BLACKSBURG – The 100+ Women Who Care New River Valley reached a milestone recently in its ongoing charitable work with a gift of $11,100 to Valley Interfaith Child Care Center, which brought the organization’s donations since its inception in 2016 to more than $250,000.
The group has managed to keep its charitable work going even through the pandemic, meeting via ZOOM rather than having its usual monthly gatherings as a group.
In addition to Valley Interfaith, the local groups that have benefited from the 100+ Women Who Care’s efforts over the past four years include To Our House, the Bobcat Backpacks, the Woodchucks, the NRV Agency on Aging, Carilion Clinic Hospice NRV, the Christiansburg Institute, Pulaski Grow, the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program, the Montgomery County Educational Foundation, the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership, Ride-a-Rescue, College Mentors for Kids, the Community Health Center of the NRV, the Sisters Foundation and Wonder Universe. All recipient organizations must not be controversial, religious or political in nature.
According to Judy Shelor, the director for Valley Interfaith, the Secular Society agreed to provide the center with a matching grant of $20,000 if they could raise that amount before September.
“Thanks in big part to the 100+ WWC, we were able to meet the matching grant,” Shelor said. Valley Interfaith will be using the 100+ WWC donation to help replace a fence and playground equipment, add a drainage system to eliminate standing water and purchase new toys for the playground. With COVID necessitating social distancing and less time indoors, the playground will also be used as an outdoor classroom.
Valley Interfaith Child Care Center has offered affordable, high quality, center-based child care for the children of local low-income working families for over 15 years. Jeanne Roper, member of the 100+ WWC NRV and a Valley Interfaith board member, presented on behalf of the center, which received the majority vote and the total quarterly donation.
The 100+ WWC meets quarterly on the third Tuesday of January, April, July and October via ZOOM due to the pandemic. All interested women are invited to join the group to support local not-for-profits that make the New River Valley a better place to live. The group’s membership area includes the counties of Montgomery, Giles, Pulaski and Floyd and the City of Radford.
For more information, visit www.100womenwhocarenrv.com or email nrv100wwc@gmail.com. Their next scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:15 p.m.
