By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

100 Men Who Give a Damn – Charity Concept Making a Difference in Lethbridge

Jun 20, 2016 | 7:57 AM

LETHBRIDGE:  A modern form of altruism has quietly made its way to our city.  One chapter is known as “100 Men who give a Damn”.

 It all started with “100 Women who Care”, which began in the U-S. 

The concept crept up to Halifax, where a woman in that group bet one of her male friends that he couldn’t get 100 men in a room to ‘give a damn’. That fellow took up the challenge and created “100 Men who give a Damn”.

Derek Loose is one of the local chapter’s organizers. He says the concept is simple. 

“We get 100 men in a room and three charities have five minutes to pitch their charity and why they care about it and then all the men vote and who ever wins the vote, the men write a $100 cheque to that charity – we’re not a society, we’re we just a group of guys who write the cheques directly to the charity, so 100 per cent of it goes exactly where it is supposed to go.”

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 Loose notes that many people want to give back and contribute to a good cause but, don’t have time for large charity dinners or have other group or family commitments and can’t get involved.  He says “100 men who give a Damn” eliminates that.

While the group strives to have 100 men attend each meeting, Loose notes 100 is not the cap.  If they have 300 men or more, that’s all the better for the charity.

Loose admits they were very new at the concept when they started out and were just ‘winging it’.  Their first meeting had just two charities pitching their cause, one was “Ride for a Reason” which rides for the Southern Alberta Bible Camp and the “Ricky Ryp Foudnation” from the Crowsnest Pass. The meeting raised about $3100 for  “Ride for a reason” .

The second meeting on June 15th, saw 30 men attend to hear from three charities.  That meeting raised $5100 for the Lethbridge Food Bank, as men who were not able to attend mailed in their cheque.

Loose says they are striving to have 100 or more men at their next meeting in the fall and he is encouraging those interested to get involved.

“It’s a one hour meeting, four times a year, and you just come in  and listen to the great charities – you get an awareness of what is around locally because it has to be a local charity that we’re giving to.  It is not a lot of time constraint and that’s what really drew us – it’s small amounts of money with a large impact.”

Besides the men’s group, there are two other similar groups in Lethbridge.  One is called “100 Women who Care” and the other is “100 Companies that Care”. 

More information on the local men’s group can be found on their website http://100menlethbridge.org/

The women’s group can be found on facebook at “100 Women who Care, Lethbridge” and their meetings come with door prizes.

Information about “100 Companies that Care” can be found on their website and you can check out the local chapter on facebook at “100CompaniesthatCare Lethbridge”.