“Funding is always very limited and very scarce. Our infrastructure needs to keep up, so there are a few immediate needs. We need cabins, we would like to replace the old wooden, heavy shaky benches in the lunch area with resin benches.”
She said there are volunteers who will do the work, but money is always a premium.
“We need some new sports equipment, so every single dollar helps. We bust our butts to try to scrimp and save and squeeze and try to re-purpose, but ultimately, money is what we need to see the projects we need happen.”
Obviously, her pleas resonated with the group.
The other two presenters were Brandi Berry from Healthy Families-Healthy Futures and Aurelia Spronk from Quilting from the Heart — both may present again at a later meeting.
100 Women Who Care came to Westlock via Deneen Ducharme.
For the uninitiated, the process is simple — 100 hundred women donate $100 every three months.
At those quarterly meeting, three groups are picked to come and give a presentation and indicate what they would do if they received the money.
After each has given their presentation, the women cast their ballot for the group they feel should receive the cash — women who cannot make the meeting can have another member of the group vote for them.
Ducharme, who chairs the meetings, said they are making some changes to give people more time and thought to whom they wish to see the funds go to, and also for those who can’t attend the meeting. She said the presenters will be notified about a month in advance and will be asked to indicate at that time what the money would be used for if their group was selected.
