MORGANTOWN – One hundred local people who care about the community assembled Monday evening at the Holiday Inn to express their caring in a tangible way.
Representatives of three local charities came before them, explained their works and took some questions. They stepped out, the attendees voted and the chosen charity left with checks totaling $25,000.
The group is called 100+ People Who Care Morgantown. This was their first quarterly meeting under their new format.
“We’re a group of people that got together in a very informal way,” said member Ashok Aggarwal. There is no bank account, no administrative fees, no paid staff. “The money goes straight from the people in the community straight to the charity in the community.”
The group – called a giving circle by the parent organization 100 Who Care – was formed in 2019 under the leadership of David Goldberg, who recently stepped down from his leadership position at Vandalia Health and remains active in the community.
100 Who Care explains that it was launched in 2006 in Michigan and there are now more than 700 giving circles.
For the Morgantown circle, this was their first major meeting after making some changes in how they award money. The new format was an idea brought by member Mark McCoy.
McCoy, who co-hosted the evening and is a member of the organizing committee, said he brought the idea for the new format from Indiana, where he belonged to 100 Men Who Care (there was also a sister circle, 100 Women Who Care). When he returned to Morgantown in 2020, he joined this one.
The prior format involved members submitting nominations during a quarterly gathering, narrowing the choices to three and voting on one to receive donations.
Aggarwal called the new format, with three charities presenting their work, a kind of shark tank (but without the sharp, nasty teeth).
Member Byron Dodson is a general surgeon at Mon Medical Center and learned of 100+ People Who Care Morgantown from Goldberg. “As I have gotten interested in leadership in the medical community, he had told me about this opportunity, and I’ve been interested in learning about philanthropy, so I joined to come do my part.”
McCoy opened the evening’s program by noting they reached their 100th member over the weekend and just topped 100. “The goal here is to have maximum impact with minimum time commitment and no overhead.”
At each quarterly meeting, he told the members, they will vote on one of the charities that present – selected from a list of applicants – and each member will write a check for $250 directly to that charity. In the course of a year, they’ll give a total $100,000 (a bit more now) to four groups.
Those not chosen, he explained, will remain on the list and can re-present at a later meeting, and can reapply in subsequent years. He said that even for those not chosen, he hoped all the members would keep their needs and good works in mind for possible donations.
Co-host Nikki Bowman told the group, “We are excited about this evening and the good that we will collectively do for our community. When we meet each quarter we want to be the most impactful hour of your week.”
McCoy took a moment to honor Goldberg, who had been working the front table and was now seated among the members.
“What began through his initiative has already generated meaningful impact,” McCoy said, “and continues to carry forward his vision that when people gather with purpose, generosity becomes something immediate and transformative.”
Christian Help Executive Director Colleen Lankford made the first pitch. Christian Help, she said, proivides emergency financial assistance, a food pantry and a career closet, among other services.
“Christian Help provides dignity. We provide hope and service to others,” she said.
Taylor Shultz, director of development and administrative services for Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center, presented next. The center, she said, provides a full range of services – medical and legal – to children and their families impacted by abuse.
Abused children can find the process overwhelming, she said. “We exist to change that experience for every child who walks through our doors. … Instead of sending a child from place to place, we bring the system to the child.”
The final presenter was Chestnut Mountain Ranch founder and Executive Director Steve Finn. The ranch sits on 360 acres and provides a home and school for young men from broken families, helping them to develop spiritually, intellectually, socially and physically, he said.
“We’re seeing boys becoming men, we’re seeing families being changed and we’re fighting for them every day,” he said.
One of the ranch residents, Stanton, also told his story of long years in a broken family and his transformation at the ranch. “At first I didn’t want to be there, but as life at home kept falling apart, the ranch became a place where I felt safe and loved.”
After the vote on Monday night, Christian Help was named the recipient of that evening’s giving. But all three were on the members’ hearts.
