Q3 2024 - Jul 16
Presented by:
Our July 2024 (Q3) meeting again took place at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge where those of us deprived of air conditioning enjoyed a cool setting, cold drinks, and delicious food to go along with a good cause.
We would like extend a huge thank you to our Platinum Sponsor for the evening - Vitreous Glass.
In addition, our Gold sponsors for this meeting:
Check out our Sponsor page, to learn more about this program.
Wilkie Award - Billy Martin
The Wilkie Award recognizes someone from the group that embodies the spirit of our late co-founder Keith Wilkinson. We consider The Wilkie to be a noble and prestigious honour!
The Wilkie Award winner this month - Billy Martin - has been a long time coming. In the early days of the 100 Men, we'd often find ourselves just short of our $10,000 goal and Billy was often there kicking in some extra money during the meeting to make sure we made that nice round number - often anonymously and without credit.
Since then, he has been a regular sponsor and auction item bidder and rarely misses being in person at a meeting. Truly worthy of the Wilkie Award, Billy would once again be an auction item participant at this meeting! Thank you for your support Billy!
Guest Speaker: Jeremy Winterton
We turned inward this meeting and had one of our own board members speak to the group to share his story of how community spirit has become such an important part of his life.
Like many of us, Jeremy and his family found Airdrie after giving Calgary a try and longing for a stronger connection to his community that can be hard to find in a major city.
After moving to Airdrie, Jeremy became a part of the Airdrie Dads Facebook group. From there, friendships started to blossom and giving back became a contagious part of the group. That helped develop his sense of community and the realization that community is more than houses on a street - it is connections, support, and people to rely on.
The Airdrie Dads group started a golf tournament as a fun fundraiser and it has grown into one of the bigger charity events in Airdrie (that Jeremy spearheads along with a tournament board). It has also spawned the 948 Charity Support Organization.
This year’s tournament sold out in 3.5 hours and ended up raising over $38,000 for local charities. Over 9 years, the total is over $220,000!
The tournament demonstrates the power of collective action - much like 100 Airdrie Men - and showcases the heart and soul of this city.
The 100 Airdrie Men team has seen first hand the effort Jeremy puts forward and his message about community was one that resonated with a lot of us in the room. Thanks for all you do, Jeremy!
Previous recipient: Girl Guides
The 2024 Q2 recipient returned to update us on their plans to use the $10,000 donation.
The 2nd Airdrie Rangers crew joined us to update us on what has happened since last meeting. Leader Erin talked about what Guides has meant to her over the years and the fond memories created - especially the camps!
The funds from 100 Airdrie Men was able to support over 100 guides attending a wonderful tent camping weekend spanning all Girl Guide age groups. These camps embody the spirit of guiding and provide magical lifelong memories for many of these camps.
The Rangers will also be taking part of a life-changing cultural exchange to Europe coming up this month and wanted to express their sincere gratitude for our support. Our dollars in action, making a difference!
Q3 2024 Presentations:
We heard next from our three presenters.
SMART Recovery
The SMART Recovery group (which stands for self management and recovery training) ran a little social experiment during check in. There was a bowl of pennies and a sign asking if you knew of anyone with an addiction. You were asked to put a penny in the yes jar if you knew someone with addictions or in the No jar if you didn't.
Surely enough, when it came time to present, there wasn't a single penny in the ‘no’ jar - a clear demonstration of how common addiction is.
The SMART Recovery program has 4 key parts: build and maintain motivation, cope with urges, managing thoughts/feelings/behaviours; living a balanced lifestyle.
The program is free, science-based, peer led, and open to anyone.
The program believes that addictive behaviours are not flaws, they’re trauma responses; that addictions are behaviours not identifiers; and that addictions can come in many forms.
The $10,000 would go to enhancing the program and allow them to provide more meetings (and secure more meeting space) in Airdrie, further facilitator training, SMART handbooks, and source guest speakers. All will help with providing a better chance to recover.
