The 100 Women of Waller County held their first giving event on June 7 at the Switch, 700 12th Street in Hempstead. The concept and goal of the organization is to have 100 women each give $100 to a 501(c)3 charity, thereby raising $10,000 for a selected charity. The organization exceeded its funding goal in its first year, with 110 women each giving $100 for a total of $11,000 raised.

Seventeen charities submitted applications for funding. The 100 Women Advisory Board reviewed and scored those applications, selecting three to give a short presentation about their organization at the event. The three charities making presentations were:

· Belles Buds founder and director Tammy Livingston – Belles Buds is an organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming abandoned and neglected dogs.

· Fab Services Helping Hands president Randy Newton - Fab Services’ goal is to give young people a financial head start toward technical school in the fabrication industry.

· Focusing Families Executive Director Kim Goodrum - Focusing Families is committed to providing education, prevention, and intervention programs to eliminate family violence, sexual assault, and other crisis issues.

After the presentations, the women in attendance voted to select which organization would receive this year’s funding. The organization receiving the most votes was Fab Services Helping Hands and their president Randy Newton was presented with the $11,000 at the end of the event.

100 Women of Waller County was created by organizing members Jackie Craver, Susan Hopkins, and Debbie Roesler. Advisory Board members are Deysi Crespo, Julie Fling, Rose Jones, Crystal Krivacka, Daphney Kirby, Allison Kwiatkowski, and Marcia Stokes.

“The entire team thanks the women of Waller County who participated in the event, the 17 very deserving charities that applied for funding, and Melissa Hegemeyer, owner of The Switch, who allowed her beautiful venue to host the event,” Roesler said in a post-event news release.

The next giving event will be the Sunday after the Super Bowl in 2027. Any woman who lives in Waller County is invited to join and participate in this group. For more information on the group and how to join, contact Dr. Debbie Roesler at droesler09@gmail.com.