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After nearly $400,000 in donations to charities, 100 Men Halifax chapter ends its run

Click to play video: 'Charitable men’s organization in Halifax closes its chapter'
Charitable men’s organization in Halifax closes its chapter
WATCH: After five years and nearly $400,000 in donations, 100 Men Halifax closes its chapter after reaching "the end of their life cycle." – Nov 27, 2018

After years of giving donations to local charities, 100 Men Halifax has closed a chapter of philanthropic work that’s benefited dozens of community-based organizations.

“Every charity event has its life cycle and this has a life cycle too,” Bill VanGorder said, one of the co-founders of the organization.

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100 Men Who Give a Damn, began as a small idea in 2014 to provide a way for men from Halifax to donate money to charities.

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“We gather four times a year, we hear from three charities that are picked at random and the men vote and whatever charity gets the most votes, all the men write a $100 cheque to that charity. So, the charity walks away with $10,000-$20,000 from that one meeting,” VanGorder said.

In the five years since, the organization has raised nearly $400,000 for charities in the municipality ranging from animal shelters to transition homes for men in recovery from addiction.

“We opened a home 30 years ago to assist individuals who are homeless and hopeless in recovery [from] alcohol and drugs,” Joe Gibson said, the executive director of Freedom Foundation of Nova Scotia.

The not-for-profit program for men in recovery from addiction was one of the recipients of a donation from 100 Men Halifax over the years.

Gibson said the money helped residents of the program gain post-secondary education.

“As I stand here tonight, it’s so much of a pleasure to tell you that in January, our seventh resident will graduate from this university [Saint Mary’s University],” Gibson said.
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VanGorder says there was no end date in sight for the organization when they began in 2014, but organizers felt the time has come to draw the Halifax chapter to a close.

“We knew that it was coming after five years of doing the same thing over and over. So, we decided rather than let it peter down, we wanted to have a real celebration when we finished. So, that’s why we declared this the final night,” VanGorder said.

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