Wilchester Men's Club Update   It is truly unusual and unprecedented times, but the Wilchester Men’s Club (WMC) is back for the 2020-21 (school?) year and ready to continue Doin’ Good. There will be several changes to the WMC this year in an effort to adapt to the current environment, but while we finalize the last few changes we thought we would reach out and provide a brief status update of what has been going on. The one thing we are certainly not changing is our mission, which is to bring together and strengthen our community through events and activities while also investing back into our community through our three pillars of giving: Education, Youth Outreach and Neighbors in Need. We are more than just a dad’s club for Wilchester Elementary, the WMC is for all the men in this neighborhood and has developed a powerful mission to galvanize the community through fun and giving. As a 501(c)(3) giving organization, we remain as committed as ever to honoring our financial obligations to our historical giving partners including Family Point Resources, SBEF, and RaiseUp Families and to maintain financial flexibility to support neighbors in need, if and when those needs arise. We will not let them or you down and want to send a strong message that WMC’s membership and sponsors are committed to the spirit of “Doin’ Good” this upcoming 2020-2021 season. Because of sound fiscal management and the financial resources provided through membership and sponsorship these past few years, we are poised to fulfill WMC’s mission this year as we build upon 2019-20, which was the largest giving year ever in the history of the WMC. Below is a summary of what has been accomplished by your participation in the WMC membership and events over the past few years. Last year alone, you supported $68,000 in giving and donations.  So, where did that money go???  Here are a few highlights:

The WMC donated $20,000 in scholarships through the Spring Branch Education Foundation (SBEF) and were able to support the following students with scholarships: Brooks Ballard, Caroline Bruce, Rachel Cole, Ellie DiPaola, Matthew Howell – Stratford High School and Leila Madanizadeh – Westchester Academy.  In total, the SBEF awarded 122 scholarships to Spring Branch Independent School District seniors—a total of $174,900.  As you can see, we are a large supporters of SBEF, and we are in their top 10 donors with other heavy hitters like Wells Fargo, Memorial Hermann, HEB and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.  You can find the latest information in the SBEF Report. 

We were able to donate some meals to the front line workers at Memorial Hermann when the pandemic was first starting off and helped a few local businesses along the way by utilizing their restaurants to prepare those meals.  We were also able to help several families in our neighborhood that faced personal hardships during the past year.

We continued to support Family Point Resources (FPR) with almost $20,000 in donations.  As a reminder, their mission focuses on empowering and equipping children through enriching opportunities and supportive relationships and served 788 students in our area over the past year.  During the pandemic, the need for FPR’s services have greatly increased and they’ve been able to support students during their transition to virtual and collect grocery gift cars for family as well.

The list goes on, and will continue this year and the WMC is ready to fulfill its mission of fun and giving as we start another year.  We hope to have the membership email and more information about the upcoming year here shortly, so be on the watch for that email in the next week or so.  Until then, we hope you are safe and well and look forward to getting together as soon as we can.

Best Regards,

The Wilchester Men’s Club Board