Welcome, Hamiltonians, to a complacency-free zone

Some fine gentlemen who give a damn are touting a ‘succession plan’

It’s been two years since I first wrote in this space about 100 Men Who Give A Damn Hamilton-Wentworth, an organization just starting in the city at the time. And they’ve made great strides since then.

There’s the $61,000 they’ve raised, of course; money that has gone to support local non-profit organizations, which in turn help so many in the city.

But there’s more than that. There’s the sense of shared purpose the members feel, getting together as they do four times yearly, 100 of them, more or less, each bringing $100, for a total of close to $10,000 a meeting.

(Three members of 100 Men get up at each meeting, and each of the three makes a pitch for a different charity, three in all, after which the 100 vote, and all the money goes to the organization behind the winning fiveminute pitch.)

There’s also their sense of community — not just with each other, but with the city at large, with the people who provide much needed services, usually of a charitable nature, and the people who receive those services.

And with 100 Women Who Care Hamilton-Wentworth, on whose example they were based.

But there’s more, yet again. There’s the galvanizing sense that they can be and can do even better, good as they are now. And this is one of their strongest virtues. They are a complacencyfree zone.

Mind you, they have a great time at their meetings, but they keep in sight why they’re there. That brings us to the 100 Men Who Give A Damn’s new steering committee, and John Birkby who’s heading it up.

He called and asked if he could pick my brains. I said they’d been strip-mined already but if he could find anything ...

So he told me that the group, which started grassroots, had grown to the point where they’re trying to avoid plateau-ing. They’re keen on growth.

Hence the steering committee. And they’ve got a new website, new diverse targets for recruiting.

“We went to the retirement community and the Grade 12 high school students,” he notes.

“‘Don’t worry about the cheque,’ we told the students,” John says. “We want to make volunteering normal for them.” He calls it the organization’s “succession plan.”

The men are also encouraged to volunteer at organizations they’ve contributed to or considered contributing to. John’s done it himself. “I’ve never felt so much satisfaction.”

It’s all part of keeping the organization fresh, hedging against participation burn-out. Replenish, early and often.

If you’re curious, visit 100menhamilton-wentworth.com or go to the meeting of 100 Men Who Give A Damn Hamilton on Wednesday (Oct. 3), 7:30 p.m. (meetings are strictly onehour long) at Leander Boat Club, 50 Leander Dr., Hamilton.

•••

If it’s been a long two years since I first wrote about 100MWGAD,H-W, it’s been — and I gulp to say this — 10 years since I first wrote about HA&L magazine.

HA&L stands for Hamilton Arts and Letters, an online publication that’s celebrating its first decade. HA&L, edited by Paul Lisson and Fiona Kinsella, has distinguished itself over that time with the quality of the writing in it, the ideas, the art and the design of the publication. It enjoys an international readership.

The 10th is being celebrated with a launch party for the new edition, entitled Three Passions: Celebrating Bertrand Russell and the 50th Anniversary of the Russell Archives (at Mac) on Friday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m., Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. W., featuring fabulous speakers, readers, storytellers, live music, poetry and a short film.

HA&L is also celebrating its 10th by supporting the The First Ablehamilton Dis/ability Poetry Festival, which I hope to write about more later this month.

Organized by Shane Nielsen, a Hamilton medical doctor, a dis/ abled poet with a PhD in literature and a contributing editor to HA&L, the festival is under way, in the first of its three phases.

From Sept. 28 until today (Monday, Oct. 1), two Hamilton dis/ abled poets are reading in four locations in New Brunswick.

The second phase is Oct. 18 at 1 James N., Hamilton, from 3 to 5 p.m., with a panel presentation, hosted by McMaster-based Centre for Community Engaged Narrative Arts, on visual artists and poets with disability and how they engage with the topic of disability.

The third phase will be a multiple location weekend (Oct. 2526) of Hamilton/Toronto readings, broadcasts, panels on dis/ ability and the arts/ poetry.