100 Women Who Care pick Community Action Center for $5,000 grant

Philanthropy, free wine and charcuterie boards on an apple orchard made up a little over 100 Faribault women’s Sunday afternoon.

Every year for the last four years, the Faribault Foundation puts together an event called 100 Women Who Care, bringing together about 100 philanthropic women of notoriety in the Faribault area to raise $10,000 for the foundation and a charity of their choice. Community Action Center was chosen as this year’s beneficiary — through a process that gave each woman a say.

To attend the event, women were asked to donate a minimum of $100, though some donated more than that. Extra funds goes into a discretionary fund, the purpose of which is decided by the Faribault Foundation’s board.

The women are contacted via email, social media or word of mouth, said Faribault Foundation part time assistant Kymn Anderson.

“A lot of women have come back, but they also tell other people,” she said. “We also try to reach people on traditional media and social media.”

While the exact number is still not known, the idea is they’d come up with a minimum of $10,000, said Faribault Foundation Executive Director Laura Bock.

“We do have a few sponsors for the event, covering the food and such, so 100% of the their contributions go to the charities,” Bock said.

Half goes to the Faribault Foundation to support its regular operations of philanthropic work and awarding grants to improve life in Faribault. The other half goes to whichever charity they pick.

After checking in, the women received a nametag and a slip of paper. On that paper, they write the charity they want to nominate.

Once everyone has submitted their charity of choice, the Faribault Foundation leaders spin the raffle drum and pick three papers at random. If the person who nominated the charity is present, they’re invited to talk about the charity, if they’re comfortable.

“We’re hoping everybody will think about bringing their friends to have a better chance of their charity winning,” Anderson said.

After they’ve narrowed it down to three charities, the women each take a poker chip and put it into one of three flower vases, each of which are associated with one of the three charities. Whichever vase has the most chips wins the $5,000 grant.

Phyllis Freeman was among the new attendees this year, and she nominated Rice County Habitat for Humanity by slipping her paper into the golden raffle drum at the center of the room.

“I just feel like it’s a good charity that does a lot of good work,” she said. “And a house is more than just a home.”

CHS Ag Cooperative Carrie Bauer, who’s married to the owner of Bauers Southside Liquor in Faribault, has been attending 100 Women Who Care for a few years, and became heavily involved in the last year.

She said she moved to Faribault in 2019, but felt unconnected to the community until getting involved in the Faribault Foundation.

“As a business owner, I think it’s important to give back to the community that supports us,” she said. “It’s been great. We’ve met a lot of new people, and can make an impact.”

Community Action Center won this year’s grant, and Bock highlighted the housing and rental assistance, food shelf and more offered by the organization.