Charity Connects
Charity Connects develops and processes hygiene packs. The packs offer hygiene products that provide dignity for those that cannot easily afford it. It may be the difference between a first impression at a job interview, or the self-confidence of a child.
What is trivial to some is incredibly meaningful for others.
Charity Connects is a bit of a spinoff from previous presenters Soap for Hope but have their efforts focused more locally. Two years in, the groups is able to put together between 400-1000 packs per month.
They work with other agencies, donated items, and recycle everything possible to make their efforts reach as far as possible.
They deliver mainly via food bank, community links, and pregnancy and beyond programs. Donations boxes are provided throughout town.
Any money awarded would be put towards extra product, storage space, and office expenses.
Off the Grid Youth
Lastly we heard from OTG - a children and youth organization that helps parents in whatever manner they need. For some, it is finding what kids are passionate about and nurturing those talents as a positive outlet. For others it is supporting with school drop off or getting groceries.
We heard from a mother that found invaluable support after a car accident as well as a young man that found confidence and leadership abilities through OTG mentorship.
With the money, they would do vehicle maintenance, help develop a new basketball program, and re-launch the 100 Kids Who Care group, which last met several years ago.
——
Before he vote results were announced, a few gift cards were auctioned off from Simmply MD and Big Ben Cleaning, and we had an additional $200 from one of our members to help grow the meeting total.
It struck the entire board how we went from being legitimately concerned just hours before the meeting that we wouldn't reaching our goal, to juggling this wealth of generosity at the meeting.
After the additional donations were added up, the meeting total came out to $14,250!! This means $10,000 to one of the groups and $2125 to each of the other two!
Off the Grid Youth was announced as the $10,000 recipient for Q3 2024! Congrats!
It was a very rewarding night. We'd like to express our gratitude to ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for being fantastic hosts and for the generous door prize donors below. We really value your support and the door prizes are always big hits among our members!
We will back at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for the next meeting - October 15th. See you then!
We would like extend a huge thank you to our Platinum Sponsor for the evening - Vitreous Glass.
In addition, our Gold sponsors for this meeting:
Check out our Sponsor page, to learn more about this program.
Wilkie Award - Billy Martin
The Wilkie Award recognizes someone from the group that embodies the spirit of our late co-founder Keith Wilkinson. We consider The Wilkie to be a noble and prestigious honour!
The Wilkie Award winner this month - Billy Martin - has been a long time coming. In the early days of the 100 Men, we'd often find ourselves just short of our $10,000 goal and Billy was often there kicking in some extra money during the meeting to make sure we made that nice round number - often anonymously and without credit.
Since then, he has been a regular sponsor and auction item bidder and rarely misses being in person at a meeting. Truly worthy of the Wilkie Award, Billy would once again be an auction item participant at this meeting! Thank you for your support Billy!
Guest Speaker: Jeremy Winterton
We turned inward this meeting and had one of our own board members speak to the group to share his story of how community spirit has become such an important part of his life.
Like many of us, Jeremy and his family found Airdrie after giving Calgary a try and longing for a stronger connection to his community that can be hard to find in a major city.
After moving to Airdrie, Jeremy became a part of the Airdrie Dads Facebook group. From there, friendships started to blossom and giving back became a contagious part of the group. That helped develop his sense of community and the realization that community is more than houses on a street - it is connections, support, and people to rely on.
The Airdrie Dads group started a golf tournament as a fun fundraiser and it has grown into one of the bigger charity events in Airdrie (that Jeremy spearheads along with a tournament board). It has also spawned the 948 Charity Support Organization.
This year’s tournament sold out in 3.5 hours and ended up raising over $38,000 for local charities. Over 9 years, the total is over $220,000!
The tournament demonstrates the power of collective action - much like 100 Airdrie Men - and showcases the heart and soul of this city.
