MORGANTOWN – 100+ People Who Care Morgantown met for the second time under their new format Monday afternoon to learn about three local charities and give one a $25,000 boost to its efforts.
Leaders from the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC), Spark! Imagination and Science Center, and We Bike WV explained their programs and what they could do with the donation. 100+ People members then voted to select a winner.
100+ People Who Care Morgantown is a “giving circle” that formed in 2019. The prior format involved members submitting nominations during a quarterly gathering, narrowing the choices to three and voting on one to receive donations. They meet quarterly and launched the new format, with three charities presenting their work, during their prior quarterly meeting in April.
Members write a $250 check to the chosen charity at meeting’s end, or scan a QR code for an electronic donation. “We recognize that we can all do something nice individually, but together we can do far more,” Monday afternoon’s co-host Ashok Aggarwal told the members.
In April, the members chose Christian Help for their donation, and on Monday Executive Director Colleen Lankford visited to share the story of what it meant to them, and why it’s worthwhile to make a pitch even if you don’t win.
Before the program began, she told The Dominion Post, “I don’t think you can lose here. You win by just getting your name out and explaining to people what you are and what you do and what’s available in the community to help support the others that live here.”
For Christian Help, she said, the $25,000 enabled them to focus on their back-to-school event before the fiscal year began in July. The money enabled her to negotiate with local shoe vendors who were wanting to get rid of surplus and buy shoes at a significant discount: $13,641 worth for just $6,367.
They will also be buying six Chromebooks for their life skills classes and have about half left for their holiday toy distribution.
“It’s been great,” she said. “It gave me peace of mind, opportunity of discounts we don’t normally qualify for, and it gave us a cushion that we’re able to project and think through what we want to do rather than reacting to what the economic circumstances were at the retail stores.”
Heather Lehosit, 100+ People’s Charity Committee chair, explained how the presenters are chosen each quarter. They have an open application process – charities can apply anytime during the year. They must be a local nonprofit operating in the Monongalia-Preston area.
The committee winnows down the applications to three per quarter, contacts them and helps the three chosen presenters prepare for their presentation. Right now, they have 25 applications on file.
MAC Director Aldona Bird presented for her organization. MAC was founded in 1976 and she said she took art classes there during her elementary school years. Her mother joined MAC’s Fiber Guild and her sister auditioned for community theater productions. “For my family, it was a way to enrich our lives and connect with the community.”
MAC has many such stories of generations connecting with the arts through its offerings, she said. It would like to expand its after-school arts reach program, expand scholarships, offer more youth programming and keep performance ticket prices affordable.
Kelley Burd-Huss is executive director of Spark! It’s the primary science center and children’s museum for the 10-county region.
She talked about the “Mountaineer mindset,” embodied by her Grandpa Jed: “the ability against all odds to find a way and a place to grow for those that come after you.”
Spark!, she said, wants to evolve from a static museum in its Mountaineer Mall space to a dynamic platform museum that works with community partners and expands community outreach. And they want to launch a capsule museum that tells good stories about West Virginia and Appalachia remixing current favorite exhibits with new ones to offer a changing array to keep people coming back.
We Bike WV President Jeremy Blizard and his daughter, Acadia Blizard – who serves on the board – told their story. We Bike collects used bikes, and repairs and refurbishes them to give them to children in need.
The donation, they said, would allow them to give away 1,000 bikes. Their annual budget is just $17,000 – everyone donates their time – and the $25,000 would far exceed that. Each bike costs about $26 to repair.
“We have the need,” Jeremy said, “we have the surplus of bikes, we just don’t have the money to fix them all.”
Acadia talked about the benefits for the kids. “I feel like kids these days, they don’t spend enough time outside. Giving these bikes away is really important to bring the physical community back together,” to get outside, make friends, be more involved, get healthier.
When the votes came in, We Bike WV had the most and received the donations from the members.
The group met Monday at the West Ridge office of Steptoe & Johnson. Brooke Kamicker, office managing member, said they had hosted the group previously and she and some others joined. They decided to offer it again.
“We have a beautiful space and we like to support community organizations, and we like that it goes to charity.”
