Monday, March 21, 2016

I deliver food to a local elementary school on behalf of Micah's backpack twice each month.  It's exciting when I see the number of bags decrease and troubling when it goes up.  It's hard to fathom that so close to home, there are children going hungry.

That got me to thinking, if so many children are hungry, what other issues co-exist with that.  Mental illness, joblessness, homelessness, disaster, abuse, and more.  So, I tried to research it.  Finding statistics on the 'needy' population in the NRV has proved difficult.  But, what I did find was that there are over 300 agencies in the area providing help to our community in different ways.  From A   to Z organizations such as Beans and Rice, New River Community Action, and Women's Resource Center are working every day to make a difference.

From improving the economic well-being of low income families, to providing pre-hospital emergency care to the sick and injured, providing crisis intervention and support services to victims of domestic violence and their families, and promoting responsible animal ownership and treatment. These are just a small sampling of what the charitable organizations in our community do.

Each one of these organizations exist because there is a need.  Many of us are in the fortunate position of not having to rely on the kindness of others.  It is possible though, that a neighbor, or your child's friend, or the woman at the grocery store working in the produce aisle, must.  Imagine for a moment what it might feel like if you were that person.  Wouldn't you want to know that help was just a phone call away?  It's not easy for anyone to accept a hand out but if it's the thing that gets you back on the road to prosperity, sanity, wholeness, then thank goodness there are those out there offering that hand.

I truly believe that what goes around comes around.  When I give of my time, my shoulder, or from my wallet it relieves me to know that if ever I should be in need, there will be someone there wanting to do the same.  Won't you join our mission to reach out and help our community by being one of the 100 or more women pledging to each contribute $100 on a quarterly basis to a local charity?  Imagine what $10,000 in unsolicited funds can do!

All charities and organizations up for consideration must be in the NRV area serving local needs, be a non-profit 501(c)3 and non-controversial. The goal is to keep it local and have an impact that WE CAN SEE in our community!

Membership Commitment Form


Monday, March 7, 2016

Local Organizations Reflect Need in the NRV

I happened to stumble upon Blacksburg Electronic Village (http://www.bev.net/) which is "an outreach initiative of Network Infrastructure & Service, part of Information Technology at Virginia Tech."  On this website there is a page containing a listing of organizations.   When I searched for "volunteer" organizations specifically, I found 41 listed.  That got me to wondering just how many organizations there are out there set up to help those in need here in our community.

In my further search, I came across VolunteerNRV (https://volunteer.truist.com).  They are "a collaborative program of the United Way of Montgomery, Radford & Floyd that is advised by the VolunteerNRV Collaborative, a consortium of NRV organizations and agencies that recruit or use volunteers in the New River Valley."  On their list of agencies there are approximately 300 organizations in search of volunteers and donations.

This got me to thinking just how much people donate.  This is what I found:

According to Money (http://time.com/money/2792145/the-right-amount-to-donate-to-charity/) you can find out just how much people with income similar to yours give at the Chronicle of Philanthropy website.

"With just a few clicks in the How America Gives section of the site, you'll quickly see that Americans with adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 contributed just under $3,400, or 4.2% of their discretionary income, which is the amount they have to spend after paying taxes and various household expenses.

Those who earned $50,000 to $100,000, by contrast, contributed about $2,000, or 6% of discretionary income, while people who earned more than $200,000 gave roughly $14,000, or just over 4%.

But you can also drill down deeper and come up with figures broken down by state, metro area, town and even zip code."

From poverty to illness, education to homelessness, abuse to rescue, there is an organization out there to help humans and animals at their time of need.  Unfortunately, it's all here in the New River Valley and there are organizations asking for both your time and money.  But just how do you make a sizable impact?

We think one way to do so is to make a commitment to giving with 100(+) Women Who Care - NRV.

100+ Women Who Care - New River Valley is asking you to give just $400 annually.  Just $100 per quarter.  But, that $100 when combined with the $100 from 99 other women quickly becomes $10,000.  Imagine how hard an organization has to work, how much time and money has to be invested in trying to collect $10,000.  The volunteer hours to make phone calls, write letters, advertise, and more.  With your participation and commitment, in no more than one hour we can raise this amount every quarter, year after year, after year.  And, all that money stays here in the New River Valley to affect the lives of those in need with positive, powerful changes. Wouldn't it make you feel great to be part of this movement?  We invite you to join 100+ Women Who Care New River Valley today.

Please take a few minutes to complete our commitment form on our website and become a member today!