Nettie Badgley (left) and Jordana Iddings are founding members of the local Kendall County 100+ Women Who Care community service organization. (Photo courtesy of 100+ Women Who Care)

One hundred.

That’s the magic number for Oswego mom Nettie Badgley.

She needs 100 women, from all walks of life, who want to come together and make a difference in their own communities.

Right now, Badgley’s Oswego/Yorkville/Montgomery chapter of 100+ Women Who Care has about 65 participants. Badgley has challenged local residents to make that number rise to 100 by the group’s next meeting in September.

The requirements to join are simple: Meet with the group for one hour during its quarterly meetings, and come equipped with a $100 check that will be donated to the nominated charity.

If Badgley’s dream comes true, and she can wrangle 40 additional women to participate, the local chapter will be donating $40,000 annually to Kendall County non-profits.

Since the chapter was created in 2014, more than $50,000 has already been donated, but Badgley can’t wait to write a quarterly $10,000 check.

“Right now I’m thankful for our numbers, but I’m also looking forward to writing that first $10,000 jumbo check,” she said.

Local organizations, including CASA of Kendall County, Mutual Ground, Celebrate Difference, the Oswego Senior Center and the Kendall County Health Department has all been gifted with donations.

Organizations benefiting children, seniors and the environment have been among the group’s nominees.

At the beginning of each quarterly meeting (meetings occur in February, April, September and November) women are asked to nominate a local non-profit organization. Those names are placed in a hat and three are chosen at random. The three random organization’s nominators are given time to present on their organizations and a final vote is taken.

The Oswego Senior Center was one of the beneficiaries of the fundraising efforts of the Kendall County chapter of 100+ Women Who Care in 2017. (Photo courtesy of 100+ Women Who Care)

The organization with the most votes is then handed a giant stack of checks written by each woman.

“What an amazing way to come collectively together,” Badgley said. “When you make a donation to something, you never really know if it will make an impact or what it goes toward. When we make a big gift collectively, we know it makes a huge impact.”

At this month’s quarterly meeting, held at Kennedy Pointe in Bristol, the women voted to donate to the District 308 Robotics teams who are going to a national competition. They gathered more than $6,000 which was split between the Oswego and Oswego East High School teams.

“I got to call the directors and tell them we were donating $3,000 to each team,” she said. “It’s really going to make a difference. It does take some work on my part, but it’s so amazing to see the impact it’s making.”

Across the country, and in parts of Canada and the Caymen Islands, there are more than 300 functioning chapter of 100+ Women Who Care, and more than 200 chapters in the making.

Some chapters have more than 200 women donating at one time, while others, like the Oswego/Montgomery/Yorkville chapter continue to grow. Badgley said she’s aware that some women can’t donate $100/quarter based on their financial states. She’s invited women to come together in teams of two or three to make a $100 combined donation as part of the effort.

“I want to attract younger people, and for this to become a multi-generational effort,” she said. “Right there, in one hour, we can make a $10,000 donation. That’s simplicity at its finest. There are no auctions. There is no going door to door. You can join us for dinner after the meeting, or you can just go on with your life.”

Donations to date have been gifted to: Blessings in a Backpack, CASA, Mutual Ground, Elderday Senior Center, Kendall County Food Pantry, Celebrate Differences, Young Life, Hoover Forest Preserve Play Space, Fusion Project, Oswego Senior Center, Simply Destinee Youth Center, and to the Kendall County Health Department’s Free Dental Clinic.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

The 100+ Women Who Care of Oswego/Montgomery/Yorkville meets four times a year.

For more information about the 100+ Women Who Care movement, visit https://www.100wwc-omy.org/.

—- Women’s group seeks 100 members to serve Kendall communities—-