On Tuesday, Grays Harbor residents can be a part of something special when 100+ Harbor Women Who Care meet at Hoquiam Elks Lodge 1082.

They’ll be there on a mission — to donate their hard-earned money to a local, deserving cause. The last time the ladies met, they were able to help Domestic Violence Center of Grays Harbor — a nonprofit that assists victims restart their lives. In 2023, the group enjoyed its most successful event, raising a combined $32,240 for three nonprofits. Domestic Violence Center of Grays Harbor received a combined $27,240 from the night as well as from an anonymous donor.

The process is simple. Bring $100 in cash or a check to the Hoquiam Elks Lodge. Have a drink with friends. Find out who the nonprofits are after you arrive to the event. Listen to three nonprofits speak about what they do throughout the Harbor. Ask questions. Then vote for who you think should win. The winning nonprofit gets your $100, and everyone else’s $100.

Maryann Welch spoke about what makes 100+ Harbor Women Who Care work so well. She runs the group with a core team of nine other women. The group comes from an international group 100+ Women Who Care, which began in Jackson, Michigan.

“We really think one of the attractions of the event is that it is well-organized and it moves along,” Welch said. “And that we’re out of there at a decent time for people to go home and have their evening. We have really talked about how we need to stick to that. It’s something that women have said they liked.”

In the past few years, each event has welcomed at least 120 women. And it’s always a fun affair as people talk, laugh and cheer with each other.

What it means

Franzine Potts, a core member of the 100+ Harbor Women Who Care, spoke about how important the group’s mission is to her.

“Giving back to the community that shaped who I am is incredibly meaningful to me,” Potts said. “This group is a chance to support the people and places that impacted me so much growing up, and I feel a deep sense of gratitude and purpose in helping make a difference here. By coming together, we can strengthen our community and achieve more by supporting meaningful non-profits that otherwise wouldn’t be able to connect to all these individuals. I am thankful to have the opportunity to be a part of this group.”

Welch shared what 100+ Harbor Women Who Care does for the people who attend.

“I think we’ve built some loyalty,” Welch said. “I think there are several issues that get fulfilled for women. They get information they want, they get to interact with people they see occasionally perhaps, or maybe they’ve not seen someone for a long time but then they see them there. And they can feel like they’re making a difference with their $100. I think all of that makes them feel really good, and I’m telling you, I can’t tell you what I feel like when I leave there after that. It’s indescribable.”

Welch shared her feelings about the women who participate.

“I’m so proud that we have such generous people in Grays Harbor,” Welch said. “The generosity, we don’t have to pull it from them, it’s on their own.”

Welch championed a unique element that 100+ Harbor Women Who Care provides.

“I do really like the idea that we don’t know who’s gonna show up, some of them are different people,” Welch said. “I think our event has a good reputation and again, for women, they’re getting something out of it. It goes both ways.”

While she wouldn’t pick a nonprofit that stuck out most in her head, she didn’t want to seem “biased,” and because “they’re all doing good work.”

“We need those nonprofit organizations and supporting them is really important,” Welch said. “Like the anonymous donor who gave $10,000 to the Domestic Violence Center (of Grays Harbor), that’s just fantastic. That’s a person in our community who wants to support nonprofits, but they may not know how to do it. And that’s another thing we offer, is a mechanism to participate.”

Welch said she’s “very proud” that the event touches women of all ages.

And then there’s the core team, “the 10 women who do all the work to put it on.”

“I just can’t believe that we’ve held together,” Welch said. “It’s the same people from the very beginning. And we just work so well together. We’re different ages. We come from different backgrounds. We have had either different lives, I guess, and we all somehow click and work together.”

Before planning for Tuesday’s event in September, 100+ Harbor Women Who Care’s core team hadn’t gotten together for six months. Yet, it was as if there wasn’t that time barrier.

“We get together and everything clicks,” Welch said. “Everyone steps up to do something. We’re moving the duties around so that everybody gets a little taste of doing everything. Like the emcee, the emcees we have, we have two women up there to emcee. We’re switching that around so everyone gets a chance to do that, rather than picking one or two people who do it all the time. I think that’s working really well.”

Welch said it’s “just an amazing group.”

“It was just serendipity that we got together,” Welch said. “I just started calling people that I wanted to do it. These are the people who gets (stuff) done. I just started calling people. Everybody said yes. I kind of explained what it was and that it wouldn’t be a commitment all the time. We don’t have monthly meetings or weekly meetings, or anything. We just get together to do the event, then we clean up and take care of the loose ends. And then we’re done for another six months or so. So, I think that’s one of the reasons women stick to it and I’m just so happy to work with them.”

Welch could not have sounded more appreciative for Hoquiam Elks Lodge.

“The Hoquiam Elks Lodge has just been fantastic,” Welch said. “Many of these 100+ Women Who Care groups have to pay for a venue. And we are very fortunate that they’re so generous with their lodge.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.