More guys who care about their community are needed to raise money for local charities in a quick and easy way.
Guys Who Care has approximately 117 members, but they would like to grow that number so they can better support local charities.
"We would love to have 200," said Barry Goode, one of four founding members of the local philanthropic group. "We just think there are more guys who if they knew about it would come and join us. It's a no-brainer. It's two times a year bring $200," he said.
Guys Who Care holds events twice a year. The fall event is Oct. 23 at the Midland Golf and Country Club. The social starts at 5 p.m. Business starts at 6 p.m. and it's over by 7 p.m.
Everyone in attendance puts a ballot for a charity of their choice into a hat. Three ballots are drawn. A case for each of the three charities is made. Then the group votes for one of the three. The one with the most votes wins the tally.
"The goal is to raise $15,000 in an hour that goes immediately and directly to the charity," said Goode.
Guys Who Care don't incur any expenses and don't even have a bank account. One hundred per cent of the money raised goes to the charity, he explained.
"What we are trying to encourage is the guys to learn details of three charities. At the next meeting the winner comes back and tells what they did with the money," said Goode.
To make it appealing to younger men, the group offers a $100 per meeting donation level for those aged 18 to 29.
"We ask everyone to tell a friend and bring a friend."
Guys Who Care ask the charities to plan a special project with the funds that they couldn't otherwise afford with operating expenses.
For example, when the Maison Rosewood Shelter was the recipient, they spent the money fencing the yard and creating a private space for women and children to relax and play, Goode said.
Alexandria Hamelin, executive director and founder of the Georgian Bay Food Network said the donation of $17,675 in May from Guys Who Care made a huge difference to the operation.
"Their donation gave us the ability to be able to accept new families and not say 'We are at our maximum and we can't help.' So it really was a game-changer," she said.
Original members are Goode, Mike Thor, Andrew Combes and Mal Inrig. They held their first event in the fall of 2015.
"We wanted to do something to assist charities," said Goode. "But we didn't know anything about the charities. We thought that each of us giving $200 would be lost in the rounding so we thought what if we could provide $20,000 after the meeting instead of $200?"
They discovered a group in Toronto called 100 Guys Who Care (which was patterned after 100 Women Who Care) and attended a meeting to see how it operates and brought the concept to North Simcoe.
Guys Who Care have raised more than $300,000 for local charities since their inception.
A charity can only win once every two years to spread funds to a greater number of charities.
"We really do dream about 200 guys and $40,000," Goode said of the group's goal.
For more information or to join Guys Who Care email: [email protected] or visit the website: guyswhocare.ca . Members receive a tax receipt from the charity.