The 100 Airdrie Men team has seen first hand the effort Jeremy puts forward and his message about community was one that resonated with a lot of us in the room. Thanks for all you do, Jeremy!
Previous recipient: Girl Guides
The 2024 Q2 recipient returned to update us on their plans to use the $10,000 donation.
The 2nd Airdrie Rangers crew joined us to update us on what has happened since last meeting. Leader Erin talked about what Guides has meant to her over the years and the fond memories created - especially the camps!
The funds from 100 Airdrie Men was able to support over 100 guides attending a wonderful tent camping weekend spanning all Girl Guide age groups. These camps embody the spirit of guiding and provide magical lifelong memories for many of these camps.
The Rangers will also be taking part of a life-changing cultural exchange to Europe coming up this month and wanted to express their sincere gratitude for our support. Our dollars in action, making a difference!
Q3 2024 Presentations:
We heard next from our three presenters.
SMART Recovery
The SMART Recovery group (which stands for self management and recovery training) ran a little social experiment during check in. There was a bowl of pennies and a sign asking if you knew of anyone with an addiction. You were asked to put a penny in the yes jar if you knew someone with addictions or in the No jar if you didn't.
Surely enough, when it came time to present, there wasn't a single penny in the ‘no’ jar - a clear demonstration of how common addiction is.
The SMART Recovery program has 4 key parts: build and maintain motivation, cope with urges, managing thoughts/feelings/behaviours; living a balanced lifestyle.
The program is free, science-based, peer led, and open to anyone.
The program believes that addictive behaviours are not flaws, they’re trauma responses; that addictions are behaviours not identifiers; and that addictions can come in many forms.
The $10,000 would go to enhancing the program and allow them to provide more meetings (and secure more meeting space) in Airdrie, further facilitator training, SMART handbooks, and source guest speakers. All will help with providing a better chance to recover.
Charity Connects
Charity Connects develops and processes hygiene packs. The packs offer hygiene products that provide dignity for those that cannot easily afford it. It may be the difference between a first impression at a job interview, or the self-confidence of a child.
What is trivial to some is incredibly meaningful for others.
Charity Connects is a bit of a spinoff from previous presenters Soap for Hope but have their efforts focused more locally. Two years in, the groups is able to put together between 400-1000 packs per month.
They work with other agencies, donated items, and recycle everything possible to make their efforts reach as far as possible.
They deliver mainly via food bank, community links, and pregnancy and beyond programs. Donations boxes are provided throughout town.
Any money awarded would be put towards extra product, storage space, and office expenses.
Off the Grid Youth
Lastly we heard from OTG - a children and youth organization that helps parents in whatever manner they need. For some, it is finding what kids are passionate about and nurturing those talents as a positive outlet. For others it is supporting with school drop off or getting groceries.
We heard from a mother that found invaluable support after a car accident as well as a young man that found confidence and leadership abilities through OTG mentorship.
With the money, they would do vehicle maintenance, help develop a new basketball program, and re-launch the 100 Kids Who Care group, which last met several years ago.
——
Before he vote results were announced, a few gift cards were auctioned off from Simmply MD and Big Ben Cleaning, and we had an additional $200 from one of our members to help grow the meeting total.
It struck the entire board how we went from being legitimately concerned just hours before the meeting that we wouldn't reaching our goal, to juggling this wealth of generosity at the meeting.
After the additional donations were added up, the meeting total came out to $14,250!! This means $10,000 to one of the groups and $2125 to each of the other two!
Off the Grid Youth was announced as the $10,000 recipient for Q3 2024! Congrats!
It was a very rewarding night. We'd like to express our gratitude to ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for being fantastic hosts and for the generous door prize donors below. We really value your support and the door prizes are always big hits among our members!
- Peter Flannigan
- Ron Chapman
- Hussain Mumtaz
- Myles Ridge
- David Bowman
- Tim Macdonald
We will back at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for the next meeting - October 15th. See you then!
